ittern
OF THE
BY
AN
ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY
OF THE
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
SKEA T.
Uonfton
HENRY FROWDE
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PKESS WABEHOTISE
AMEN CORNEfi.
AN
ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY
OF THE
ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
BY THE
REV. WALTER W. SKEAT, M.A.
///
ELR1NGTON AND BOSWORTH PROFESSOR OF ANGLO-SAXON
IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE.
'Step after step the ladder is ascended."
GKOKGE HKKHKRT, Jncula PruJtnlum.
' Labour with what zeal we will,
Something still remains undone.'
LONGFELLOW, JiirJs uf Passage.
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS.
M DCCC LXXXVI11.
*
CONTENTS.
PAGE
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION ........ v
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION ....... xiii
BRIEF NOTES UPON THE LANGUAGES CITED IN THE DICTIONARY ... xv
CANONS FOR ETYMOLOGY ......... xxiii
LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED ......... xxv
SELECTED EXAMPLES, ILLUSTRATING THE FORMATION OF ENGLISH DERIVATIVES
FROM STRONG VERBS ......... xxxt
KEY TO THE GENERAL PLAN ........ i
DICTIONARY OF ETYMOLOGIES ... . 3
APPENDIX: I. LIST OF PREFIXES ....... 727
II. SUFFIXES . . ..... 739
III. LIST OF ARYAN ROOTS .... . 729
BRIEF INDEX TO THE ABOVE ROOTS .... 747
IV. DISTRIBUTION OF WORDS ACCORDING TO THE LANGUAGES FROM
WHICH THEY ARE DERIVED ..... 747
V. SELECT LIST OF EXAMPLES OF SOUND-SHIFTING . . . 761
VI. LIST OF HOMONYMS ..... . 762
VII. LIST OF DOUBLETS ....... 772
ERRATA AND ADDENDA ... . 775
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
THE present work was undertaken with the intention of furnishing students with materials for a
more scientific study of English etymology than is commonly to be found in previous works upon the
subject. It is not intended to be always authoritative, nor are the conclusions arrived at to be
accepted as final. It is rather intended as a guide to future writers, shewing them in some cases what
ought certainly to be accepted, and in other cases, it may be, what to avoid. The idea of it arose
out of my own wants. I could find no single book containing the facts about a given word which
it most concerns a student to know, whilst, at the same time, there exist numerous books containing
information too important to be omitted. Thus Richardson's Dictionary is an admirable store-house
of quotations illustrating such words as are of no great antiquity in the language, and his selected
examples are the more valuable from the fact that he in general .adds the exact reference 1 .
Todd's Johnson likewise contains numerous well-chosen quotations, but perhaps no greater mistake
was ever made than that of citing from authors like ' Dryden ' or ' Addison ' at large, without the
slightest hint as to the whereabouts of the context. But in both of these works the etymology is,
commonly, of the poorest description ; and it would probably be difficult to find a worse philologist
than Richardson, who adopted many suggestions from Home Tooke without enquiry, and was
capable of saying that, hod is 'perhaps hoved, hov'd, hod, past part, of heafan, to heave.' It is
easily ascertained that the A. S. for heave is hebban, and that, being a strong verb, its past participle
did not originally end in -ed.
It would be tedious to mention the numerous other books which help to throw such light on
the history of words as is necessary for the right investigation of their etymology. The great
defect of most of them is that they do not carry back that history far enough, and are very
weak in the highly important Middle-English period. But the publications of the Camden Society,
of the Early English Text Society, and of many other printing clubs, have lately materially
advanced our knowledge, and have rendered possible such excellent books of reference as are
exemplified in Stratmann's Old English Dictionary and in the still more admirable but (as yet)
incomplete 'Worterbuch' by Eduard Matzner. In particular, the study of phonetics, as applied to
Early English pronunciation by Mr. Ellis and Mr. Sweet, and carefully carried out by nearly all
students of Early English in Germany, has almost revolutionised the study of etymology as hitherto
pursued in England. We can no longer consent to disregard vowel-sounds as if they formed no
essential part of the word, which seems to have been the old doctrine ; indeed, the idea is by no
means yet discarded even by those who ought to know better.
On the other hand, we have, in Eduard Miiller's Etymologisches Worterbuch der Englischen
Sprache 2 , an excellent collection of etymologies and cognate words, but without any illustrations
1 1 have verified a large number of these. Where I could not 2 It is surprising that this book is not better known. If the
conveniently do so, I have added ' (R.) ' in parenthesis at the end writers of some of the current 'Etymological' Dictionaries had taken
of the reference. I found, to my surprise, that the references to E. Miiller for their guide, they might have doubled their accuracy
Chaucer are often utterly wrong, the numbers being frequenlly and halved their labour,
misprinted.
vi PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
of the use or history of words, or any indication of the period when they first came into use.
We have also Webster's Dictionary, with the etymologies as revised by Dr. Mahn, a very useful
and comprehensive volume ; but the plan of the work does not allow of much explanation of a
purely philological character.
It is many years since a new and comprehensive dictionary was first planned by the Philological
Society, and we have now good hope that, under the able editorship of Dr. Murray, some portion
of this great work may ere long see the light. For the illustration of the history of words, this
will be all-important, and the etymologies will, I believe, be briefly but sufficiently indicated. It
was chiefly with the hope of assisting in this national work, that, many years ago, I began collecting
materials and making notes upon points relating to etymology. The result of such work, in a
modified form, and with very large additions, is here offered to the reader. My object has been
to clear the way for the improvement of the etymologies by a previous discussion of all the more
important words, executed on a plan so far differing from that which will be adopted by Dr. Murray
as not to interfere with his labours, but rather, as far as possible, to assist them. It will, accordingly,
be found that I have studied brevity by refraining from any detailed account of the changes of
meaning of words, except where absolutely necessary for purely etymological purposes. The
numerous very curious and highly interesting examples of words which, especially in later times,
took up new meanings will not, in general, be found here; and the definitions of words are only
given in a very brief and bald manner, only the more usual senses being indicated. On the other
hand, I have sometimes permitted myself to indulge in comments, discussions, and even suggestions
and speculations, which would be out of place in a dictionary of the usual character. Some of
these, where the results are right, will, I hope, save much future discussion and investigation ;
whilst others, where the results prove to be wrong, can be avoided and rejected. In one respect I
have attempted considerably more than is usually done by the writers of works upon English
etymology. I have endeavoured, where possible, to trace back words to their Aryan roots, by
availing myself of the latest works upon comparative philology. In doing this, I have especially
endeavoured to link one word with another, and the reader will find a perfect network of cross-
references enabling him to collect all the forms of any given word of which various forms exist ;
so that many of the principal words in the Aryan languages can be thus traced. Instead of
considering English as an isolated language, as is sometimes actually done, I endeavour, in every
case, to exhibit its relation to cognate tongues ; and as, by this process, considerable light is thrown
upon English by Latin and Greek, so also, at the same time, considerable light is thrown upon
Latin and Greek by Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic. Thus, whilst under the word bite will be found
a mention of the cognate Latin findere, conversely, under the word fissure, is given a cross-reference
to bite. In both cases, reference is also made to the root BHID ; and, by referring to this root
(no. 240, on p. 738), some further account of it will be found, with further examples of allied words.
It is only by thus comparing all the Aryan languages together, and by considering them as one
harmonious whole, that we can get a clear conception of the original forms ; a conception which must
precede all theory as to how those forms came to be invented l . Another great advantage of the
comparative method is that, though the present work is nominally one on English etymology, it is
equally explicit, as far as it has occasion to deal with them, with regard to the related words in other
languages ; and may be taken as a guide to the etymology of many of the leading words in Latin
and Greek, and to all the more important words in the various Scandinavian and Teutonic tongues.
I have chiefly been guided throughout by the results of my own experience. Much use of many
' I refrain from discussing theories of language in this work, contenting myself with providing materials for aiding in such
discussion.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. V u
dictionaries has shewn me the exact points where an enquirer is often baffled, and I have especially
addressed myself to the task of solving difficulties and passing beyond obstacles. Not inconsiderable
has been the trouble of verifying references. A few examples will put this in a clear light.
Richardson has numerous references (to take a single case) to the Romaunt of the Rose. He
probably used some edition in which the lines are not numbered; at any rate, he never gives an exact
reference to it. The few references to it in Tyrwhitt's Glossary and in Stratmann do not help us very
greatly. To find a particular word in this poem of 7700 lines is often troublesome ; but, in every case
where I wanted the quotation, I have found and noted it. I can recall several half-hours spent in this
particular work.
Another not very hopeful book in which to find one's place, is the Faerie Queene. References to
this are usually given to the book and canto, and of these one or other is (in Richardson) occasionally
incorrect ; in every case, I have added the number of the stanza.
One very remarkable fact about Richardson's dictionary is that, in many cases, references are
given only to obscure and late authors, when all the while the word occurs in Shakespeare. By
keeping Dr. Schmidt's comprehensive Shakespeare Lexicon ' always open before me, this fault has
been easily' remedied.
To pass on to matters more purely etymological. I have constantly been troubled with the
vagueness and inaccuracy of words quoted, in various books, as specimens of Old English or foreign
languages. The spelling of ' Anglo-Saxon ' in some books is often simply outrageous. Accents are
put in or left out at pleasure ; impossible combinations of letters are given ; the number of syllables is
disregarded ; and grammatical terminations have to take their chance. Words taken from Ettmuller
are spelt with a and a ; words taken from Bosworth are spelt with a and <z 2 , without any hint that
the a and <z of the former answer to a and & in the latter. I do not wish to give examples of these
things ; they are so abundant that they may easily be found by the curious. In many cases, writers
of ' etymological ' dictionaries do not trouble to learn even the alphabets of the languages cited from,
or the most elementary grammatical facts. I have met with supposed Welsh words spelt with a v,
with Swedish words spelt with <#, with Danish infinitives ending in -a 3 , with Icelandic infinitives in
-an, and so on ; the only languages correctly spelt being Latin and Greek, and commonly French
and German. It is clearly assumed, and probably with safety, that most readers will not detect
mis-spellings beyond this limited range.
But this was not a matter which troubled me long. At a very early stage of my studies, I per-
ceived clearly enough, that the spelling given by some authorities is not necessarily to be taken as
the true one ; and it was then easy to make allowances for possible errors, and to refer to some book
with reasonable spellings, such as E. Mtiller, or Mahn's Webster, or Wedgwood. A little research
revealed far more curious pieces of information than the citing of words in impossible or mistaken
spellings. Statements abound which it is difficult to account for except on the supposition that it must
once have been usual to manufacture words for the express purpose of deriving others from them. To
take an example, I open Todd's Johnson at random, and find that under bolster is cited 'Gothic bolster,
a heap of hay.' Now the fragments of Gothic that have reached us are very precious but very insuffi-
cient, and they certainly contain no such word as bolster. Neither is bolster a Gothic spelling. Holster
is represented in Gothic by hulistr, so that bolster might, possibly, be bulistr. In any case, as the
word certainly does not occur, it can only be a pure invention, due to some blunder ; the explanation
1 To save time, I have seldom verified Dr. Schmidt's references, seldom provided for.
believing them to be, in general, correct. I have seldom so trusted * Todd's Johnson, s.v. Soil, has 'Su. Goth, bulna, Dan. bulner.'
any other book. Here bulna is the Swedish infinitive, whilst bulner is the first person
* Sic ; printers often make ae do duty for <. I suspect that & is of the present tense. Similar jumbles abound.
viii PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
' a heap of hay ' is -a happy and graphic touch, regarded in the light of a fiction, but is out of place in
a work of reference.
A mistake of this nature would not greatly matter if such instances were rare ; but the extra-
ordinary part of the matter is that they are extremely common, owing probably to the trust reposed by
former writers in such etymologists as Skinner and Junius, men who did good work in their day, but
whose statements require careful verification in this nineteenth century. What Skinner was capable of,
I have shewn in my introduction to the reprint of Ray's Glossary published for the English Dialect
Society. It is sufficient to say that the net result is this ; that words cited in etymological dic-
tionaries (with very few exceptions) cannot be accepted without verification. Not only do we find
puzzling misspellings, but we find actual fictions ; words are said to be ' Anglo-Saxon ' that are not to
be found in the existing texts ; ' Gothic ' words are constructed for the mere purpose of ' etymology ; '
Icelandic words have meanings assigned to them which are incredible or misleading ; and so on of
the rest.
Another source of trouble is that, when real words are cited, they are wrongly explained. Thus,
in Todd's Johnson, we find a derivation of bond from A. S. ' bond, bound.' Now bond is not strictly
Anglo-Saxon, but an Early English form, signifying 'a band,' and is not a past participle at all; the
A. S. for 'bound' being gebunden. The error is easily traced; Dr. Bosworth cites 'bond, bound,
ligatus' from Somner's Dictionary, whence it was also copied into Lye's Dictionary in the form: 'bond,
ligatus, obligatus, bottnd.' Where Somner found it, is a mystery indeed, as it is absurd on the face of
it. We should take a man to be a very poor German scholar who imagined that band, in German, is
a past participle ; but when the same mistake is made by Somner, we find that it is copied by Lye,
copied by Bosworth (who, however, marks it as Somner's), copied into Todd's Johnson, amplified by
Richardson into the misleading statement that 'bond is the past tense 1 and past participle of the verb
to bind,' and has doubtless been copied by numerous other writers who have wished to come at their
etymologies with the least trouble to themselves. It is precisely this continual reproduction of errors
which so disgraces many English works, and renders investigation so difficult.
But when I had grasped the facts that spellings are often false, that words can be invented,
and that explanations are often wrong, I found that worse remained behind. The science of phi-
lology is comparatively modern, so that our earlier writers had no means of ascertaining principles
that are now well established, and, instead of proceeding by rule, had to go blindly by guesswork, thus
sowing crops of errors which have sprung up and multiplied till it requires very careful investigation
to enable a modern writer to avoid all the pitfalls prepared for him by the false suggestions which he
meets with at every turn. Many derivations that have been long current and are even generally
accepted will not be found in this volume, for the plain reason that I have found them to be false ; I
think I may at any rate believe myself to be profoundly versed in most of the old fables of this
character, and I shall only say, briefly, that the reader need not assume me to be ignorant of them
because I do not mention them. The most extraordinary fact about comparative philology is that,
whilst its principles are well understood by numerous students in Germany and America, they are far
from being well-known in England, so that it is easy to meet even with classical scholars who have
no notion what 'Grimm's law' really means, and who are entirely at a loss to understand why the
English care has no connection with the Latin cura, nor the English whole with the Greek oAos, nor
the French charitf with the Greek x<fy"*- Yet for the understanding of these things nothing more is
needed than a knowledge of the relative values of the letters of the English, Latin, and Greek
alphabets. A knowledge of these alphabets is strangely neglected at our public schools ; whereas a
1 Bond is a form of the fust tense in Middle English, and indeed the sb. bond is itself derived from the A. S. pt. t. band ; but bond is
certainly not ' the past participle.'
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. ix
few hours carefully devoted to each would save scholars from innumerable blunders, and a boy of
sixteen who understood them would be far more than a match, in matters of etymology, for a man of
fifty who did not. In particular, some knowledge of the vowel-sounds is essential. Modern phi-
lology will, in future, turn more and more upon phonetics ; and the truth now confined to a very few
will at last become general, that the vowel is commonly the very life, the most essential part of the
word, and that, just as pre-scientific etymologists frequently went wrong because they considered the
consonants as being of small consequence and the vowels of none at all, the scientific student of the
present day may hope to go right, if he considers the consonants as being of great consequence and
the vowels as all-important.
The foregoing remarks are, I think, sufficient to shew my reasons for undertaking the work, and
the nature of some of the difficulties which I have endeavoured to encounter or remove. I now
proceed to state explicitly what the reader may expect to find.
Each article begins with a word, the etymology of which is to be sought. When there are one or
more words with the same spelling, a number is added, for the sake of distinction in the case of future
reference. This is a great convenience when such words are cited in the ' List of Aryan Roots ' and in
the various indexes at the end of the volume, besides saving trouble in making cross-references.
After the word comes a brief definition, merely as a mark whereby to identify the word.
Next follows an exact statement of the actual (or probable) language whence the word is taken,
with an account of the channel or channels through which it reached us. Thus the word ' Canopy ' is
marked '(F., Ital., L., Gk.),' to be read as 'French, from Italian, from Latin, from Greek;'
that is to say, the word is ultimately Greek, whence it was borrowed, first by Latin, secondly by
Italian (from the Latin), thirdly by French (from the Italian), and lastly by English (from French).
The endeavour to distinguish the exact history of each word in this manner conduces greatly to care
and attention, and does much to render the etymology correct. I am not aware that any attempt of
the kind has previously been made, except very partially ; the usual method, of offering a heap of
more or less related words in one confused jumble, is much to be deprecated, and is often misleading 1 .
After the exact statement of the source, follow a few quotations. These are intended to indicate
the period at which the word was borrowed, or else the usual Middle-English forms. When the word
is not a very old one, I have given one or two of the earliest quotations which I have been able to
find, though I have here preferred quotations from well-known authors to somewhat earlier ones from
more obscure writers. These quotations are intended to exemplify the history of the form of the
word, and are frequently of great chronological utility ; though it is commonly sufficient to indicate
the period of the word's first use within half a century. By way of example, I may observe that canon
is not derived from F. canon, but appears in King Alfred, and was taken immediately from the Latin.
I give the reference under Canon, to Alfred's translation of Beda, b. iv. c. 24, adding ' Bosworth ' at
the end. This means that I took the reference from Bosworth's Dictionary, and had not, at the
moment, the means of verifying the quotation (I now find it is quite correct, occurring on p. 598
of Smith's edition, at 1. 13). When no indication of the authority for the quotation is given, it com-
monly means that I have verified it myself; except in the case of Shakespeare, where I have
usually trusted to Dr. Schmidt.
A chief feature of the present work, and one which has entailed enormous labour, is that, when-
ever I cite old forms or foreign words, from which any given English word is derived or with which it
is connected, I have actually verified the spellings and significations of these words by help of the
1 In Webster's dictionary, the etymology of canopy is well and Span, and Port, eurso, Lat. cursus,' &c. Here the Latin form
sufficiently given, but many articles are very confused. Thus Course should have followed the French. With the Prov., Ital., Span.,
is derived fiom'F. cwrs, course, Prov. cars, corsa. Ital. corso, corsa, ar.d Port forms we have absolutely nothing to do.
x PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
dictionaries of which a list is given in the 'Key to the General Plan' immediately preceding the letter
A. I have done this in order to avoid two common errors; (i) that of misspelling the words cited 1 ,
and (a) that of misinterpreting them. The exact source or edition whence every word is copied is,
in every case, precisely indicated, it being understood that, when no author is specified, the word is
taken from the book mentioned in the ' Key.' Thus every statement made may be easily verified,
and I can assure those who have had no experience in such investigations that this is no small matter.
I have frequently found that some authors manipulate the meanings of words to suit their own con-
venience, when not tied down in this manner ; and, not wishing to commit the like mistake, which
approaches too nearly to dishonesty to be wittingly indulged in, I have endeavoured by this means to
remove the temptation of being led to swerve from the truth in this particular. Yet it may easily be
that fancy has sometimes led me astray in places where there is room for some speculation, and I
must therefore beg the reader, whenever he has any doubts, to verify the statements for himself (as, in
general, he easily may), and he will then see the nature of the premises from which the conclusions
have been drawn. In many instances it will be found that the meanings are given, for the sake of
brevity, less fully than they might have been, and that the arguments for a particular view are often
far stronger than they are represented to be.
The materials collected by the Philological Society will doubtless decide many debateable points,
and will definitely confirm or refute, in many cases, the results here arrived at. It is, perhaps, proper
to point out that French words are more often cited from Cotgrave than in their modern forms.
Very few good words have been borrowed by us from French at a late period, so that modern French
is not of much use to an English etymologist. In particular, I have intentionally disregarded
the modern French accentuation. To derive our word recreation from the F. recreation gives a false
impression ; for it was certainly borrowed from French before the accents were added.
In the case of verbs and substantives (or other mutually related words), considerable pains have
been taken to ascertain and to point out whether the verb has been formed from the substantive,
or whether, conversely, the substantive is derived from the verb. This often makes a good deal
of difference to the etymology. Thus, when Richardson derives the adj. full from the verb to fill,
he reverses the fact, and shews that he was entirely innocent of any knowledge of the relative value
of the Anglo-Saxon vowels. Similar mistakes are common even in treating of Greek and Latin.
Thus, when Richardson says that the Latin laborare is 'of uncertain etymology,' he must have
meant the remark to apply to the sb. labor. The etymology of laborare is obvious, viz. from that
substantive.
The numerous cross-references will enable the student, in many cases, to trace back words to
the Aryan root, and will frequently lead to additional information. Whenever a word has a 'doublet,'
i.e. appears in a varying form, a note is made of the fact at the end of the article ; and a complete
list of these will be found in the Appendix.
The Appendix contains a list of Prefixes, a general account of Suffixes, a List of Aryan Roots,
and Lists of Homonyms and Doublets. Besides these, I have attempted to give lists shewing
the Distribution of the Sources of English. As these lists are far more comprehensive than any
which I have been able to find in other books, and are subdivided into classes in a much stricter
manner than has ever yet been attempted, I may crave some indulgence for the errors in them.
From the nature of the work, I have been unable to obtain much assistance in it. The
mechanical process of preparing the copy for press, and the subsequent revision of proofs, have
entailed upon me no inconsiderable amount of labour ; and the constant shifting from one language
' With all this care, mistakes creep in ; see the Errata. But 1 feel sure that they are not very numerous.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. xi
to another has required patience and attention. The result is that a few annoying oversights have
occasionally crept in, due mostly to a brief lack of attention on the part of eye or brain. In again
going over the whole work for the purpose of making an epitome of it, I have noticed some of
these errors, and a list of them is given in the Errata. Other errors have been kindly pointed
out to me, which are also noted in the Addenda ; and I beg leave to thank those who have rendered
me such good service. I may also remark that letters have reached me which cannot be turned
to any good account, and it is sometimes surprising that a few correspondents should be so eager
to manifest their entire ignorance of all philological principles. Such cases are, however, exceptional,
and I am very anxious to receive, and to make use of, all reasonable suggestions. The experience
gained in writing the first ' part ' of the book, from A D, proved of much service ; and I believe
that errors are fewer near the end than near the beginning. Whereas I was at first inclined to
trust too much to Brachet's Etymological French Dictionary, I now believe that Scheler is a better
guide, and that I might have consulted Littre even more frequently than I have done. Near the
beginning of the work, I had no copy of Littre of my own, nor of Palsgrave, nor of some other
very useful books ; but experience soon shewed what books were most necessary to be added to
my very limited collection. In the study of English etymology, it often happens that instantaneous
reference to some rather unexpected source is almost an absolute necessity, and it is somewhat
difficult to make provision for such a call within the space of one small room. This is the real
reason why some references to what may, to some students, be very familiar works, have been
taken at second-hand. I have merely made the best use I could of the materials nearest at hand.
But for this, the work would have been more often interrupted, and time would have been wasted
which could ill be spared.
It is also proper to state that with many articles I am not satisfied. Those that presented no
difficulty, and took up but little time, are probably the best and most certain. In very difficult cases,
my usual rule has been not to spend more than three hours over one word. During that time, I made
the best I could of it, and then let it go. I hope it may be understood that my object in making this
and other similar statements regarding my difficulties is merely to enable the reader to consult the
book with the greater safety, and to enable him to form his own opinion as to how far it is to be
trusted. My honest opinion is that those whose philological knowledge is but small may safely
accept the results here given, since they may else do worse ; whilst advanced students will receive
them with that caution which so difficult a study soon renders habitual.
One remark concerning the printing of the book is worth making. It is common for writers to
throw the blame of errors upon the printers, and there is in this a certain amount of truth in some
instances. But illegible writing should also receive its fair portion of blame ; and it is only just to
place the fact on record, that I have frequently received from the press a first rough proof of a sheet
of this work, abounding in words taken from a great many languages, in which not a single printer's
error occurred of any kind whatever ; and many others in which the errors were very trivial and
unimportant, and seldom extended to the actual spelling.
I am particularly obliged to those who have kindly given me hints or corrections ; Mr. Sweet's
account of the word left, and his correction for the word bless, have been very acceptable, and I much
regret that his extremely valuable collection of the earliest English vocabularies and other records is
not yet published, as it will certainly yield valuable information. I am also indebted for some useful
hints to Professor Cowell, and to the late Mr. Henry Nicol, whose knowledge of early French
phonology was almost unrivalled. Also to Dr. Stratmann, and the Rev. A. L. Mayhew, of Oxford, for
several corrections ; to Professor Potwin, of Hudson, Ohio ; to Dr. J. N. Gronland, of Stockholm, for
some notes upon Swedish ; to Dr. Murray, the Rev. O. W. Tancock. and the Rev. D Silvan
xii PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
Evans, for various notes ; and to several other correspondents who have kindly taken a practical
interest in the work.
In some portions of the Appendix I have received very acceptable assistance. The preparation
of the lists shewing the Distribution of Words was entirely the work of others ; I have done little
more than revise them. For the word-lists from A Literature, I am indebted to Miss Mantle, of
Girton College ; and for the lists from Litharge Reduplicate, to A. P. Allsopp, Esq., of Trinity
College, Cambridge. The rest was prepared by my eldest daughter, who also prepared the numerous
examples of English words given in the List of Aryan Roots, and the List of Doublets. To Miss F.
Whitehead I am indebted for the List of Homonyms.
To all the above-named and to other well-wishers I express my sincere thanks.
But I cannot take leave of a work which has closely occupied my time during the past four years
without expressing the hope that it may prove of service, not only to students of comparative phi-
lology and of early English, but to all who are interested in the origin, history, and development of
the noble language which is the common inheritance of all English-speaking peoples. It is to be
expected that, owing to the increased attention which of late years has been given to the study of
languages, many of the conclusions at which I have arrived may require important modification or
even entire change ; but I nevertheless trust that the use of this volume may tend, on the whole,
to the suppression of such guesswork as entirely ignores all rules. I trust that it may, at the same
time, tend to strengthen the belief that, as in all other studies, true results are only to be obtained
by reasonable inferences from careful observations, and that the laws which regulate the develop-
ment of language, though frequently complicated by the interference of one word with another,
often present the most surprising examples of regularity. The speech of man is, in fact, influenced
by physical laws, or in other words, by the working of divine power. It is therefore possible to
pursue the study of language in a spirit of reverence similar to that in which we study what are
called the works of nature ; and by aid of that spirit we may gladly perceive a new meaning in
the sublime line of our poet Coleridge, that
' Earth, with her thousand voices, praises God."
CAMBRIDGE, Sept. 29, 1881.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
IN a work which, like the present undertaking, covers so much ground and deals with so many
languages, it is very difficult to secure complete accuracy ; it can, perhaps, at best be only aimed
at. Several errors have been detected by myself, and kind friends have pointed out others. New
facts are continually being brought to light ; for the science of philology is, at this time, still rapidly
progressive. Fortunately, everything tends in the direction of closer accuracy and greater certainty,
and we may hope that the number of doubtful points will steadily diminish.
In particular, I am obliged to Mr. H. Wedgwood for his publication entitled 'Contested
Etymologies in the Dictionary of the Rev. W. W. Skeat ; London, Triibner and Co., 1882.' I have
carefully read this book, and have taken from it several useful hints. In reconsidering the ety-
mologies of the words which he treats, I have, in some cases, adopted his views either wholly
or in part. In a few instances, he does not really contest what I have said, but notices something
that I have left unsaid. For example, I omitted to state that he was the first person to point out
the etymology of wanton ; unfortunately, I did not observe his article on the subject, and had to
rediscover the etymology for myself, with the same result. Hence the number of points on which
we differ is now considerably reduced ; and I think a further reduction might have been made if
he could have seen his way, in like manner, to adopting views from me. I think that some of
the etymologies of which he treats cannot fairly be said to be ' contested ' ; for there are cases in
which he is opposed, not only to myself, but to everyone else. Thus, with regard to the word
avoid, he would have us derive the F. vuide (or vide), empty, from O. H. G. wit rather than from
the Lat. uiduus; to which I would reply that, in a matter of French etymology, most scholars
are quite content to accept the etymology given by Littr6, Scheler, and Diez, in a case wherein
they are all agreed and see no difficulty in the matter.
The List of Errata and Addenda, as given in the first edition, has been almost entirely
rewritten. Most of the Errata (especially where they arose from misprints) have been corrected
in the body of the work ; and I am particularly obliged to Mr. C. E, Doble for several minute
corrections, and for his kindness in closely regarding the accentuation of Greek words. The number
of Additional Words in the present Addenda is about two tnindred, whereas the list of Additional
Words in the first edition is little more than fifty. I am much obliged to Mr. Charles Sweet for
suggesting several useful additions, and especially for sending me some explanations of several
legal terms, such as assart, barrator, escrow, essoin, and the like. I think that some of the best
etymologies in the volume may be found in these additional articles, and I hope the reader will
kindly remember to consult this supplement, commencing at p. 775, before concluding that he has
seen all that I have to say upon any word he may be seeking for. Of course this supplement
remains incomplete ; there are literally no bounds to the English language.
I also gladly take the opportunity of gratefully acknowledging the assistance of the Rev. A. L.
Mayhew, who not only sent me a large number of suggestions, but has much assisted me by
xiv PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
reading the proof-sheets of the Addenda. I also beg leave to thank here the numerous corre-
spondents who have kindly corrected individual words.
I have also made some use of the curious book on Folk-Etymology by the Rev. A. S. Palmer,
which is full of erudition and contains a large number of most useful and exact references. The author
is not quite sound as to the quantity of the Anglo-Saxon vowels, and has, in some instances,
attempted to connect words that are really unrelated ; thus, under Halter, he connects A. S. hat,
hot, with Goth, hatis, hate. In many places I think the plan of his book has led him into multi-
plying unduly the number of 'corruptions'; so that caution is needful in consulting the book.
At the time of writing this, we are anxiously expecting the issue of the first part of
Dr. Murray's great and comprehensive English Dictionary, founded on the materials collected by
the Philological Society ; and I suppose it is hardly necessary to add that, if any of my results
as to the etymology of such words as he has discussed are found not to agree with his, I at once
submit to his careful induction from better materials and to the results of the assistance his work
has received from many scholars. I have already had the benefit of some kindly assistance from
him, as for example, in the case of the words adjust, admiral, agnail, allay, alloy, almanack, and
almond.
Eveiy day's experience helps to shew how great and how difficult is the task of presenting
results in a form such as modern scientific criticism will accept. Every slip is a lesson in humility,
shewing how much remains to be learnt. At the same time, I cannot close these few words
of preface without hearty thanks to the many students, in many parts of the world, who have
cheered me with kindly words and have found my endeavours helpful.
CAMBRIDGE, December 31, 1883.
BRIEF NOTES UPON THE LANGUAGES CITED IN
THE DICTIONARY.
ENGLISH. Words marked (E.) are pure English, and form the true basis of the language. They can
commonly be traced back for about a thousand years, but their true origin is altogether pre-historic and of
great antiquity. Many of them, such as father, mother, &c., have corresponding cognate forms in Sanskrit,
Greek, and Latin. These forms are collateral, and the true method of comparison is by placing them side by
side. Thus father is no more 'derived' from the Sanskrit pild 1 than the Skt. pitd is 'derived' from the
English father. Both are descended from a common Aryan type, and that is all. Sometimes Sanskrit is
said to be an ' elder sister ' to English ; the word ' elder ' would be better omitted. Sanskrit has doubtless suffered
less change, but even twin sisters are not always precisely alike, and, in the course of many years, one may
come to look younger than the other. The symbol + is particularly used to call attention to collateral descent,
as distinct from borrowing or derivation. English forms belonging to the ' Middle-English ' period are marked
'M. E.' This period extends, roughly speaking, from about 1200 to 1460, both these dates being arbitrarily
chosen. Middle-English consisted of three dialects, Northern, Midland, and Southern ; the dialect depends
upon the author cited. The spellings of the ' M. E.' words are usually given in the actual forms found in the
editions referred to, not always in the theoretical forms as given by Stratmann, though these are, etymologically,
more correct Those who possess Stratmann's Dictionary will do well to consult it.
Words belonging to English of an earlier date than about 1150 or 1200 are marked ' A. S.', i.e. Anglo-
Saxon. Some have asked why they have not been marked as ' O. E.', i. e., Oldest English. Against this,
there are two reasons. The first is, that ' O. E.' would be read as ' Old English,' and this term has been used
so vaguely, and has so often been made to include ' M. E.' as well, that it has ceased to be distinctive, and
has become comparatively useless. The second and more important reason is that, unfortunately, Oldest English
and Anglo-Saxon are not coextensive. The former consisted, in all probability, of three main dialects, but the
remains of two of these are very scanty. Of Old Northern, we have little left beyond the Northumbrian
versions of the Gospels and the glosses in the Durham Ritual : of Old Midland, almost the only scrap preserved
is in the Rushworth gloss to St. Matthew's Gospel ; but of Old Southern, or, strictly, of the old dialect of
Wessex, the remains are fairly abundant, and these are commonly called Anglo-Saxon. It is therefore proper
to use ' A. S.' to denote this definite dialect, which, after all, represents only the speech of a particular portion
of England. The term is well-established and may therefore be kept ; else it is not a particularly happy one,
since the Wessex dialect was distinct from the Northern or Anglian dialect, and ' Anglo-Saxon ' must, for
philological purposes, be taken to mean Old English in which Anglian is not necessarily included.
Anglo-Saxon cannot be properly understood without some knowledge of its phonology, and English etymology
cannot be fairly made out without some notion of the gradations of the Anglo-Saxon vowel-system. For these
things, the student must consult Sweet's Anglo-Saxon Reader and March's Grammar. Only a few brief hints
can be given here.
SHORT VOWELS : a, x, e, i, o, u, y.
LONG VOWELS : d, , /, f, 6, 6, $.
DIPHTHONGS : ed, answering to Goth, au ; e6, Goth, iu ; also (in early MSS.) it and z'/.
BREAKINGS. The vowel a commonly becomes ea when preceded by g, c, or sc, or when followed by
/, r, h, or x. Similarly e or may become to. The most usual vowel-change is that produced by the occurrence
of z' (which O f ten disappeared) in the following syllable. This changes the vowels in row (i) below to the
corresponding vowels in row (2) below.
(i) a, u. ea, to, A, 6, 6, ed, e6.
( 2 ) '. y, y, y> * 4 j> / /
These two rows should be learnt by heart, as a knowledge of them is required at almost every turn.
Note that d and most often arise from an original (Aryan) i; whilst e6, ed, 6, and / arise from original u.
Modern E. th is represented by A.S. \> or ft, used indifferently in the MSS. ; see note to Th.
Strong verbs are of great importance, and originated many derivatives ; these derivatives can be deduced
1 Given as pitri in the Dictionary, this being the ' crude form ' under which it appears in Benfey.
xvi BRIEF NOTES UPON THE LANGUAGES CITED IN THE DICTIONARY.
from the form of the past tense singular, of the past tense plural, or of the past participle, as well as from the
infinitive mood. It is therefore necessary to ascertain all these leading forms. Ex : bindan, to bind ; pt. t band,
pi. bundon, pp. bunden. From the pt. t. we have the sb. band or bond; from the pp. we have the sb. bundle.
Examples of the Conjugations are these.
1. Feallan, to fall; pt. t./edll, pl./ettlon ; pp./eatten. Base FAL= A/SPAR.
2. Bindan, to bind; pt. t. band, pi. bundon; pp. bunden. Base BAND= \/BHANDH.
3. Beran, to bear; pt. t. beer, pi. b&ron; pp. boren. Base BAR= -/BHAR.
4. Gifan, to give ; pt. t. geaf, pi. ge&fon, pp. gifen. Base GAB.
5. Scinan, to shine ; pt. t. scdn, pi. scinon, pp. scinen. Base SKI.
6. Be6dan, to bid ; pt. t. bedd, pi. budon, pp. boden. Base BUD.
7. Faran, to fare; pt. \~f6r, p\.f6ron, pp.faren. Base FAR=\/PAR.
Strong verbs are often attended by secondary or causal verbs ; other secondary verbs are formed from sub-
stantives. Many of these ended originally in -tan ; the i of this suffix often disappears, causing gemination of the
preceding consonant. Thus we have habban, to have (for haf-ian*}; beccan, to thatch (foi fiac-t'an*); biddan, to pray
(for bid-tan*); secgan, to say (for sag-tan*); sellan, to give, sell (for sal-tan*); dyppan, to dip (for dup-ian*); seitan,
to set (for sat-ian *). With a few exceptions, these are weak verbs, with pt. t. in -ode, and pp. in -od.
Authorities : Grein, Ettmiiller, Somner, Lye, Bosworth, Leo, March, Sweet, Wright's Vocabularies.
OLD LOW GERMAN. Denoted by ' O. Low G.' This is a term which I have employed for want of
a better. It is meant to include a not very large class of words, the precise origin of which is wrapped in some
obscurity. If not precisely English, they come very near it. The chief difficulty about them is that the time
of their introduction into English is uncertain. Either they belong to Old Friesian, and were introduced by
the Friesians who came over to England with the Saxons, or to some form of Old Dutch or Old Saxon, and
may have been introduced from Holland, possibly even in the fourteenth century, when it was not uncommon for
Flemings to come here. Some of them may yet be found in Anglo-Saxon. I call them Old Low German
because they clearly belong to some Old Low German dialect ; and I put them in a class together in order to
call attention to them, in the hope that their early history may receive further elucidation.
DUTCH. The introduction into Eng.ish of Dutch words is somewhat important, yet seems to have received
but little attention. I am convinced that the influence of Dutch upon English has been much underrated,
and a closer attention to this question might throw some light even upon English history. I think I may
take the credit of being the first to point this out with sufficient distinctness. History tells us that our
relations with the Netherlands have often been rather close. We read of Flemish mercenary soldiers being
employed by the Normans, and of Flemish settlements in Wales, 'where (says old Fabyan, I know not with
what truth) they remayned a longe whyle, but after, they sprad all Englande ouer.' We may recall the
alliance between Edward III and the free towns of Flanders ; and the importation by Edward of Flemish
weavers. The wool used by the cloth-workers of the Low Countries grew on the backs of English sheep ;
and other close relations between us and our nearly related neighbours grew out of the brewing-trade, the
invention of printing, and the reformation of religion. Caxton spent thirty years in Flanders (where the first
English book was printed), and translated the Low German version of Reynard the Fox. Tyndale settled at
Antwerp to print his New Testament, and was strangled at Vilvorde. But there was a still closer contact in
the time of Elizabeth. Very instructive is Gascoigne's poem on the Fruits of War, where he describes his
experiences in Holland ; and every one knows that Zutphen saw the death of the beloved Sir Philip Sidney.
As to the introduction of cant words from Holland, see Beaumont and Fletcher's play entitled ' The Beggar's
Bush.' After Antwerp had been captured by the Duke of Parma, ' a third of the merchants and manufacturers
of the ruined city,' says Mr. Green, 'are said to have found a refuge on the banks of the Thames.' All this
cannot but have affected our language, and it ought to be accepted, as tolerably certain, that during the
fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, particularly the last, several Dutch words were introduced into
England ; and it would be curious to enquire whether, during the same period, several English words did not,
in like manner, find currency in the Netherlands. The words which I have collected, as being presumably
Dutch, are deserving of special attention.
For the pronunciation of Dutch, see Sweet's Handbook of Phonetics. It is to be noted that the English
oo in boor exactly represents the Dutch oe in doer (the same word). Also, that the Dutch sch is very different
from the German sound, and is Englished by sc or sk, as in landscape, formerly landskip. The audacity with
which English has turned the Dutch ui in bruin (brown) into broo-in is an amazing instance of the influence
BRIEF NOTES UPON THE LANGUAGES CITED IN THE DICTIONARY. xvii
of spelling upon speech. V and z are common, where English has f and s. The symbol ij is used for
double i, and was formerly written y ; it is pronounced like E. i in wine. The standard Low German th
appears as d; thus, whilst thatch is English, deck is Dutch. Ol appears as ou, as in oud, old, goud, gold,
houden, to hold. D between two vowels sometimes disappears, as in weer (for weder*), a wether. The
language abounds with frequentative verbs in -eren and -elen, and with diminutive substantives in -jt (also -tje, -pje,
-etje), a suffix which has been substituted for the obsolete diminutive suffix -ken.
Authorities : Oudemans, Kilian, Hexham, Sewel, Ten Kate, Delfortrie ; dictionary printed by Tauchnitz.
OLD PBIESIC. Closely allied to Anglo-Saxon; some English words are rather Friesian than Saxon.
Authorities : Richthofen ; also (for modern North Friesic) Outzen ; (for modern East Friesic) Koolman.
OLD SAXON. The old dialect of Westphalia, and closely allied to Old Dutch. Authority: Heyne.
LOW GERMAN. This name is given to an excellent vocabulary of a Low German dialect, in the
work commonly known as the Bremen Worterbuch.
SCANDINAVIAN. By this name I denote the old Danish, introduced into England by the Danes
and Northmen who, in the early period of our history, came over to England in great numbers. Often driven
back, they continually returned, and on many occasions made good their footing and remained here. Their
language is best represented by Icelandic, owing to the curious fact that, ever since the first colonisation of
Iceland by the Northmen about A.D. 874, the language of the settlers has been preserved with but slight
changes. Hence, instead of its appearing strange that English words should be borrowed from Icelandic,
it must be remembered that this name represents, for philological purposes, the language of those Northmen,
who, settling in England, became ancestors of some of the very best men amongst us; and as they settled
chiefly in Northumbria and East Anglia, parts of England not strictly represented by Anglo-Saxon, ' Icelandic '
or 'Old Norse' (as it is also called) has come to be, it may almost be said, English of the English. In
some cases, I derive ' Scandinavian ' words from Swedish, Danish, or Norwegian ; but no more is meant
by this than that the Swedish, Danish, or Norwegian words are the best representatives of the ' Old Norse '
that I could find. The number of words actually borrowed from what (in the modern sense) is strictly Swedish
or strictly Danish is but small, and they have been duly noted.
Icelandic. Vowels, as in Anglo-Saxon, are both short and long, the long vowels being marked with an
accent, as d, /, &c. To the usual vowels are added 6, and the diphthongs au, ey, ei; also x, which is written both
for x and at, strictly of different origin; &\soja,jd,jo,j6,ju. Among the consonants are 5, the voiced th (as in E.
thou), and b, the voiceless th (as in E. thin). D was at one time written both for d and 8. f>, ae, and 6 come
at the end of the alphabet. There is no w. The A.S. w and hw appear as v and hv. The most usual
vowel-change is that which is caused by the occurrence of i (expressed or understood) in the following syllable ;
this changes the vowels in row (i) below into the corresponding vowels in row (2) below.
(1) a, o, u, au, d, 6, {i, j6, ju.
( 2 ) f , y, y, ey, *> *, /> j, /
Assimilation is common; thus dd stands for 8</, or for Goth. 2</(=A.S. rd); kk, for nk; II, for Ir or lp;
nn, for nfi, nd, or nr ; //, for dt, ht, kt, nt, ndt, t}>. Initial sk should be particularly noticed, as most E. words
beginning with sc or sk are of Scand. origin; the A.S. sc being represented by E. sh. Very remarkable is
the loss of v in initial -or = A.S. wr; the same loss occurring in modern English. Infinitives end in -a or
-ja ; verbs in -ja, with very few exceptions, are weak, with pp. ending in -8, -8r, -/, -tr, &c. ; whereas strong
verbs have the pp. in -inn.
Authorities: Cleasby and Vigfusson, Egilsson, Mobius, Vigfusson's Icelandic Reader.
Swedish. To the usual vowels add a, 3, d, which are placed at the end of the alphabet. Diphthongs
do not occur, except in foreign words. Qv is used where English has qu. The Old Swedish w (= A.S. w)
is now v. The Icelandic and A.S. initial J> (= th) is replaced by /, as in Danish, not by d, as in Dutch ;
and our language bears some traces of this peculiarity, as, e. g. in the word hustings (for husihings), and again
in the word light or taut (Icel. J>e"flr).
Assimilation occurs in some words, as in _/?*- (for finda*), to find, dricka (for dnnka*), to drink; but
it is less common than in Icelandic.
Infinitives end in -a; past participles of strong verbs in -en; weak verbs make the pt. t. in -ode, -de, or
-te, and the pp. in -ad, -d, or -/.
Authorities : Ihre (Old Swedish, also called Suio-Gothic, with explanations in Latin) ; Widegren ; Tauchnitz
dictionary; Rietz (Swedish dialects, a valuable book, written in Swedish).
b
xviii BRIEF NOTES UPON THE LANGUAGES CITED IN THE DICTIONARY.
Danish. To the usual vowels add se and o, which are placed at the end of the alphabet. The symbol
6 is also written and printed as o with a slanting stroke drawn through it ; thus </>. Qv is used where English
has qu; but is replaced by kv in Aasen's Norwegian dictionary. V is used where English has w. The
Icelandic and A.S. initial J> (th) is replaced by /, as in Swedish; not by d, as in Dutch. Assimilation occurs
in some words, as in drikke, to drink, but is still less common than in Swedish. Thus the Icel. finna, Swed.
finna, to find, is finde in Danish. Mand (for mann *), a man, is a remarkable form. We should particularly
notice that final k, t, p, and f sometimes become g, d, b, and v respectively ; as in bog, a book, rag-e, to
rake, tag-e, to take ; ged, a goat, bid-e, to bite, grxd-e, to weep (Lowland Scotch greet) ; reb, a rope, grib-e, to
grip or gripe, knib-e, to nip ; liv, life, kniv, knife, viv, wife. Infinitives end in -e ; the past participles of strong
verbs properly end in -en, but these old forms are not common, being replaced (as in Swedish) by later forms
in -et or -/, throughout the active voice.
Authority: Ferrall and Repp's Dictionary.
Norwegian. Closely allied to Danish.
Authority : Aasen's Dictionary of Norwegian dialects (written in Danish).
GOTHIC. The Gothic alphabet, chiefly borrowed from Greek, has been variously transliterated into
Roman characters. I have followed the system used in my Mceso-Gothic Dictionary, which I still venture to
think the best. It is the same as that used by Massmann, except that I put w for his v, kw for his kv, and
hw for his hv, thus turning all his w's into M>'S, as every true Englishman ought to do. Stamm has the same
system as Massmann, with the addition of f> for th (needless), and q for kw, which is not pleasant to the
eye ; so that he writes qap for kwath (i. e. quoth). J corresponds to the E. y. One peculiarity of Gothic
must be particularly noted. As the alphabet was partly imitated from Greek, its author used gg and gk (like
Gk. yy, yic) to represent ng and nk; as in tuggo, tongue, drigkan, to drink. The Gothic vowel-system is
particularly simple and clear, and deserving of special attention, as being the best standard with which to
compare the vowel-systems of other Teutonic languages. The primary vowels are a, i, u, always short, and
e, o, always long. The two latter are also written /, 6, by German editors, but nothing is gained by it, and
it may be observed that this marking of the letters is theoretical, as no accents appear in the MSS. The
diphthongs are ai, au, ei, and iu; the two former being distinguished, theoretically, into ai and di, au and du.
March arranges the comparative value of these vowels and diphthongs according to the following scheme,
Aryan A I U AI (Skt. /) AU (Skt. 6).
r> u- / a, i, u, ) i u ei iu.
Gothlc i ai, au, } ai au
Aryan A 1 U AI AU.
Gothic e, o ei u di au.
Hence we may commonly expect the Gothic ai, ei, to arise from an original I, and the Gothic iu, au, to
arise from an original U. The Gothic consonant-system also furnishes a convenient standard for other Teutonic
dialects, especially for all Low-German. It agrees very closely with Anglo-Saxon and English. But note that
A.S. gifan, to give, is Gothic giban (base GAB), and so in other instances. Also ear, hear, berry, are the
same as Goth, auso, hausjan, last, shewing that in such words the E. r is dfle to original s.
Authorities : Gabelentz and Lobe, Diefenbach, Schulze, Massmann, Stamm, &c. (See the list of authorities
in my own Mceso-Gothic Glossary, which I have used almost throughout, as it is generally sufficient for
practical purposes) 1 .
GERMAN. Properly called High-German, to distinguish it from the other Teutonic dialects, which belong
to Low- German. This, of all Teutonic languages, is the furthest removed from English, and the one from
which fewest words are directly borrowed, though there is a very general popular notion (due to the utter want
of philological training so common amongst us) that the contrary is the case. A knowledge of German is
often the sole idea by which an Englishman regulates his ' derivations ' of Teutonic words ; and he is better
pleased if he can find the German equivalent of an English word than by any true account of the same
word, however clearly expressed. Yet it is well established, by Grimm's law of sound-shiftings, that the German
and English consonantal systems are very different. Owing to the replacement of the Old High German p by
the Mod. G. b, and other changes, English and German now approach each other more nearly than Grimm's
law suggests ; but we may still observe the following very striking differences in the dental consonants.
1 Let me note here that, for the pronunciation of Gothic, the student should consult my edition of the Gospel of St. Mark in
Gothic, Oxford, 1882 ; in which the errors occurring on p. 288 of my Gothic Glossary are corrected.
BRIEF NOTES UPON THE LANGUAGES CITED IN THE DICTIONARY. xix
English, d t th.
German. / z(ss) d.
These changes are best remembered by help of the words day, tooth, foot, thorn, German tag, zahn,/uss, dorn;
and the further comparison of these with the other Teutonic forms is not a little instructive.
Teutonic type DAGA TANTHU FOTU THORNA.
Anglo-Saxon dxg t6$ fdt porn.
Old Friesic dei loth fot thorn.
Old Saxon dag land fot thorn.
Low German dag tan foot
Dutch dag land -ooet doom.
Icelandic dag-r ionn f6t-r )>orn.
Swedish dag land fot form.
Danish dag land fod tiorn.
Gothic dag-s tunthu-s fotu-s lhaurnu-s.
German tag zahn fuss dorn.
The number of words in English that are borrowed directly from German is quite insignificant, and they
are nearly all of late introduction. It is more to the purpose to remember that there are, nevertheless, a con-
siderable number of German words that were borrowed indirectly, viz. through the French. Examples of such
words are brawn, dance, gay, guard, halberl, &c., many of which would hardly be at once suspected. It is precisely
in accounting for these Prankish words that German is so useful to the English etymologist. The fact that
we are highly indebted to German writers for their excellent philological work is very true, and one to be
thankfully acknowledged ; but that is quite another matter altogether.
Authorities : Wackernagel, Fliigel, E. Muller. (I have generally found these sufficient, from the nature of
the case; especially when supplemented by the works of Diez, Pick, Curtius, &c. But there is a good M. H.G.
Dictionary by Lexer, another by Benecke, Muller, and Zarncke ; and many more.)
FRENCH. The influence of French upon English is too well known to require comment. But the method
of the derivation of French words from Latin or German is often very difficult, and requires the greatest
care. There are numerous French words in quite common use, such as aise, ease, trancher, to cut, which have
never yet been clearly solved ; and the solution of many others is highly doubtful. Latin words often undergo
the most curious transformations, as may be seen by consulting Brachet's Historical Grammar. What are called
' learned ' words, such as mobile, which is merely a Latin word with a French ending, present no difficulty ; but
the ' popular ' words in use since the first formation of the language, are distinguished by three peculiarities :
(i) the continuance of the tonic accent, (2) the suppression of the short vowel, (3) the loss of the medial conso-
nant. The last two peculiarities tend to disguise the origin, and require much attention. Thus, in the Latin
bonitatem, the short vowel i, near the middle of the word, is suppressed ; whence F. bonte", E. bounty. And again,
in the Latin ligare, to bind, the medial consonant g, standing between two vowels, is lost, producing the F.
Her, whence E. liable.
The result is a great tendency to compression, of which an extraordinary but well known example is the
Low Latin xtaticum, reduced to edage by the suppression of the short vowel i, and again to aage by the loss
of the medial consonant d ; hence F. dge, E. age.
One other peculiarity is too important to be passed over. With rare exceptions, the substantives (as in
all the Romance languages) are formed from the accusative case of the Latin, so that it is commonly a mere
absurdity to cite the Latin nominative, when the form of the accusative is absolutely necessary to shew how
the French word arose. On this account, the form of the accusative is usually given, as in the case of caution,
from L. cautionem, and in numberless other instances.
French may be considered as being a wholly unoriginal language, founded on debased Latin ; but it must
at the same time be remembered that, as history teaches us, a certain part of the language is necessarily of Celtic
origin, and another part is necessarily Prankish, that is, Old High German. It has also clearly borrowed words
freely from Old Low German dialects, from Scandinavian (due to the Normans), and in later times, from Italian,
Spanish, &c., and even from English and many entirely foreign languages.
Authorities : Cotgrave, Palsgrave, Littre", Scheler, Diez, Brachet, Burguy, Roquefort, Bartsch.
b 2
xx BRIEF NOTES UPON THE LANGUAGES CITED IN THE DICTIONARY.
OTHER ROMANCE LANGUAGES. The other Romance languages, i. e. languages of Latin origin,
are Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Proven9al, Romansch, and Wallachian. English contains words borrowed from
the first four of these, but there is not much in them that needs special remark. The Italian and Spanish forms
are often useful for comparison with (and consequent restoration of) the crushed and abbreviated Old French
forms. Italian is remarkable for assimilation, as in ammirare (for admirare) to admire, ditto (for dido), a saying,
whence E. ditto. Spanish, on the other hand, dislikes assimilation, and carefully avoids double consonants ;
the only consonants that can be doubled are c, n, r, besides //, which is sounded as E. / followed byji consonant,
and is not considered as a double letter. The Spanish n is sounded as E. followed by_y consonant, and occurs
in duena, Englished as duenna. Spanish is also remarkable as containing many Arabic (Moorish) words, some
of which have found their way into English. The Italian infinitives commonly end in -are, -ere, -ire, with
corresponding past participles in -alo, -uto, -ilo. Spanish infinitives commonly end in -ar, -er, -ir, with corre-
sponding past participles in -ado, -ido, -ido. In all the Romance languages, substantives are most commonly
formed, as in French, from the Latin accusative.
CELTIC. Words of Celtic origin are marked '(C.)'. This is a particularly slippery subject to deal with, for
want of definite information on its older forms in a conveniently accessible arrangement. That English has
borrowed several words from Celtic cannot be doubted, but we must take care not to multiply the number of these
unduly. Again, ' Celtic ' is merely a general term, and in itself means nothing definite, just as ' Teutonic ' and
' Romance' are general terms. To prove that a word is Celtic, we must first shew that the word is borrowed from
one of the Celtic languages, as Irish, Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish, or Breton, or that it is of a form which, by the help
of these languages, can be fairly presumed to have existed in the Celtic of an early period. The chief difficulty
lies in the fact that Welsh, Irish, Cornish, and Gaelic have all borrowed English words at various periods, and
Gaelic has certainly also borrowed some words from Scandinavian, as history tells us must have been the case.
We gain, however, some assistance by comparing all the languages of this class together, and again, by comparing
them with Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, &c., since the Celtic consonants often agree with these, and at the same time
differ from Teutonic. Thus the word bard is probably Celtic, since it appears in Welsh, Irish, and Gaelic;
and again, the word down (2), a fortified hill, is probably Celtic, because it may be compared with the A. S.
t6n, a Celtic d answering to A. S. /. On the other hand, the W. hofio, to hover, appears to be nothing but
the common M.E. hoven, to hover, derived from the A.S. kof, a dwelling, which appears in E. hov-el. We
must look forward to a time when Celtic philology shall be made much more sure and certain than it is
at present ; meanwhile, the Lectures on Welsh Philology by Professor Rhys give a clear and satisfactory
account of the values of Irish and Welsh letters as compared with other Aryan languages.
Some Celtic words have come to us through French, for which assistance is commonly to be had from Breton.
A few words in other Teutonic languages besides English are probably of Celtic origin.
RUSSIAN. This language belongs to the Slavonic branch of the Aryan languages, and, though the words
borrowed from it are very few, it is frequently of assistance in comparative philology, as exhibiting a modern form
of language allied to the Old Church Slavonic. My principal business here is to explain the system of translitera-
tion which I have adopted, as it is one which I made out for my own convenience, with the object of avoiding the
use of diacritical marks. The following is the Russian alphabet, with the Roman letters which I use to represent
it. It is sufficient to give the small letters only.
Russian Letters: a rt n r ^ eHtaniKJiMHonpCTy>xi(Hiu
Roman Letters: a b v g d e(e) jziiklmnoprs tnfkhtschsh
Russian Letters : in, -i. 1,1 i, I. 3 HI ;i H v
Roman Letters: shch ' ui e ie e iu ia ph y
This transliteration is not the best possible, but it will suffice to enable any one to verify the words cited in this work
by comparing them with a Russian dictionary. I may here add that, in the ' Key' preceding the letter A, I have
given Heym's dictionary as my authority, but have since found it more convenient to use Reiff (1876). It makes
no difference. It is necessary to add one or two remarks.
The symbol i only occurs at the end of a word or syllable, and only when that word or syllable ends in a con-
sonant ; it is not sounded, but throws a greater stress upon the consonant, much as if it were doubled ; I denote
it therefore merely by an apostrophe. The symbol t most commonly occurs at the end of a word or syllable, and
may be treated, in general, as a mute letter, a only occurs at the beginning of words, and is not very common.
e may be represented by e at the beginning of a word, or otherwise by /, if necessary, since it cannot then be
BRIEF NOTES UPON THE LANGUAGES CITED IN THE DICTIONARY. xxi
confused with a. It is to be particularly noted thaty is to have its French value, not the English ; seeing that JK
has just the sound of the Frenchy, it may as well be so written, n and i are distinguished by the way in which
they occur ; ie can be written /'/, to distinguish it from ie = t. e, which is rare, can be written as ph, to distinguish
it from >, or/; the sound is all one. By kh, Russ. x, I mean the German guttural ch, which comes very near to
the sound of the letter; but the combinations is, ch, sh, shch are all as in English. M, or ui, resembles the
French oui. The combinations ie, iu, ia, are to be read with i as English y, i. e.yea,you,yaa. -v, ory, pronounced
as E. ee, is of no consequence, being very rare. I do not recommend the scheme for general use, but only give it
as the one which I have used, being very easy in practice.
The Russian and Slavonic consonants agree with Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin rather than with Teutonic. The
same may be said of Lithuanian, which is a very well preserved language, and often of great use in comparative
philology. The infinitive mood of Russian regular verbs ends in -ate, -iate, -iete, -He, -uite, -ote, -ute; that of
irregular verbs in -che, or -it. In Lithuanian, the characteristic suffix of the infinitive is -//'.
SANSKRIT. In transliterating Sanskrit words, I follow the scheme given in Benfey's Dictionary, with
slight modifications. The principal change made is that I print Roman letters instead of those which, in
Benfey, are printed with a dot beneath ; thus I print ri, ri, t, \.h, d, Ah, n, instead of ri, ri, f, {h, d, dh, n. This
is an easy simplification, and occasions no ambiguity. For ^T, I print f, as in Benfey, instead of ^, as in
Monier Williams' Grammar. It might also be printed as a Roman s ; but there is one great advantage about
the symbol f, viz. that it reminds the student that this sibilant is due to an original k, which is no slight
advantage. The only letters that cause any difficulty are the four forms of . Two of these, n and n (or n),
are easily provided for. H is represented in Benfey by n, for which I print n, as being easier; T is repre-
sented by n, which I retain. The only trouble is that, in Monier Williams' Grammar, these appear as n and
, which causes a slight confusion.
Thus the complete alphabet is represented by a, d, i, i, u, it, ri, ri, hi, hi, e, at, o, au ; gutturals, k, kh, g, gh, n ;
palatals, ch, chh,j,jh, n; cerebrals, t, th, d, Ah, n; dentals, /, th, d, dh, n; labials, p, ph, b, bh, m; semivowels,
y, r,l,v; sibilants, f, sh, s ; aspirate, h. Add the nasal symbol m, and the final aspirate, h.
It is sometimes objected that the symbols ch, chh, are rather clumsy, especially when occurring as chchh ;
but as they are perfectly definite and cannot be mistaken, the mere appearance to the eye cannot much matter.
Some write c and ch, and consequently cch instead of chchh ; but what is gained in appearance is lost in
distinctness ; since ^ is certainly c h, whilst c gives the notion of E. c in can.
The highly scientific order in which the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet is arranged should be observed;
it may be compared with the order of letters in the Aryan alphabet, given at p. 730, col. 2.
There are a few points about the values of the Sanskrit letters too important to be omitted. The following
short notes will be found useful.
The Skt. n answers to Aryan AR, and is perfectly distinct from r. Thus rich, to shine = Aryan ARK;
but rich, to leave = Aryan RIK. An Aryan K becomes Skt. k, kh, ch, c; Aryan G becomes g, j; Aryan GH
becomes gh, h ; Aryan x becomes /, th ; Aryan p becomes p, ph ; Aryan s becomes s and sh. See the
table of 'Regular Substitution of Sounds' in Curtius, i. 158. Other languages sometimes preserve a better
form than Skt. ; thus the -/ AG, to drive, gives Lat. ag-ere, Gk. 3y-tiv, and (by regular change from g to )
Icelandic ak-a; but the Skt. is aj, a weakened form. The following scheme, abridged from Curtius. shews
the most useful and common substitutions.
ARYAN. SANSKRIT. GK.
K k,kh,ch,( K
G gj y
GH gh, h x
T /, th r
D d 8
DH dh 6
P p,ph *
B b ft
BH bh A
LAT.
LITH.
GOTHIC.
f , V u
k, sz
*<*)
g
g, i
k.
( init. h,f
t,*
g-
t
t
th (d).
d
d
t.
I init./
[ med. d, b
d
d.
P
~jt
P
f'
'( init./
1 med. b
b
b.
xxii BRIEF NOTES UPON THE LANGUAGES CITED IN THE DICTIONARY.
Both in this scheme, and at vol. i. p. 232, Curtius omits the Latin /"as the equivalent of Gk. x initially.
But I think it may fairly be inserted, since Gk. x ^ = Lat. fel, Gk. xp'" = Lat. friare, and Gk. x<" is allied
to Lat. J 'under -e, on his own showing. Initial h is, however, more common, as in Lat. hiare, pre-hendere, humus,
anstr (for hanser*), hiems, heluus, haruspex, allied respectively to Gk. x a "*' v i x av ^ vetv > X a M al '> xt", X""^ X*-1>
XoAaStr. It becomes a question whether we ought not also to insert 'initial g' in the same place, since we
have Lat. grando and gralus, allied to Gk. xdXafa and x a 'P etv -
To the above list of substitutions may be added that of / for r, which is a common phenomenon in
nearly all Aryan languages; the comparison of Lat. grando with Gk. xoAafo, has only just been mentioned.
Conversely, we find r for /, as in the well-known example of F. rossignol = Lat. lusciniola.
Authorities : Benfey ; also (on comparative philology), Curtius, Fick, Vanic'ek and see Peile's Greek
and Latin Etymology, Max Muller's Lectures on the Science of Language ; &c.
NON-ARYAN LANGUAGES: HEBREW. The Hebrew words in English are not very numerous,
whilst at the same time they are tolerably well known, and the corresponding Hebrew words can, in general,
be easily found. I have therefore contented myself with denoting the alphabet beth, gimel, daleth, &c. by
b, g, d, h, v, z, kh, t,y, k, I, m, n, s, ', p, Is, q, r, sh or s, /. This gives the same symbol for samech and sin, but
this difficulty is avoided by making a note of the few instances in which samech occurs; in other cases, sin
is meant. So also with leth and lau ; unless the contrary is said, tau is meant. This might have been avoided,
had the words been more numerous, by the use of a Roman s and t for samech and lelh, the rest of the word
being in italics. I put kh for cheth, to denote that the sound is guttural, not E. ch. I denote ayin by the
mark '. The other letters can be readily understood. The vowels are denoted by a, e, i, o, u, 6, i, i, 6, 6.
ARABIC. The Arabic alphabet is important, being also used for Persian, Turkish, Hindustani, and
Malay. But as the letters are variously transliterated in various works, it seemed to be the simplest plan to use
the spellings given in Richardson's Arabic and Persian Dictionary (with very slight modifications), or in Marsden's
Malay Dictionary ; and, in order to prevent any mistake, to give, in every instance, the number of the page
in Richardson or Marsden, or the number of the column in Palmer's Persian Dictionary; so that, if in any
instance, it is desired to verify the word cited, it can readily be done. Richardson's system is rather vague,
as he uses / to represent ca and L (and also the occasional i) ; also s to represent v> u ^ and ^ ; also h for
and ; z for i j ^ and k ; k for jj and d ; and he denotes ayin by the Arabic character. I have got
rid of one ambiguity by using q (instead of K) for jj ; and for ayin I have put the mark ', as in Palmer's
Persian Dictionary. In other cases, the reader can easily tell which /, s, h, or z is meant, if it happens
to be an initial letter (when it is the most important), by observing the number of the page (or column) given
in the reference to Richardson's or Palmer's Dictionary. Thus in Richardson's Dictionary, pp. 349-477 contain
i^> ; pp. 960-981 contain t; pp. 477-487 contain <>; pp. 795-868 contain y*; pp. 924-948 contain ( j>;
pp. 548-588 contain ^; pp. 1660-1700 contain s; pp. 705-712 contain >; pp. 764-794 contain^; pp. 949-960
contain ^a; and pp. 981-984 contain !&. In Palmer's Dictionary, the same letters are distinguished as/
(coll. 121-159); t (coll. 408-416); s (coll. 160, 161); s (coll. 331-370); s (coll. 396-405); A (coll. 191-207);
h (coll. 692-712); z (coll. 283-287); 2 (coll. 314-330); z (coll. 405-408); and ? (coll. 416-418). Palmer
gives the complete alphabet in the form a \d, i, &c.] b, p, /, s, j, ch, A, kh, d, z, r, z, zh, s, sh, s, z, (, z, ', gh,f, k
[which I have written as y], k, g, I, m, n, w, h,y. It deserves to be added that Turkish has an additional letter,
sdghir nun, which I denote by n, occurring in the word_ymz', which helps to form the E. vtordjanisary.
In words derived from Hindi, Hindustani, Chinese, &c., I give the page of the dictionary where the
word may be found, or a reference to some authority.
XX111
CANONS FOR ETYMOLOGY.
In the course of the work, I have been led to adopt the following canons, which merely express
well-known principles, and are nothing new. Still, in the form of definite statements, they are worth giving.
1. Before attempting an etymology, ascertain the earliest form and use of the word; and observe chronology.
2. Observe history and geography; borrowings are due to actual contact.
3. Observe phonetic laws, especially those which regulate the mutual relation of consonants in the various
Aryan languages, at the same time comparing the vowel-sounds.
4. In comparing two words, A and B, belonging to the same language, of which A contains the lessei
number of syllables, A must be taken to be the more original word, unless we have evidence of contraction
or other corruption.
5. In comparing two words, A and B, belonging to the same language and consisting of the same
number of syllables, the older form can usually be distinguished by observing the sound of the principal vowel.
6. Strong verbs, in the Teutonic languages, and the so-called 'irregular verbs' in Latin, are commonly
to be considered as primary, other related forms being taken from them.
7. The whole of a word, and not a portion only, ought to be reasonably accounted for ; and, in
tracing changes of form, any infringement of phonetic laws is to be regarded with suspicion.
8. Mere resemblances of form and apparent connection in sense between languages which have different
phonetic laws or no necessary connection are commonly a delusion, and are not to be regarded.
9. When words in two different languages are more nearly alike than the ordinary phonetic laws would
allow, there is a strong probability that one language has borrowed the word from the other. Truly cognate
words ought not to be loo much alike.
10. It is useless to offer an explanation of an English word which will not also explain all the cognate
forms.
These principles, and other similar ones well known to comparative philologists, I have tried to observe.
Where I have not done so, there is a chance of a mistake. Corrections can only be made by a more strict
observance of the above canons.
A few examples will make the matter clearer.
1. The word surloin or sirloin is often said to be derived from the fact that the loin was knighted as
Sir Loin by Charles II., or (according to Richardson) by James I. Chronology makes short work of this
statement ; the word being in use long before James I. was born. It is one of those unscrupulous inventions
with which English 'etymology' abounds, and which many people admire because they are 'so clever.' The
number of those who literally prefer a story about a word to a more prosaic account of it, is only too large.
As to the necessity for ascertaining the oldest form and use of a word, there cannot be two opinions.
Yet this primary and all-important rule is continually disregarded, and men are found to rush into ' etymologies '
without the slightest attempt at investigation or any knowledge of the history of the language, and think
nothing of deriving words which exist in Anglo-Saxon from German or Italian. They merely 'think it
over,' and take up with the first fancy that comes to hand, which they expect to be 'obvious' to others because
they were themselves incapable of doing better ; which is a poor argument indeed. It would be easy to cite
some specimens which I have noted (with a view to the possibility of making a small collection of such
philological curiosities), but it is hardly necessary. I will rather relate my experience, viz. that I have
frequently set out to find the etymology of a word without any preconceived ideas about it, and usually found
that, by the time its earliest use and sense had been fairly traced, the etymology presented itself unasked.
2. The history of a nation generally accounts for the constituent parts of its language. When an early
English word is compared with Hebrew or Coptic, as used to be done in the old editions of Webster's
dictionary, history is set at defiance ; and it was a good deed to clear the later editions of all such rubbish.
As to geography, there must always be an intelligible geographical contact between races that are supposed
to have borrowed words from one another; and this is particularly true of olden times, when travelling
was less common. Old French did not borrow words from Portugal, nor did old English borrow words
from Prussia, much less from Finnish or Esthonian or Coptic, &c., &c. Yet there are people who still
remain persuaded that Whitsunday is derived, of all things, from the German Pfingsten.
3. Few delusions are more common than the comparison of L. cura with E. care, of Gk. oXos with
E. whole, and of Gk. x <y with E. charity. I dare say I myself believed in these things for many years
owing to that utter want of any approach to any philological training, for which England in general has
xxiv CANONS FOR ETYMOLOGY.
long been so remarkable. Yet a very slight (but honest) attempt at understanding the English, the Latin,
and the Greek alphabets soon shews these notions to be untenable. The E. care, A. S. cearu, meant
originally sorrow, which is only a secondary meaning of the Latin word; it never meant, originally, attention
or painstaking. But this is not the point at present under consideration. Phonetically, the A. S. c and the
L. c, when used initially, do not correspond ; for where Latin writes c at the beginning of a word, A. S. has h,
as in L. eel-are = A S. hel-an, to hide. Again, the A. S. ea, before r following, stands for original a, cearu
answering to an older caru. But the L. cura, Old Latin coira, is spelt with a long , originally a diphthong,
which cannot answer exactly to an original a. It remains that these words both contain the letter r in common,
which is not denied; but this is a slight ground for the supposed equivalence of words of which the primary,
senses were different. The fact of the equivalence of L. c to A. S. h, is commonly known as being due
to Grimm's law. The popular notions about 'Grimm's law' are extremely vague. Many imagine
that Grimm made the law not many years ago, since which time Latin and Anglo-Saxon have been bound
to obey it. But the word law is then strangely misapprehended; it is only a law in the sense of an
observed fact. Latin and Anglo-Saxon were thus differentiated in times preceding the earliest record of the
latter, and the difference might have been observed in the eighth century if any one had had the wits to
observe it. When the difference has once been perceived, and all other A. S. and Latin equivalent words
are seen to follow it, we cannot consent to establish an exception to the rule in order to compare a single (supposed)
pair of words which do not agree in the vowel-sound, and did not originally mean the same thing.
As to the Gk. oXor, the aspirate (as usual) represents an original s, so that oXos answers to Skt. sarva, all,
Old Lat. sollus, whilst it means ' whole ' in the sense of entire or total. But the A. S. hdl (which is the old spelling
of whole) has for its initial letter an h, answering to Gk. K, and the original sense is 'in sound health,'
or 'hale and hearty.' It may much more reasonably be compared with the Gk. Ka\6s; as to which see
Curtius, i. 172. As to x^P"> the initial letter is x> a guttural sound answering to Lat. h or g, and it is, in
fact, allied to L. gratia. But in charity, the ch is French, due to a peculiar pronunciation of the Latin c, and
the F. charM is of course due to the L. ace. caritatem, whence also Ital. carilale or carila, Span, caridad,
all from L. cdrus, with long a. When we put \apis and cdrus side by side, we find that the initial letters
are different, that the vowels are different, and that, just as in the case of cearu and cura, the sole resemblance
is, that they both contain the letter r\ It is not worth while to pursue the subject further. Those who
are confirmed in their prejudices and have no guide but the ear (which they neglect to train), will remain
of the same opinion still; but some beginners may perhaps take heed, and if they do, will see matters in
a new light. To all who have acquired any philological knowledge, these things are wearisome.
4. Suppose we take two Latin words such as caritas and carus. The former has a stem car-i-tat- ; the latter
has a stem car-o-, which may very easily turn into car-i-. We are perfectly confident that the adjective came first
into existence, and that the sb. was made out of it by adding a suffix ; and this we can tell by a glance at the words,
by the very form of them. It is a rule in all Aryan languages that words started from monosyllabic roots or bases,
and were built up by supplying new suffixes at the end ; and, the greater the number of suffixes, the later the
formation. When apparent exceptions to this law present themselves, they require especial attention ; but as long
as the law is followed, it is all in the natural course of things. Simple as this canon seems, it is frequently not
observed ; the consequence being that a word A is said to be derived from B, whereas B is its own offspring.
The result is a reasoning in a circle, as it is called ; we go round and round, but there is no progress upward and
backward, which is the direction in which we should travel. Thus Richardson derives chine from ' F. echine,' and
this from ' F. eckiner, to chine, divide, or break the back of (Cotgrave), probably from the A. S. cinan, to chine,
chink, or rive.' From the absurdity of deriving the ' F. echiner' from the ' A.S. cinan ' he might have been saved
at the outset, by remembering that, instead of echine being derived from the verb echiner, it is obvious that echiner,
to break the back of, is derived from echine, the back, as Cotgrave certainly meant us to understand ; see eschine,
eschiner in Cotgrave's Dictionary. Putting eschine and eschiner side by side, the shorter form is the more original.
5. This canon, requiring us to compare vowel-sounds, is a little more difficult, but it is extremely important.
In many dictionaries it is utterly neglected, whereas the information to be obtained from vowels is often extremely
certain ; and few things are more beautifully regular than the occasionally complex, yet often decisive manner in
which, especially in the Teutonic languages, one vowel-sound is educed from another. The very fact that the
A.S. e" is a modification of 6 tells us at once thaty#/a, to feed, is a derivative tffdd, food ; and that to Aenvzfood
from feed is simply impossible. In the same way the vowel e in the verb to set owes its very existence to the
vowel a in the past tense of the verb to sit; and so on in countless instances.
The other canons require no particular comment.
XXV
BOOKS REFERRED TO IN THE DICTIONARY.
THE following is a list of the principal books referred to in the Dictionary, with a statement, in most instances,
of the editions which I have actually used. [See also the Additional List at p. 836.]
The abbreviation 'E.E.T.S.' signifies the Early English Text Society; and 'E.D.S.,' the English Dialect Society.
The date within square brackets at the end of a notice refers to the probable date of composition of a poem
or other work.
Aasen ; see Norwegian.
Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar. Third Edition, 1870.
Alfred, King, tr. of Boethius, De Consolatione Philosophiae, ed.
S. Fox, 1864. [ab. 880-900.]
Version of the history of the world by Orosius; ed. J. Bosworth,
London, 1859. [ab. 880-900.]
tr. of Beda's Ecclesiastical History, ed. Whelock, 1644.
tr. of Beda's Ecclesiastical History, ed. J. Smith, 1732.
tr. of Gregory's Pastoral Care, ed. Sweet ; E.E.T.S., 1871.
^Elfric's Glossary, pr. in Wright's Vocabularies ; see Wright, T.
[ab- 975-]
yElfnc's Grammar, ed J. Zupitza, Berlin, 1880. [ab. 975.]
jElfric's Homilies ; ed. Thorpe (jElfric Society), [ab. 975.]
Alexander and Dindimus; ed. Skeat. E.E.T.S., extra series, 1878.
[ab. 1350.]
Alexander, The Alliterative Romance of; ed. Rev. Joseph Stevenson.
Roxburghe Club, 1849. [ aD - '43-]
Alisaunder, Kyng; see Weber's Metrical Romances, [after 1300.]
Alliterative Poems; ed. Morris; E.E.T.S., 1864; reprinted, 1869.
[ab. 1360.]
Altenglische Legenden; ed. Dr. Carl Horstmann. Paderborn, 1875.
Ancren Riwle ; ed. Jas. Morton. Camden Soc., 1873. [ab. 1230.]
Anglo-Saxon. Ettmiiller, L., Lexicon Anglo-Saxonicum ; Quedlin-
burg and Leipzig, 1851. See also Bosworth, Grein, Leo, Loth,
Lye, March, Somner, Wright.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle; ed. B.Thorpe; 2 vols. 1861. (Record
Series.)
ed. J. Earle, 1865.
Anglo-Saxon Gospels. The Gospl of St. Matthew, in Anglo-
Saxon and Northumbrian Versions, ed. J. M. Kemble; Cam-
bridge, 1858. The Gospel of St. Mark, ed. W. W. Skeat;
Cambridge, 1871. The Gospel of St. Luke, ed. W. W. Skeat ;
Cambridge, 1874. The Gospel of St. John, 1878.
Anturs of Arthur ; see Robson. [ab. 1440?]
Arabic. A Dictionary, Persian, Arabic, and English. By J. Rich-
ardson ; new edition, by F. Johnson. London, 1829.
Arber. English Reprints, ed. E. Arber ; various dates.
Arber, E., An English Garner, vols. i. and ii. ; 1877-18/9.
Arnold's Chronicle; reprinted from the First Edition, with the
additions included in the Second. London, 1811. [1502.]
Ascham, Roger ; Toxophilus, ed. Arber, 1868. [1545.]
The Scholemaster, ed. Arber, 1870. [1570.]
Ash, J., Dictionary of the English Language ; 2 vols., 1775.
Atkinson's Glossary of the Cleveland Dialect. London, 1868.
A. V. = Authorised Version ; see Bible.
Awdelay's Fraternity of Vagabonds, ed.Viles and Furnivall ; E.E.T.S.,
1869; see Harman's Caveat. [1560-1565.]
Ayenbite of Inwyt, or Remorse of Conscience, by Dan Michel of
Northgate; ed. R. Morris, E.E.T.S., 1866. [1340.]
Babees Book; ed. F. J. Fumivall, E.E.T.S., 1868. [l5th cent.]
Bacon, Lord, Advancement of Learning, ed. W. Aldis Wright ;
Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1869. [1605.]
Essays; ed. W. S. Singer, London, 1857. Also ed. W. Aldis
Wright, London, 1871. [1597.]
- Life of Henry VII, ed. J. R. Lumby, 1876. [1621.]
Natural History, or Sylva Sylvarum, Fifth Edition, 1639.
[1627.]
Bailey, N., Universal Etymological English Dictionary, Seventh
Edition, 17.35.
English Dictionary, Vol. ii., Second Edition, 1731.
Bale, John, Kynge Johan, a Play; Camden Soc., 1838. [ab. 1552.]
Barbour's Bruce; ed. W. W. Skeat, E.E.T.S., 1870-1877. [1375.]
Bardsley's Surnames. Our English Surnames, by C. W. Bardsley ;
London, n. d.
Baret, John, Alvearie or Quadruple Dictionary, London, 1 580.
Barnes, R., Workes of, pr. by John Day ; see Tyndall.
Bartsch, K., Chrestomathie Provencale ; Elberfeld, 1875.
Chrestomathie de 1'ancien Fran9ais; Leipzig, 1875.
Basque. Larramendi, M. de, Diccionario trillngue Castellano, Bas-
cuence, y Latin. San Sebastian, 1853.
Bavarian. Bayerisches Wb'rterbuch, von J. A. Schmeller, Four
Parts, Stuttgart, 1827-1837.
Beaumont and Fletcher, Works of, ed. G. Darley, 2 Vols. 1859
[1606-1616.]
Beda ; see Alfred.
Be Domes Dasge, ed. J. R. Lumby, E.E.T.S., 1876.
Benfey ; see Sanskrit.
Beowulf; ed. B. Thorpe, Oxford and London, 1855.
Berners ; see Froissart.
Beryn, The Tale of, ed. F. J. Furnivall ; Chaucer Society, 1876.
Bestiary; see Old English Miscellany, [ab. 1250-1300.]
Beves of Hamtoun, ed. Tumbull, Edinburgh, 1838 (cited byStrat-
mann.) [ab. 1320-1330?]
Bible, English ; Authorised Version, 1611.
Imprinted at London by Jhon Day, 1551.
Biblesworth, Walter de, the treatise of; pr. in Wright's Vocabu-
laries, First Series, pp. 142-174. [ab. 1300.]
Biblia Sacra Vulgatse Editionis. Auctoritate edita. Parisiis, 1872.
Blackstone's Commentaries (cited in Richardson, and Todd's John-
son). [1764-1768.]
Blickling Homilies; ed. R. Morris, E.E.T.S., 1874-1876. [loth
century.]
Blount's Law Dictionary. Nomo-Xef ikon ; a Law-Dictionary, by
Tho. Blount. Second Edition. London, 1691.
Blount, T., Glossographia, 1674.
Body and Soul, the Debate of the ; printed in the Latin Poems of
Walter Mapes, ed. T.Wright; Camden Soc., London, 1841.
(See also the reprint in Matzner's Altenglische Sprachproben, pp.
90-103.) [I3th century.]
Boethius, Chaucer's translation of, ed. R. Morris, E.E.T.S., 1878.
[ab. 1380.]
Bohn's Lowndes. The Bibliographer's Manual of English Litera-
ture, by W. T. Lowndes; New Edition, by H. G. Bohn, 1857.
Borde, Andrew, The Fyrst Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge,
&c. ; ed. F. J. Furnivall, E.E.T.S., 1870. [1547.]
Boswell, J., Life of Johnson ; ed. J. W. Croker, 1876. [1791.]
Bosworth's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, London. 1838. Also, A Com-
pendious Anglo-Saxon and English Dictionary, by the Rev.
Joseph Bosworth, D.D. London, J. R. Smith, 1848.
Brachet, A., Etymological French Dictionary, tr. by G. W. Kitchin,
1873.
Brand, John, M.A. Observations on Popular Antiquities. Arranged
and revised, with additions, by H. Ellis. Republished, in Bohn's
Antiquarian Library, 3 vols., post 8vo., 1848.
Bremen Wbrterbuch ; Versuch eines bremish-niedersachsischen Wor-
terbuchs, herausgegeben von der bremischen deutschen Gesellschaft,
5 vols. Bremen, 1767.
Brende, J., tr. of Quintius Curtius, 1561 (cited by Richardson).
Breton. Dictionnaire Breton-Fran9ais, par J.F.M.M. A.Le Gonidec ;
Angouleme, 1821.
Brockett, J. T., A Glossary of North Country Words, Third Edition,
2 vols. Newcastle, 1846.
XXVI
BOOKS REFERRED TO IN THE DICTIONARY.
Browne, Sir Thomas, Works of, ed. S. Wilkin, 4 vols., 1852. (In
Bonn's Standard Library.) [1640-1680.]
Browne, W., Britannia's Pastorals, see English Poets. [1613-1616.]
Bruce : see Barbour.
Burguy's Glossaire. In tome iii. of Grammaire de la Langue D'Oil,
par G. F. Burguy; 2me edition, Berlin and Paris, 1870.
Burke, Select Works, ed. E. J. Payne, vol. i., 1876. [1774-1776.]
Burns, R., Poems, Songs, and Letters, the Globe Edition, 1868.
[1786-1796.]
Burton, Robert, Anatomy of Melancholy (cited in Richardson, and
Todds Johnson). [1621.]
Bury Wills, ed. S. Tymms, Camden Soc. 1850. [isth cent.]
Butler's Poems (including Hudibras), ed. Robert Bell. 3 vols.
London, 1855. (In the Annotated Series of English Poets.)
[Hudibras, 1663-1678.]
Byron, Poems, Dramas, &c., 8 vols. London, J. Murray, 1853.
Csedmon, ed. B. Thorpe. Published by the Society of Antiquaries,
London, 1832.
Castle off Loue. An Early English Translation of an Old French
Poem, by Robert Grosseteste, bp. of Lincoln ; ed. R. F. Wey-
mouth. (Published for the Philological Society.) [1370?]
Caxton, W., tr. of Reynard the Fox, ed. Arber, 1878. [1481.]
Chambers's Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, ed.
J. Donald, 1871.
Chambers, R. ; The Book of Days, A Miscellany of Popular Anti-
quities. 2 vols. London and Edinburgh, 1864.
Chapman, George, Plays, ed. R. H. Shepherd, 1874. [ I 598-i634-]
Translation of Homer, ed. R. H. Shepherd, 1875. (In this
edition the lines are not numbered ; a far better edition is that by
Hooper.) [1598.]
Chaucer, Canterbury Tales : Six-text edition, ed. F. J. Fumivall.
(Chaucer Society.)
ed. Tyrwhitt. A reprint of Tyrwhitt's edition of the Canterbury
Tales, with his notes and glossary ; to which were added (by the
publisher) reprints of Chaucer's Minor Poems, &c. London,
E.Moxon, 1855; first printed, 1843. [1369-1400.]
tr. of Boethius; ed. Morris, E.E.T.S., extra series, 1868.
[ab. 1380.]
Works, ed. 1561. (This edition contains the first edition of
the Court of Love ; also the Testament of Love, as cited in the
present work.) [1369-1400.]
Treatise on the Astrolabe ; ed. Skeat, Chaucer Society and
E.E.T.S., extra series, 1872. [1391.]
Chaucer's Dream. A late poem, not by Chaucer; printed with
Chaucer's Works, [isth cent.]
Chinese. A Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese Language. By S.
W. Williams. Shanghai, 1874.
Chinese-English Dictionary of the Amoy vernacular. By the
Rev. C. Douglas, 1873.
Cockayne, O., Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early
England. 3 vols. (Record Series.) 1864-1866.
Coles, E., an English Dictionary, 1684.
Complaynte of Scotlande. Re-edited by James A. H. Murray,
E.E.T.S., extra series, 1872, 1873. [1549.]
Congreve, W., Plays (cited by Richardson). [Died 1729.]
Cooper, T., Thesaurus Linguae Romanse et Britannicse, 1565.
Coptic. Lexicon Linguae Copticae. By A. Peyron. Turin, 1835.
Cornish. Lexicon Cornu-Britannicum ; by R. Williams. Llan-
dovery and London, 1865.
Cotgrave. A French and English Dictionary, composed by Mr.
Randle Cotgrave ; with another in English and French ; ed. J.
Howell. London, pr. by Wm. Hunt, in Pye-corner, 1660.
Court of Love ; a late poem (not by Chaucer) first printed with
Chaucer's Works, 1561. [i 5th cent.]
Coventry Mysteries, ed. J. O. Halliwell. (Shakespeare Society,
1841.) [ab. 1460.]
Cowley, A., Works of, London, 1688. [1633-1667.]
Cowper, W., the Poetical Works of; ed. R. A. Willmott. London,
1866. [1782-1799.]
Cursor Mundi : ed. Dr. R.
[ab. 1300.]
Curtius, G., Greek Etymology ; tr. by Wilkins and England. 2 vols.
1876.
Dampier's Voyages, an. 1681 (cited by Richardson).
Daniel, S., Civil Wars ; see English Poets. [1595.]
Danish. Molbech,C.,Dansk Ordbog; Kibbenhavn, 1859.
Ferrall og Repps dansk-engelske Ordbog, gjennemseet og
rettet af W. Mariboe; Kjobenhavn, 1861. (When 'Dan.' alone is
cited, this book is meant.)
A New Practical and Easy method of Learning the Danish
Language; by H. Lund. Second Edition, London, 1860.
Morris, E.E.T.S., Parts i-v, 1874-8.
Delfortrie ; see Flemish.
Destruction of Troy ; see Gest Hystoriale.
Devic, M., Dictionnaire Etymologique de tous les mots d'origine
Orientate ; in the Supplement to Littre's French Dictionary.
Dictionary of the Bible, ed. W. Smith. Concise edition, by W. Aldis
Wright, 1865.
Diefenbach, L., Vergleichendes Worterbuch der Gotischen Sprache.
2 vols. Frankfurt, 1851.
Diez, F., Etymologisches Worterbuch der Romanischen Sprachen.
Fourth Edition. Bonn, 1878.
Digby Mysteries. Ancient Mysteries from the Digby MSS. ; Edin-
burgh, 1835 (cited by Stratmann). [ab. 1430?]
Dodsley, Robert. A Select Collection of Old English Plays, origi-
ginally published by R. D. Fourth Edition. By W. Carew
Hazlitt. 15 vols. 8vo. London, 1874. [l6th cent.]
Douglas, Gavin, Works of; ed. J. Small, 4 vols. Edinburgh, 1874.
[1501-1513.]
Drayton. Poems of Michael Drayton : in Chalmers' British Poets,
London, 1810. [Died 1631.]
Dryden, J., Poetical Works, London, 1851. [Died 1701.]
tr. of Virgil; reprint by F. Warne and Co.; n. d.
Ducange. Lexicon Manuale ad Scriptores Mediae et Infimse Latin-
itatis, ex glossariis C. D. D. Ducangii et aliorum in compendium
accuratissime redactum. Par W.-H. Maigne D'Arnis. Public
par M. L'Abbe Migne. Paris, 1866. (An excellent and cheap
compendium in one volume.)
Dutch. A Large Dictionary, English and Dutch, by W. Sewel.
Fifth Edition. Amsterdam, 1754.
A large Netherdutch and English Dictionarie, by H. Hexham.
Rotterdam, 1658.
Kilian, C., Old Dutch Dictionary. Utrecht, 1777.
Oudemans, A. C., Old Dutch Dictionary, 7 parts, 1869-80.
Ten Kate, L., Aenleiding tot de Kennisse van het verhevene
Deel der Nederduitsche Sprake. 2 vols. Amsterdam, 1723.
A New Pocket-Dictionary of the English and Dutch Lan-
guages. Leipzig ; C. Tauchnitz. (When only ' Du.' is cited, this
book is meant.)
Early English Homilies ; ed. Dr. Richard Morris ; E.E.T.S., First
Series, 1867 ; Second Series, 1873. [i3th century.]
Early English Psalter. Anglo-Saxon and Early English Psalter,
ed. J. Stevenson. 2 vols. (Surtees Society.) 1843-1847.
E.D.S. = English Dialect Society, publications of the. (Including
Ray's Collections, Pegge's Kenticisms, Whitby Glossary, Mid-
Yorkshire Glossary, Holderness Glossary, Lincolnshire Glossary,
Tusser's Husbandry, &c.)
E.E.T.S. Early English Text Society's publications. See Alfred,
Alexander, Alliterative Poems, Ayenbite, Barbour, Be Domes
Daege, Blickling Homilies, Chaucer, Complaint of Scotland, Early
English Homilies, Ellis, English Gilds, Fisher, Floriz, Gawayne,
Genesis, Hali Meidenhad, Havelok, Joseph, King Horn, Knight
de la Tour, Lancelot, Legends of the Holy Rood, Levins,
Lyndesay, Morte Arthure, Myrc, Myrour of Our Lady, Palladius,
Partenay, Piers Plowman, Political, St. Juliana, Seinte Marharete,
Troybook, Will, of Palerne, &c.
Eastwood and Wright's Bible Wordbook, A Glossary of Old
English Bible Words, by J. Eastwood and W. Aldis Wright.
London, 1866.
Egilsson ; see Icelandic.
Ellis, A. J., Early English Pronunciation, E.E.T.S., extra series,
1867, 1869, 1871.
Elyot, Sir T.,The Castel of Helthe. (Black-letter Edition.) [1533.]
The Gouemor. (Black-letter Edition ; no title-page.) [1531.]
Engelmann et Dozy, Glossaire des mots Espagnols et Portugais
tires de 1'Arabe. Second Edition, Paris, 1869.
English Cyclopaedia, conducted by Charles Knight. 22 vols., with
Three Supplements and Index.
English Dialect Society's publications. (References to these are
marked E.D.S.) See E.D.S. above.
English Gilds, ed. Toulmin Smith. E.E.T.S., 1870. [1389-1450.]
English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper, ed. A. Chalmers. 21 vols.,
1810.
Ettmiiller; see Anglo-Saxon.
Evelyn, John, Diary of; ed. W. Bray. (Reprint by F. Warne ; n. d.)
[1620-1706.]
Fabyan's Chronicles of England and France, ed. Henry Ellis. 410.
London, 1811. [1516.]
Fairfax, tr. of Tasso; ed. R. A. Willmott, 1858. (Modernised and
spoilt in the editing.) [1600.]
Pick, A., Vergleichendes Worterbuch der Indogermanischen Sprachen,
sprachgeschichtlich angeordnet. Third Edition. 3 vols. Got-
tingen, 1874.
BOOKS REFERRED TO IN THE DICTIONARY.
Fisher, J., English Works of; ed. J. E. B. Mayor. E.E.T.S., 1876
[Died 1535-]
Flemish. Memoire sur les Analogies des Langues Flamande
Allemande, et Anglaise ; par E.-J. Delfortrie. Bruxelles, 1858.
Fletcher, Phineas, Poems of; see English Poets. [1633.]
Florio ; see Italian.
Floriz and Blancheflour ; ed. J. R. Lumby. E.E.T.S., 1866. [End
of 1 3th cent.]
Flower and the Leaf. A Poem of the fifteenth century, commonly
printed in company with Chaucer's works.
Fliigel ; see German.
Forby. The Vocabulary of East Anglia, by the late Rev. Robert
Forby. a vols. London, 1830.
French; see Bartsch, Burguy, Cotgrave, Roquefort, Vie de Seint
Auban.
Dictionnaire International Fran9ais-Anglais, par MM. H.
Hamilton et E. Legros. Paris, 1872.
Littr6, E., Dictionnaire de la langue Fran9aise. 4 vols. ; with
supplement (see Devic) ; Paris, 1877.
Scheler, A., Dictionnaire d'e'tymologie Fran9aise; par A.
Scheler. Nouvelle Edition. Bruxelles et Londres, 1873.
(When only 'F.' is cited, the reference is either to Cotgrave,
or to Hamilton and Legros.)
Metivier, G., Dictionnaire Franco-Normand. London, 1870.
Friesio. Altfriesisches Worterbuch, von K. von Richthofen ; Got-
tingen, 1840.
Glossarium der friesischen Sprache, besonders in nordfriesischer
Mundart, von N. Outzen. Kopenhagen, 1837.
Koolman, J., ten Doorkaat, Worterbuch der Ostfriesischen
Sprache (unfinished), 1879-.
Frith : see Tyndall.
Froissart, tr. by Lord Berners. (Cited by Richardson.) [1523-25.]
Gaelic. A Dictionary of the Gaelic Language, by Macleod and
Dewar; Glasgow, 1839.
Gamelyn, the Tale of. Printed in Wright's edition of Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales. [i4th cent.]
Garlande, John de, Dictionarius ; pr. in Wright's Vocabularies, First
Series, pp. 120 138. [13* cent.]
Gascoigne, G., Works of; ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1869. [Died 1577.]
Gawayn and the Green Knight ; an alliterative Romance-Poem, ed.
Dr. Richard Morris, E.E.T.S., 1864 ; reprinted, 1869. [ab. 1360.]
Gay. J., Poems of; see English Poets. [Died 1732.]
Genesis and Exodus, The Story of; ed. Dr. Richard Morris,
E.E.T.S., 1865. [12501300 ?]
German. Altdeutsches Handworterbuch ; von W. Wackernagel.
Basel, 1861.
Dictionary, by Fliigel ; ed. Feiling, Heimann, and Oxenford.
London, 1861. (When only ' G.' is cited, this book is meant.)
Gesta Romanorum, English Version of; ed. S. J. Herrtage, E.E.T.S.,
extra series, 1879. [isth cent.]
Gest Hystoriale of the Destruction of Troy ; an alliterative Romance,
ed. G. A. Panton and D. Donaldson, E.E.T.S., 1869 and 1874.
[ab. 1390.]
Golden Booke (cited by Richardson). This is the Life of Marcus
Aurelius, tr. by Lord Bemers ; of which I have a black-letter copy,
without a title-page. [First ed. 1534.]
Gothic A Mcesp-Gothic Glossary; by W. W. Skeat. London, 1868.
Gower's Confessio Amantis, ed. Dr. Reinhold Pauli, 3 vols.
London, 1857. [1393.]
Greek. Liddell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon, 1849.
Grein, C. W. M., Bibliothek der Angelsachsischen Poesie. 2 vols.
Gottingen, 1857, 1858.
Sprachschatz der Angelsachsischen Dichter. 2 vols. Cassel
and Gottingen, 1861. (An excellent dictionary for the whole of
Anglo-Saxon poetry.)
Bibliothek der Angelsachsischen Prosa, 1872. (Contains the
Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, Job, in Anglo-Saxon.)
Grimm, J., Deutsche Grammatik. In 4 parts. Second Edition,
Gottingen, 18221837. (With a Register (Index) by K. G. An-
dresen, 1865.)
Guillim, John ; A Display of Heraldry. 4th ed. London, 1660.
Hakluyt, R., The Principal Navigations, Voiages, &c. of the English
Nation, 1598. (My copy is imperfect, wanting vol. 3; vols. I
and 2 are bound together.)
Haldeman, S. S., Affixes of English Words. Philadelphia, 1865.
Hales, J. W., Longer English Poems ; London, 1872.
Hali Meidenhad, an Alliterative Homily of the I2th century, ed.
O. Cockayne, M.A., E.E.T.S., 1866. [ab. 1220.]
Halliwell, J. O., A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words.
2 vols. Fifth Edition. London, 1865.
Hall, J. (Bp.), Satires in Six Books. Oxford, 1753. [1597, 1598.]
in, ** *i ** i/i;sL.iijJiu'ii ui .i.ii^iaiiu \avwmt <uiu i iiiiu
ts);ed.F.J.Furnivall. (New Shakspere Society), 1878. [1577.]
i Correspondence (1601 1704) ; ed. E. M. Thompson. 2 vols.
Hall, J. (Bp.), Contemplations on the Old and New Testaments.
Reprint. 1860. [1612-1615.]
Hamilton ; see French.
Hampole, Richard Rolle de ; English Prose Treatises, ed. Geo. G.
Perry, M.A. ; E.E.T.S., 1866. [ab. 1340.]
Pricke of Conscience ; a Northumbrian! Poem, ed. R. Morris
(Philological Society), London, 1863. [1340.]
Harman's Caveat ; printed with the Fraternitye of Vacabondes, by
John Awdeley ; ed. E. Viles and F. J. Furnivall, E.E.T.S., extra
series, 1869. [1567.]
Harrison, W., A Description of England (Second and Third
Books);
Hatton I
(Camden Soc.) 1878.
Havelok the Dane, ed.W.W. Skeat and Sir F. Madden, E.E.T.S.,
extra series, 1868. [ab. 1280.!
Haydn's Dictionary of Dates ; Thirteenth Edition, by B. Vincent,
London, 1868.
Hazlitt, W. C. ; reprint of Dodsley's Collection of Old Plays. 15
vols. 1874 1876. [i6th cent]
Hebrew. Lexicon Hebraicum et Chaldaicum ; edidit E. F. Leo-
pold. Lipsise, 1872.
Heliand ; see Old Saxon.
Henrysoun, R., Complaint and Testament of Creseide ; pr. with
Chaucer's Works, 1561. [isth cent.]
Herbert, George, Poems of, ed. R. A. Willmott. London, 1859.
[died 1633.]
Herbert, Sir T., Travels ; Third Edition, London, 1665.
Hexham ; see Dutch.
Heyne, M., See Old Saxon.
Hickes, G., Linguarum veterum Septentrionalium Thesaurus. 3 vols.
Oxford, 1703 5.
Higden. Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden, with Trevisa's transla-
tion. (Record Publications.) Vols. i. and ii. ed. by Churchill
Babington, B.D. Vols. iii. vi. ed. by the Rev. J. Rawson Lumby,
18651876. SeeTrevisa.
Hindi, Hindustani. Bate, J. D., A Dictionary of the Hindee
Language. Benares, 1875.
Fallon, S. W., Hindustani and English Dictionary. Benares,
New edition. London,
1879.
Forbes, D., Hindustani Dictionary.
1859.
Hole, C., A Brief Biographical Dictionary, 1865.
Holland, Philemon ; tr. of Pliny's Natural History, 2 vols., folio,
1634.
tr. of Ammianus Marcellinus ; 1609. (Cited by Richardson.)
tr. of Plutarch's Morals; 1603. (Cited by Richardson.)
Home Tooke ; see Tooke.
Horn. Kyng Horn, Floriz and Blancheflour, &c., ed. Rev. J. Raw-
son Lumby, E.E.T.S., 1866.
Howell, J., Epistoke Ho-Elianie, Familiar Letters. Fifth Edition.
4 vols. in one. 1678.
Instructions for Forreine Travell (1642) ; ed. Arber, 1868.
Hungarian. Dankovsky, G., Magyricae Linguae Lexicon. Presburg,
I833-
Icelandic. An Icelandic-English Dictionary, based on the MS.
collections of the late R. Cleasby ; by G. Vigfusson. Oxford,
1874. With an Appendix containing a list of words etymologi-
cally connected with Icelandic, by W. W. Skeat, 1876.
Egilsson, S., Lexicon Poeticum antique Linguae Septentrionalis.
Hafhias, 1860.
Mobius, T., Altnordisches Glossar. Leipzig, 1 865.
Ihre ; see Swedish.
Irish. An Irish-English Dictionary, by E. O'Reilly ; with a sup-
plement by J. O'Donovan. Dublin, 1864.
Italian. Florio, John. A Worlde of Wordes, or most copious and
exact Dictionarie in Italian and English. London, I5o!8. (First
Edition.)
Florio, J. Queen Anna's New Worlde of Wordes, or Dictionarie
of the Italian and English tongues. London, 1611.
Italian and English Dictionary, by F. C. Meadows ; Fifteenth
Edition. London, 1857. [When ' Ital.' is cited without further
notice, this book is meant.]
Isidore, St., Works of ; in Migne's Cursus Patrologicus.
Isumbras, Romance of; printed in the Thornton Romances, ed.
J.O. Halliwell, C.S.. 1844.
Jackson, Georgina F., Shropshire Word-book. London, 1879 i s 8i.
Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary, abridged by John Johnston. A New
Edition, by John Longmuir; Edinburgh, 1867.
fohns, Rev. C. A., Flowers of the Field ; Fourth Edition, London,
S.P.C.K., n.d.
xxvni
BOOKS REFERRED TO IN THE DICTIONARY.
Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language j ed. by the Rev. H.
J. Todd; 3 vols. 410., London, 1827.
Johnson, S., the Rambler. (Cited by Richardson.) [17501752.]
And see Boswell.
Jonson, Ben., Works of; ed. W. Gifford. (Reprint.) London, 1860.
[Died 1637.]
Every Man in his Humour; ed. H. B. Wheatley, 1877. [ab.
1598.]
Joseph of Arimathie, or the Holy Grail, ed. W. W. Skeat ; E.E.T.S.,
1871. [ab. 1350.]
Juliana, St., ed. Cockayne and Brock; E.E.T.S., 1872. [Early isth
cent.]
Kemble, J. M., Codex Diplomaticus JEri Saxonici. 6 vols. 1839-
1848.
Kersey, J., English Dictionary; 1715.
Kilian ; see Dutch.
King Horn, ed. J. R. Lumby, E.E.T.S., 1866. [Before 1300.]
Knight of la Tour-Landry, The Book of the ; ed. T. Wright,
E.E.T.S., 1868. [ab. 1440.]
Koch, C. F., Historische Grammatik der Englischen Sprache. 3 vols.
Weimar, 1863 ; Cassel and Gottingen, 1865, 1869.
Koolman ; see Friesic.
Lancelot of the Laik, ed. W. W. Skeat, E.E.T.S., 1865. [^th
century.]
Langtoft. Peter Langtoft's Chronicle, as illustrated and improve
by Robert of Brunne ; ed. Thomas Hearne, M. A. 2 vols. Oxford,
1725. Reprinted, London, 1810. [ab. 1338.]
Latimer, H., Seven Sermons before Edward VI., ed. E. Arber, 1869.
[J549-]
Latin. A Latin-English Dictionary, by J. T. White and J. E.
Riddle. Fifth Edition. London, 1876.
Layamon's Brut, ed. by Sir F. Madden. 3 vols. (Society of Anti-
quaries.) 1847. [ab. 1 200.]
Legends of the Holy Rood, ed. Dr. Richard Morris, E.E.T.S., 1871.
Legonidec ; see Breton.
Leo, H., Angelsachsisches Glossar; Halle, 1872.
Levins, Manipulus Vocabulontm; ed. H. B. Wheatley, E.E.T.S.,
1867. [1570.]
Liber Albus ; see Riley.
Liddell and Scott ; see Greek.
Lithuanian. Worterbuch der Littauischen Sprache, von G. H. F.
Nesselmann. Kb'nigsberg, 1851.
Lithe" ; see French.
Loth, J., Etymologische angelsaechsische-englische Grammatik.
Elberfeld, 1870.
Low German. See Bremen Worterbuch.
Low Latin. See Ducange.
Lydgate, The Storie of Thebes ; printed at the end of Chaucer's
Woorkes, with diuers Addicions. London, 1561. [ab. 1430.]
Lye, E., and O. Manning ; Dictionarium Saxonico-et-Gothico-
Latinum. 2 vols. London, 1772.
Lyly, J., Euphues ; ed. E. Arber, 1868. [1579, 1580.]
Lyndesay, Sir D., Works of. E.E.T.S., 1865, 1866, 1868. [1557, &c.]
Mahn, K. A. F., Etymologische Untersuchungen, &c. Berlin, 1863.
Malay. Marsden, W. ; A Dictionary of the Malayan Language.
London, 1812.
Pijnappel, J., Maleisch-Hollandsch Woordenboek. Amsterdam,
1875.
Malayalim. Bailey, Rev. B., A Dictionary of Malayalim and
English. Cottayam, 1846.
Malory, Sir T., Morte Darthur. The Globe Edition, London, 1868.
[1469.] And see Morte Arthur.
Mandeville ; see Maundeville.
March, F. A., A Comparative Grammar of the Anglo-Saxon
Language, London, 1870.
Marco Polo. The Book of Ser Marco Polo, newly translated and
ed. by Col. H. Yule, C.B. a vols. London, 1871.
Marharete ; see Seinte.
Marlowe's Works, ed. Lt.-Col. F. Cunningham, London, 1870.
[Died 1593.]
Marsden ; see Malay.
Marsh, G. P., Lectures on the English Language, ed. Dr. W. Smith,
London, 1862. [The Student's Manual of the English Language.]
Massinger. The Flays of Philip Massinger; ed. Lt.-Col. F. Cun-
ningham, London, 1868. [Died 1640.]
Matzner. Englische Grammatik, von E. Matzner. 3 parts. Berlin,
18601865.
Altenglische Sprachproben, nebst einem Wb'rterbuche, ed. E.
Matzner. Erster Band, Sprachproben ; Berlin,i867 1869. Zweiter
Band [unfinished], Berlin, 1872 1876. (An excellent work.)
Maundeville The Voiage and Travaile of Sir John Maundeville,
Knt. ; London, E. Lumley, 1839 ' reprinted by J. O. Halliwell in
1866. [1356.]
Meadows ; see Italian and Spanish.
Metivier; see French.
Mexican. Clavigero's History of Mexico, tr. from the Italian by
C. Cullen. 2 vols. London, 1787.
Milton. The Poetical Works of John Milton, with a life of the
author, and Verbal Index by C. Dexter Cleveland. New edition,
London, 1865. [Died 1674.]
Areopagitica ; ed. J. W. Hales. Oxford, 1874. [ I( >44-]
Minot, L., poems of; pr. in Political Poems and Songs relating to
English History, vol. i. ; ed. T. Wright (for the Record Commis-
sion), London, 1859. [1352.]
Minsheu, J., The Guide into the Tongues. Second edition. London,
1627. And see Spanish.
Mobius ; see Icelandic.
Molbech ; see Danish.
More, Sir T., Works of; printed in 1557. [Died 1535.]
tr. of Sir T. More's Utopia, by R. Robinson, 1551 ; Second
Edition, 1556 ; ed. E. Arber, 1869. [1551.]
Morris, R., Historical Outlines of English Accidence, London, 1872.
Morte Arthure (an alliterative poem) ; ed. E. Brock. E.E.T.S. Re-
print, 1871. [ab. 1440.] The First Edition, by the Rev. G. G.
Perry, appeared in 1865. And see Malory.
Muller, E., Etymologisches Worterbuch der englischen Sprache.
In two parts. Second Edition. Cothen, 1879.
Miiller, F. Max, Lectures on the Science of Language. Eighth
Edition. 2 vols. 1875.
Myrc's Duties of a Parish Priest, ed. E. Peacock; E.E.T.S., 1868.
[ab. 1420.]
Myrour of Our Lady, ed. J. H. Blunt; E.E.T.S., extra series, 1873.
Nares, R. ; A Glossary to the Works of English Authors, particularly
Shakespeare and his contemporaries. New edition, by Halliwell
and Wright, z vols. London, 1859.
Neckam, A., De Utensilibus ; pr. in Wright's Vocabularies, First
Series, pp. 96-119. [izthcent.]
Nesselmann ; see Lithuanian.
North, R., Examen ; London, 1740. (Cited at second-hand.)
North, Sir T., tr. of Plutarch, 1612.
Norwegian. Aasen, Ivar; Norsk Ordbog med Dansk Forklaring,
Christiania, 1873.
Notes and Queries (published weekly). First Series, 1850 =5; second,
185661 ; third, 186267 ; fourth, 1868 73 ; fifth, 1874 79.
Old English Homilies ; see Early English Homilies.
Old English Miscellany, ed. Dr. R. Morris, E.E.T.S., 1872.
Old Saxon. Heliand ; mit ausfuhrlichem Glossar herausgegeben ;
von M. Heyne. Paderborn, 1866.
- Kleinere altniederdeutsche Denkmaler ; mit ausfuhrlichem
Glossar herausgegeben ; von M. Heyne. Paderborn, 1867.
Oliphant, T. L. K., Old and Middle English. London, 1878.
Ormulum ; ed. R. M. White. 2 vols. Oxford, 1852. [12001250.]
Orosius ; see Alfred.
Outzen ; see Friesic.
Ovid. P. Ovidii Nasonis Opera Omnia, ed. C. H. Weise. 3 vols.
Leipzig, 1845.
Owl and Nightingale, ed. Thos. Wright, London, 1843. Lately
re-ed. by Dr. F. H. Stratmann. (My knowledge of it is due to the
extracts in Morris's Specimens of Early English (First Edition),
and in Matzner' s Sprachproben.) [ab. 1300.]
Palladius on Husbandrie ; in English ; ed. B. Lodge, E.E.T.S., 1872,
1877. [ aD - I 4 20 -]
Palmer, A. S., Leaves from a Word-hunter's Notebook. London,
1876.
Palmer, E. H. ; see Persian.
Palsgrave. Lesclaircissement de la Langue Francoyse, par Maistre
Jehan Palsgrave, 1530. [Reprint, Paris, 1852.]
Pardonere and Tapster; printed as an introduction to the Tale of
Beryn. See Beryn.
Parker Society Publications. (The excellent Index has been of much
service.)
Partenay, Romance of; ed. W. W. Skeat, E.E.T.S., 1866. [ab. 1500
1520.]
Paston Letters, ed. J. Gairdner. 3 vols. London, 1872 1875.
[14221509.]
Peacock, E., A Glossary of Words used in the Wapentakes of
Manley and Corringham, Lincolnshire. Eng. Dial. Soc., 1877.
Pegge, S., An Alphabet of Kenticisms ; printed in Series C, Part III,
of the Eng. Dial. Society's publications, ed. W. W. Skeat, 1876.
Pepys, S., Memoirs of, comprising his Diary, &c. ; ed. Richard Lord
Braybrooke. (Reprint.) London, F. Warne, n. d. [1659 1669.]
BOOKS REFERRED TO IN THE DICTIONARY.
XXIX
Perceval ; see Thornton Romances, [ab. 1440.]
Percy Folio MS., ed. J. W. Hales and F. J. Furnivall. 3 vols.
London, 1867 68.
Persian. A Concise Dictionary of the Persian Language ; by E. H.
Palmer. London, 1876. [When 'Pers. ' is cited without further
notice, this book is meant.]
A Dictionary, Persian, Arabic, and English. By J. Richardson ;
new edition, by F. Johnson. London, 1829.
Vullers, T. A., Lexicon Persico-Latinum. 2 vols. Bonn, 1855-67.
Phillips, E., The New World of Words; London, 1706.
Pierce the Ploughman's Crede, about 1394 A.D., ed. W. W. Skeat,
E.E.T.S., 1867. (An early imitation of Piers Plowman.) [1394.]
Piers Plowman. The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plow-
man ; ed. W. W. Skeat. A-text (earliest version) ; B-text (second
version); C-text (latest version). E.E.T.S., 1867, 1869, 1873.
Notes to the three texts, 1877. [1362 1400.]
Poems and Lives of Saints, ed. F. J. Furnivall ; Berlin, 1862. [ab.
1300.]
Polish. Nouveau Dictionnaire Portatif Francais-Polonais et Polo-
nais-Francais ; par J. A. E. Schmidt. Leipzig, 1847.
Political Poems and Songs relating to English History, ed. Thos.
Wright. (Record Publications.) 2 vols. 1851 1861.
Political, Religious, and Love Poems, ed. F. J. Furnivall, E.E.T.S.,
1866.
Political Songs ; ed. T. Wright. Camden Soc., 1839. [ I2 64-I327-]
Pope, A., Works of, ed. H. F. Gary; London, 1849. [Died 1744.]
- Concordance to the Works of; by E. Abbott. London,
1875-
Portuguese. Novo Diccionario Portatil das linguas Portugueza e
Ingleza, resumido do diccionario de Vieyra; nova edi9ao por
J. P. Ailland. 2 vols. Paris, 1857.
A Grammar of the Portuguese Language, by A. Vieyra.
Twelfth Edition. London, 1858.
Pricke of Conscience ; see Hampole.
Prior, R. C. A., On the Popular Names of British Plants. Third
Edition. London, 1879.
Prior, M., Poems of; see English Poets. [Died 1721.]
Prompt. Parv. = Promptorium Parvulorum sive Clericorum Dictiona-
rins Anglo-Latinus Princeps, auctore fratre Galfrido Grammatico
dicto, circa A.D. MCCCCXL. Ed. A. Way, C.S., 1843, 1853, and
1865. (Very valuable.) [1440.]
Provencal. Lexique Roman, by M. Raynouard. 5 vols. Paris,
1836.
Puttenham, G., The Arte of English Poesie, 1589. In Arber's Re-
prints. London, 1869.
Ray, John ; A Collection of English Words not generally used.
Re-arranged and edited by W. W. Skeat ; Eng. Dialect Society,
1874. [16741691.]
Raynouard : see Provencal.
Reliquiae Antiqux, ed. Wright and Halliwell. 2 vols. 1841 1843.
Rhys, J., Lectures in Welsh Philology; London, 1877.
Richard Coer de Lion ; see Weber.
Richardson ; see Arabic ; and see Persian.
Richardson, C., A Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols.
4to., London, 1863.
Richard the Redeles; printed with the C-text of Piers the Plowman,
pp. 469 521. See Preface iv, in the same volume, pp. ciii cxxiv.
Richthofen ; see Friesic.
Rietz ; see Swedish.
Riley. Liber Albus : The White Book of the city of London ; tr. by
H. T. Riley, M.A. London, 1 86 1.
Riley's Memorials of London. London, 1868.
Ritson's Metrical Romances. Ancient Engleish (sic) Metrical Roman-
cees (sic) ; ed. by Joseph Ritson. 3 vols. London, i8oa. Vol. i.
contains Ywaine and Gawin ; Launfal. Vol. ii. contains Lybeaus
Disconus ; King Horn ; King of Tars ; Emare ; Sir Orpheo ;
Chronicle of England. Vol. iii. contains Le bone Florence ; Erie
of Tolous ; Squyre of Lowe Degre ; Knight of Curtesy.
Robert of Brunne ; Handlyng Synne, ed. F. J. Furnivall (Roxburghe
Club), 1862. [1303.] And see Langtoft.
Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle, ed. T. Hearne. 2 vols. Oxford,
1724. Reprinted, London, 1810. [ab. 1298.]
Robinson, F. K., A Glossary of Words used in the neighbourhood
ofWhitby. Eng. Dialect Society, 1875 76.
Robson, J. Three Early English Metrical Romances, ed. J. R.,
Camden Soc., 1842.
Romaunt of the Rose. An English translation of the French Roman
de La Rose, by an anonymous author. Commonly mistaken for
Chaucer's, and printed with his Works. [i4th cent.]
Roquefort, J. B. B., Glossaire de la Langue Romane. 2 vols. Paris,
i8oS. With Supplement, 1820.
Roy, W., Rede Me and be not Wrothe ; ed. E. Arber, 1871.
oy,
[1
Russian. New parallel Dictionaries of the Russian, French, Ger-
man, and English Languages, in four parts. First Part, Russian-
English; Fourth Part, English-Russian. Third Edition. Carlsrnhe,
St. Petersburg, Leipzig, and Paris, 1876.
St. Juliana; ed. Cockayne and Brock. E.E.T.S., 1872. [1200
1250?]
Salomon and Saturn. Anglo-Saxon Dialogues of Salomon and
Saturn, ed. J. M. Kemble. (^Elfric Society), 1845, 1847, 1848.
Sandys, G., A Relation of a Journey an. dom. 1610. Third Edition.
1632.
Sanskrit. Sanskrit-English Dictionary, by T. Benfey, 1866. [When
' Skt.' only is cited, this book is meant.]
Sanskrit Dictionary, by Bohtlingk and Roth, 7 parts. St. Petersburg,
der
(In
bright.
Scheler ; see French.
Schleicher, A., Compendium der vergleichenden Grammatik
indo-germanischen Sprachen. Weimar, 1871.
Indogennanische Chrestomathie. Weimar, 1869.
Schmeller ; see Bavarian Dictionary.
Schmidt, A. ; see Shakespeare.
Schmidt, J., Zur Geschichte des Indogermamschen Vocalismus.
two parts.) Weimar, 1871 and 1875.
Scott. The Select Poetry of Sir Walter Scott, Bart. 6 vols. Edin-
burgh, 1849. [Died 1832.]
Seinte Marharete, ed. O. Cockayne. E.E.T.S., 1866. [12001250.]
Selden, J., Table-talk ; ed. E. Arber. London, 1868. [1689.]
Seven Sages. The Seven Sages, in English Verse, ed. Thos. Wrig
London (Percy Society), 1845. [ab. 1420.]
The Seuyn Sages (another copy). Printed in vol. iii. of Weber's
Metrical Romances. See Weber.
Sewel ; see Dutch.
Shakespeare. The Globe Edition, ed. by W. G. Clark and W. Aldis
Wright. Cambridge and London, 1864. [Died 1616.]
Shakespeare Lexicon ; by A. Schmidt. Berlin and London,
1875-
Shakespeare's Plutarch ; being a selection from North's Plutarch.
By W. W. Skeat. London, 1875.
Sidney, Sir P., Apology for Poetrie ; ed. E. Arber, 1868. [1595.]
Skelton's Poetical Works ; ed. Rev. A. Dyce. 2 vols. London, 1843.
[Died 1529.]
Skinner, S., Etymologicon Linguae Anglicanae. London, 1671. [The
chief source of the etymologies in Johnson's Dictionary.]
Slang Dictionary ; London, 1874.
Smith, W. A Concise Bible Dictionary, ed. by Wm. Smith, B.D.
London, 1865.
Smith, Toulmin, English Gilds. E.E.T.S., 1870. [1389-1450.]
Somner, W., Dictionarium Saxonico-Latino-Anglicum ; Oxford, 1659.
[An A. S. Dictionary.]
Songs and Carols, ed. T. Wright, London, 1847. [ab. 1470.]
Spanish. Minsheu, J., A Dictionary in Spanish and English.
London, 1623.
Spanish and English Dictionary, by F. C. Meadows, Eighth
Edition, London, 1856. [When 'Span.' is cited without further
notice, this book is meant.]
Spanish and English Dictionary, originally compiled by
Nenman and Baretti ; by M. Seoane, M.D. New edition. 3 vols.
London, 1862.
Spectator, The; ed. H. Morley, n. d. [1711 1714.]
Specimens of Early English, A.D. 1298 1393; by Dr. Morris and
the Rev. W. W. Skeat. New edition, revised for the second time.
Oxford, 1873.
Specimens of English Literature, A. D. 1394 1579; by the Rev.
W. W. Skeat. Oxford, 1871. Second edition, 1879.
Specimens of Lyric Poetry written in England in the reign of
Edward I ; ed. T. Wright, (Percy Society), 1843.
Spelman, J., Psalterium Davidis Latino-Saxonicum vetus. London,
1640. [A Latin Psalter, with A. S. glosses.]
Spenser. The Complete Works of Edmund Spenser. The Globe
Edition, ed. by R. Morris, with memoir by J. W. Hales. London,
1869. [Shep. Kal. 1579 ; Fairy Queen, 1590 1596.]
Stanyhnrst, R., tr. of Virgil's JEneid, books i.-iv., 1582; ed. E.
Arber, 1880. [1582.]
Sterne, L., Works of. 7 vols. London, 1802. [Died 1768.]
Stow, J., A Survey of London, written in the year 1598. New
edition, by W. J. Thorns. London, 1842.
Stratmann. A Dictionary of the Old English Language, compiled
from writings of the I2th, I3th, 14th, and I5th centuries, by
F. H. Stratmann. Third Edition. London, 1878.
Surrey, Lord ; see Tottel.
BOOKS REFERRED TO IN THE DICTIONARY.
Swedish. Pocket-dictionary of the English and Swedish languages.
Leipzig, C. Tauchnitz, n. d. [When ' Swed. ' is cited without
further notice, this book is meant.]
Ihre, J., Glossarium Sniogothicum. 2 vols., folio. Upsal, 1 769.
Svenskt och Engelskt Lexicon, af G. Widegren. Stockholm,
1788.
Svenskt Dialekt - Lexicon ; Ordbok ofver Svenska allmoge-
spraket, af J. E. Rietz. Lund, 1867.
Sweet, H., An Anglo-Saxon Reader. Oxford, 1876.
A History of English Sounds. (E.D.S.) London, 1874.
Swinburne, H., Travels through Spain in 1775 and 1776. London,
1779-
'atler. '
Tatler. The Tatler and Guardian ; complete in one volume.
[Reprint.] London, 1877. [1709 1713.]
Taylor, I., Words and Places. Third Edition. London, 1873.
Ten Kate ; see Dutch.
Testament of Love. An anonymous Prose Treatise in imitation of
Chaucer's translation of Boethius. Printed in Chaucer's Woorkes,
with diuers Addicions ; 1561. [ab. 1400.]
Thornton Romances, ed. J. O. Halliwell. (Contains the romances
of Perceval, Isumbras, Eglamour, and Degrevant.) Camden
Soc. London, 1844. [ab. 1440.]
Thorpe, B., Ancient Laws and Institutes of England, a vols.
London, 1840.
Analecta Anglo-Saxonica. London, 1846.
Codex Exoniensis. A Collection of A. S. Poetry, ed. by
B. Thorpe. London, 1842.
Diplomatarium JEvi Saxonici. A Collection of English Char-
ters, from A. D. 605 to the reign of William the Conqueror.
London, 1865.
Thwaites, E., Heptateuchus, Liber Job, et Evangelium Nicodemi,
Anglo-Saxonice, &c. London, 1698. (See Grein.)
Tooke, John Home, Diversions of Purley ; ed. R. Taylor, 1857.
Tottel's Miscellany. Songs and Sonettes by Henry Howard, Earl
of Surrey, Sir Thomas Wyatt, the elder, &c. ; ed. E. Arber.
London, 1870. [First printed in 1557.]
Towneley Mysteries ; printed for the Surtees Society. London, 1836.
[ab. 1450.]
Trench, R. C., English Past and Present. Fourth Edition. London,
1859. Ninth Edition, 1875.
A Select Glossary. Fourth Edition. London, 1873.
Trevisa, John of, tr. of Higden's Polychronicon ; printed in the
edition of Higden's Polychronicon in the Record Series. [1387.]
See Higden.
Troy-book ; see Gest Historiale.
Turbervile's Poems ; see English Poets. [Died 1594?]
Turkish. Zenker, J. T., Dictionnaire Turc-Arabe-Persan. 2 vols.
Leipzig, 1866 76.
Tusser/ T., Fiue hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie ; the edition
of 1580, collated with those of 1573 and 1577; ed. W. Payne
and S. J. Herrtage. (E.D.S.) London, 1878.
Two Noble Kinsmen ; by Shakespeare and Fletcher ; ed. Skeat.
Cambridge, 1875.
TyndalL The Whole Workes of W. Tyndall, John Frith, and
Doctor Barnes, pr. by John Daye, 1572. [Tyndall died in
1536.]
Udall, N., Roister Doister (a play); ed. E. Arber, 1869. [ab. 1553.]
tr. of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the newe Testamente.
London, 1548 1549. (Cited by Richardson.)
Utopia ; see More.
Vanicek, A., Greichisch-Lateinisches Etymologisches WSrterbuch.
2 vols. Leipzig, 1877.
Vie de Seint Auban ; a poem in Norman French ; ed. R. Atkinson.
London, 1876.
Vigfusson ; see Icelandic.
Vulgate, the ; see Biblia.
Wackernagel ; see German.
Wallace. The Wallace, by Henry the Minstrel ; ed. J. Jamieson, D.D.
Edinburgh, 1820. [ab. 1460.]
Wanley, H., Catalogue of A. S. MSS. ; pr. in vol. iii. of Hickes's
Thesaurus; see Hickes.
Way ; see Prompt. Parv.
Weber's Metrical Romances. 3 vols. London, 1810. Vol. i.
contains King Alisaunder ; Sir Cleges ; Lai le Freine. Vol. ii.
contains Richard Coer de Lion ; Ipomydon ; Amis and Amiloun.
Vol. iii. contains Seuyn Sages ; Octouian ; Sir Amadas ; Hunting
of the Hare. [i4th cent.]
Webster, J., Works of; ed. A. Dyce; new edition. London, 1857.
[1607 1661.]
Webster, N., New illustrated edition of Dr. Webster's unabridged
dictionary of all the words in the English language ; ed. C. A.
Goodrich and N. Porter. London, n. d.
Wedgwood, H., A Dictionary of English Etymology. Second Edi-
tion, London, 1872. Third Edition, London, 1878.
Welsh. A Dictionary of the Welsh Language, by W. Spurrell.
Second Edition. Carmarthen, 1859. [When 'W.' is cited
without further notice, this book is meant.]
White ; see Latin.
Widegren ; see Swedish.
William of Palerae; ed. W. W. Skeat. E.E.T.S., extra series,
1867. [ab. 1360.]
William of Shoreham, The Religious Poems of; ed. Thos. Wright.
(Percy Society.) 1849. [ab. 1325?]
Williams ; see Cornish.
Wilson, H. H., A Glossary of Judicial and Revenue Terms, from
various Indian languages. London, 1855.
Wright, T., Vocabularies. (First Series.) Liverpool, 1857. (Second
Series.) Liverpool, 1873.
Wyclif. Select English Works of John Wyclif; ed. T. Arnold.
3 vols. Oxford, 18691871. [Died 1384.]
The Holy Bible, in the earliest English Versions made by
John Wycliffe and his followers ; ed. Rev. J. Forshall and Sir F.
Madden. 4 vols. Oxford, 1850. (With a Glossary.) [ab. 1382
-1388.]
Wycliffite Glossary. A Glossary to the Wycliffite Versions of the
Bible (above). (Sometimes met with separately.)
Young, E., The Complaint, or Night Thoughts. London, 1817,
[Died 1 765.]
XXXI
SELECTED EXAMPLES, ILLUSTRATING THE FORMATION OF
ENGLISH DERIVATIVES FROM STRONG VERBS.
IT has already been said, at p. xiii, that derivatives from strong verbs can be deduced from the form of the
past tense singular, of the past tense plural, or of the past participle, as well as from the infinitive mood.
Many of these derivatives further involve one of the vowel-changes given in the scheme on p. xiii, lines 5
and 6 from the bottom of the page ; to which may be added the occasional change (not there noted) of o to y.
By way of illustrating some of the complexities in the vowel-sounds which are thus introduced, the following
selected examples are given below, which may be considered as exercises.
In order to understand these, it is necessary to remember (i) that the formula bindan (band, bundon,
bunderi) is an abbreviation for the following: infinitive bindan, past tense sing, band, past tense plural bundon,
past part, bunden ; and so on for other verbs. Also (2) that the formula (a to e) or the like, is an abbreviation
for ' by vowel-change of a to e.' Also (3) that a form marked by an asterisk, such as bar *, is theoretical.
Bairn, a child = A. S. bear-n ; formed (with breaking ' of a to ea)
from bar*, orig. form of pt. t. sing, of ber-an (beer, bar-on, bor-en),
to bear. Hence also bar-tn, the lap = A. S. bear-m. Also bier = A. S.
bar ; from bar-on, pt. t. pi. of ber-an. Also birth, answering to A. S.
ge-byrd ; from bor-en, pp. of the same (o to y). Also burd-en, A. S.
byr-ft-en, from the same bor-en (o to y).
Bode, A. S. bodian, to announce, bod, a message ; from bod-en, pp.
of be6d-an (bead, bud-on, bod-en), to bid, command.
Borough = A. S. bur A, burg; from burg-on, pt.pl. of beorg-an
(bearg, burg-on, borg-en), to protect. Also borrow, A. S. borg-ian,
v. from borh, borg, a pledge ; from A. S. borg-en, pp. of the same.
Also bury, A. S. byrg-an, from the same pp. borg-en (o toy).
Band, Bond ; from A.S. band, pt. t. sing, of bindan (band, bund-on,
bund-en), to bind. Also bund-le, from A. S. bund-en, pp. of the same.
Also bend = A.S. bend-on, to fasten a band or string on a bow, from
bend, sb. ( = band-i *), a band, from the pt. t. sing. band.
Bit = A. S. bil-a, a morsel ; from bit-en, pp. of bit-an (bat, bit-on,
bit-en), to bite. Bitter = A. S. bit-or, biting ; from the same.
Beetle (i) = A. S. bit-el, a biter, from bit-an. Bait, a Scand. word =
Icel. beit-a, causal of Icel. bit-a, to bite (pt. t. sing. beit).
Broth, A. S. 6ro-8, for brow-ft * ; from brow-en, pp. of bre6w-an
(bredvi, bruw-on, brow-en), to brew. And see Bread.
Bow (3), sb., A. S. bog-a ; from bog-en, pp. of biig-an (benh,
bug-on, bog-en), to bow, bend. Also bight, A. S. byh-t ( = byg-t *) ;
from the same pp. bog-en (o to y).
Cripple, O. Northumb. cryp-el, lit. ' creeper ;' from crup-on, pt. t. pi.
of cre6pan (credp, crup-on, crop-en), to creep (u to y).
Drop, sb. A. S. drop-a ; from drop-en, pp. of obs. dre6p-an
(dredp, drup-on, drop-en), to drip. Also drip = A. S. dryppan *, from
drup-on, pt. t. pi. of the same (u to g). Also droop, a Scand. word,
Icel. drup-a, allied to Icel. drjtip-a^A.S. dredp-an.
Dreary, A. S. dreor-ig, for dreds-ig, orig. ' gory ;' from dreos-an
(dreds, drur-on, dror-en), to drip. Dross, A. S. dros, from dros-en *,
orig. form of dror-en, pp. of the same. Also drizz-le, formed from
drys-*, from the same dros-en * (o to y).
Drove, A. S. drdf; from drdf, pt. t. sing, of drif-an (draf, drif-on,
drif-en), to drive. Drif-t, from drif-en, pp. of the same.
Drench, A. S. drenc-an ( = dranc-ian *) ; from dranc, pt. t. sing, of
drinc-an (dranc, drunc-on, drunc-en), to drink. Drunlt-ard; from
drunc-en, pp. of the same. Drown, A.S. drunc-nian( = druncen-ian*) t
from the same pp. druncen.
Float, vb., A. S. flot-ian ; from flat-en, pp. of fle6t-an (feat,
flut-on*, flat-en ), to float. Fleet (i), fleet (2), fleet (3) ; all from
the mSm.fle6t-an. Flit, Flot-sam; Scandinavian. Flutter, A.S. flot-
or-ian, from the pp. flat-en.
Frost, A. S. fros-t ; from fros-en *, orig. form of fror-en, pp. of
freosan (freds, frur-on, fror-en), to freeze. The form frosen (not
found otherwise) is curiously preserved in the mod. E./rown (unless
it be a new formation) ; fror-en is the orig. form olfrore (Milton).
Grope, A. S. grdp-ian ; from grap, pt. t. sing, of grip-an (grdp,
grip-on, grip-en), to gripe.
Lot, A. S. Mot, also hlyt or hlyt. Here hlot is from Mot-en, pp., and
hlyt from hlut-on (u toy), pt. t. pi., of hle6t-an (hledt, hlut-on, hlot-en),.
to obtain by lot ; or else hlyt is from hledt (ed to y).
Leasing, falsehood, from A. S. leas, false ; from leas, pt. t. sing, of
leos-an (leas, lur-on, lor-en), to lose. The suffix -less also = A. S.
leas, loose or false. Lose = A.S. los-ian; from las-en r , orig. form of
the pp. lor-en. F or-lorn = A. S. for-lor-en, pp. of for-ledsan. And
see Loose, Loss,
Loan, A. S. Idn (usually lam), put for Idh-n * ; from Ida, pt. t. of
lihan (luh, lih-on, lih-en), to grant. The verb to lend^fA. E. len-en,
A. S. liin-an ; from the sb. Idn (a to <).
Lay, trans, vb., A. S. lecgan, written for leggan ( = lag-ian *) ; from
lag *, orig. form of lag, pt. t. of liogan (lag, lagan, leg-en), to lie.
Lair, A. S. leg-er, from leg-en, pp. of licgan. And see Law, Leaguer,
Ledge, Log.
Lode, A. S. lad, a course, put for IdV * ; from M5, pt. t. sing, of
liSan (MtS, HS-on, lfo-en), to travel. And see Load. Also lead, A.S.
lad-an ; from the sb. lad above (d to a).
Main(l), sb., A.S. mag-en; from mag, pres. t. of the anomalous
verb mugan, to be able. Allied words are mai-d, migh-t, mict-le,
much, more, most.
Malt, A. S. tnealt ; from mealt, pt. t. sing, of meltan (mealt, malt-
on *, molt-en), to melt. The pp. molten is still in use. Milt (i) is
allied.
Nimble, A. S. nim-ol ; from nim-an (nam, ndm-on, num-en), to
seize. Numb, from A. S. num-en, pp. of the same.
Quail (i), A. S. owelan (cwal, cwal-on, cwol-en), to die. Qual-m.
For the explanation of ' breaking,' see p. xiii, 1. 10 from bottom.
XXX11
SELECTED EXAMPLES.
A. S. cwealtn, formed (by breaking of a to ea) from cwal *, orig. form
of cwal, pt. t. sing, of the same. Quell, A. S. cwell-an ( =cwal-ian *),
from the same cwal * (a to e).
Road, A. S. rdd ; from rod, pt. t. sing, of rf dan (rad, rid-on, rid-en),
to ride. Raid is the Scand. form. Read-y, A. S. rad-e ; from the
same rdd (d to a).
Ripe, A. S. rip-f, allied to rip, harvest ; from A. S. ripan (rap,
rip-on, rip-en), to reap.
Rear (i), A. S. rar-an, to raise; put for ras-an*; formed (by
change of d to d) from rds, pt. t. sing, of risan (rds, ris-on, ris-en),
to rise. Raise is the Scand. form, Icel. reis-a, from rets, pt. t. sing,
of Icel. ris-a, to rise.
Sake = A.S. sac-u, from sac-an (sdc, soc-on, sac-en), to contend.
Sote, Soken, A. S. sfo, sicn ; from sdc, the pt. t. sing, of sacan. Seek,
A. S. sec-an ; from the same sdc (6 to e). Se-seech = he-seek.
Sheet, A. S. scete, scyte, also scedt ; from scedt, pt. t. sing, of
sce6t-an (scedt, scut-on, scot-en), to shoot. Shot, from the pp. scot-en.
Shut, A. S. scyttan ( = scot-ian*), from the same (o to y). And see
Shoot, Scuttle (i) and (2), Skittish, Skittles.
Score, A.S. SCOT; from scor-en, pp. of sceran (sc#r, scar-on,
scor-en), to shear. And see Shore (i), SAor/, SAirt, Scar (2), SWrt.
Also sAore (i), A. S. scear-u (by breaking of a to <o) from scar *,
orig. form of the pt. t. scar above.
Shove, A. S. scof-ian, vb. ; from scof-en, pp. of sciifan (scedf,
scuf-on, scof-en), to push. Sheaf, A. S. scedf, from scedf, pt. t. sing, of
the same. And see Shuffle, Scuffle.
Sod ; from A. S. sod-en, pp. of se6tS-an (sea'S, sud-on, sod-en), to
seethe. Suds, from the pt. t. pi. sud-on.
Song, A. S. sang ; from sang, pt. t. sing, of singan (sang, sung-on,
sung-en), to sing. So also singe, A. S. seng-an, from the same pt. t.
sang (a to e).
Set, A. S. settan ( = sat-ian *) ; from sat * (a to e), orig. form of
sat, pt. t. sing, of sitt-au (sat, sat-on, set-en), to sit. Seat is a Scand.
word.
Slope = A. S. slap * ; from slap, pt. t. sing, of sUpan (slap, slip-on,
slip-en), to slip. Slipper-y, A. S. slip-or, from slip-en, pp. Allied to
Slop (i), 5/o/i (2), Sloven.
Speech, A. S. space, earlier form sprac-e ; from sprac-on, pt. t. pi.
of sprecan (sprac, sprac-on, spree-en), to speak. Spokesman is a late
form, due to a new M. E. pp. spoken, substituted for the earlier M. E.
pp. speken.
Stair, A. S. stdg-er ; from stag, pt. t. sing, of stlgan (stag, stig-on,
stig-en), to climb (d to d). Also stile, A. S. s'ig-el, from stig-en, pp.
of the same. And see Sty (i), Sty (2).
Thread, A. S. J>r<zrf, put for prdw-d " ; from the infin. or pp. of
praw-an (\iredw, preow-on, prdw-en), to throw, twist.
Throng, A. S. prang ; from prang, pt. t. sing, of pringan (prang,
prung-on, prung-en), to press, crowd.
Wain, A. S. ween, contracted form of wag-n ; from the pt. t. wag
of wegan (wag, wag-on, weg-en), to carry ; the infin. of which is
preserved in the mod. E. weigh. Also wey, a heavy weight, A. S.
wdg-e ; from the pt. t. pi. wag-on.
"Wander, A.S. wand-rian, frequent, from wand, pt. t. sing, of
windan (wand, wund-on, wund-en), to wind, turn about. Also wend,
A. S. wend-an, from the same pt. t. sing, want! (a to e).
Wrangle, frequent, formed from wrong, pt. t. sing, of wringan
(wrong, wrung-on, wrung-en), to twist, strain, wring. Also wrong,
A. S. wrong, from the same. See also Wrench and Wrinkle.
Wroth, A.S. wrdS, adj., from wrd$, pt. t. sing, of wrlSan (wrd$,
wriS-on, wriS-en), to writhe, wring. Also wreath, A. S. wraS, from
the same (o to a). And see Wrest.
Further illustrations of VOWEL-CHANGE will be found in the following selected examples, which are especially
chosen to illustrate the changes given on p. xiii, lines 5 and 6 from the bottom ; with the addition of the change
(there omitted) from o to y.
A to E. Cases in which the vowel e is due to an original a, the
change being caused by the occurrence of i in the following syllable,
are best observed by comparing the following words with their
Gothic forms. Bed, A. S. bed = Goth, badi ; better, A.S. betera = Goth.
batiza ; fen = A. S. fen or fenn = Goth, fani ; ken, Icel. kenna = Goth.
ltannjan( = kannian*) ; kettle, A. S. te/ = Goth. iatils, borrowed from
Lat. catillus; let (2), A.S. Jean = Goth. latjan; net, A.S. / = Goth.
nati ; send, A. S. sendan = Goth, sandjan ; twelve, A. S. twelf^ Goth.
twalif; wed, from A. S. wed, sb. = Goth. modi. Even in mod. E. we
have men as the pi. of man ; English from Angle ; French (A. S.
Frenc-isc) from Frank ; sell from sale ; tell from tale ; fell from fall ;
length, strength, from long, strong (A. S. lang, strong). And see
belt, blend, hen, penny, quell, say, wretch.
O to Y. Observe kitchen, A. S. cycen = Lat. coquina ; mill, A. S.
mylen = Lat. molina ; minster, A. S. mynster = Lat. monasterium ;
mint(i), A.S. myn< = Lat. moneta. Next observe build, A.S. byldan,
from A. S. bold, a dwelling ; first, A. S.fyrst, from fore ; gild, A.S.
gyldan, from gold; kernel, A.S. cyrnel, from corn; kiss, v., A.S.
cyssan, from coss, a kiss ; knit, A. S. cnyttan, from knot, A. S. cnot ;
lift from loft; vixen horn fox.
U to Y. Inch, A. S. ynce = Lat. undo ; pit, A. S. pyt = Lat. puteus.
AgainfilI,A.S.fyllan = Goth.fulljan, from full (cf. fulfil); kin.A.S.
cyn = Goth. kuni (cf. king); list (4), A.S. lystan, from lust; thrill,
A. S. pyrlian, from A. S. purh, through. And see stint, trim, winsome.
EA to Y. Eldest, A. S. yldesta (for yldista *), is the superlative
of old, A. S. cald. Cf. eld, A. S. yldo.
EO to Y. Work, v., A. S. wyrcan, is from work, sb., A. S. weorc.
And see wright.
Long A to long JE. Any, A. S. dnig, from an, one ; bleak, A. S.
bide, from bide, pt. t. of blican, to shine ; feud (i), A. S./<&8, from
fa, foe ; Aeo/, A. S. hdlan, from Aa7, whole ; heat, A. S. &fu, from
hat, hot ; Aesf, A. S. has, from A. S. hdlan. And see feave (i), lend,
tease.
Long O to long E. We have feet, geese, teeth, A. S. fit, ges, itf>,
as the pi. of foot, goose, tooth, A. S. fdt, gds, t<fS. Compare bleed from
blood, breed from brood, deem from doom, feed horn food. And see
beech, glede (2), green, meet (2), speed, steed, weep. Brethren, A. S.
br&Ser, is the pi. of brother, A. S. brtfSor.
Long U to long Y. Hide (2), A.S. Ayrf, is cognate with Lat.
ciitis. We find lice, mice, A.S. /ys, mys, as the pi. of louse, mouse, A. S.
Itts, mns ; and kine, A. S. cy, as the pi. of cow, A. S. cu. Filth, A. S.
fyl$, is from foul, A. S. ful (cf. de-file) ; kith, A. S. cyftSe, is from
A. S. ctiS, known (cf. un-coulh) ; pride, A. S. /ryte, is from proud,
A. S. #ri. And see wish ; also dive in the Supplement.
Long E A to long Y. Steeple, A. S. stypel, is from steep, A. S.
sted/i.
Long EO to long Y. Slirk, A. S. slyric, is from stedr, a steer.
KEY TO THE GENERAL PLAN OF THE ETYMOLOGICAL
DICTIONARY.
THE general contents of each article are, as far as seemed advisable, arranged in a uniform order, and the
following scheme will explain the nature of the information to be found in this work.
i. The words selected. The Word-list contains all the primary words of most frequent occurrence in
modern literature ; and, when their derivatives are included, supplies a tolerably complete vocabulary of the lan-
guage. I have been chiefly guided in this matter by the well-arranged work known as Chambers's Etymological
Dictionary of the English Language, edited by James Donald, F.R.G.S. A few unusual words have been included
on account of their occurrence in familiar passages of standard authors.
2. The Definitions. These are given in the briefest possible form, chiefly for the purpose of identifying
the word and shewing the part of speech.
3. The Language. The language to which each word belongs is distinctly marked in every case, by
means of letters within marks of parenthesis immediately following the definition. In the case of words derived
from French, a note is (in general) also made as to whether the French word is of Latin, Celtic, German, or Scan-
dinavian origin. The symbol '-'signifies 'derived from.' Thus the remark '(F.,-L.)' signifies ' a word
introduced into English from French, the French word itself being of Latin origin.' The letters used are to
be read as follows.
Arab. = Arabic. C.= Celtic, used as a general term for Irish, Gaelic, Welsh, Breton, Cornish, &c.
E.=English. P.=French. G. = German. Qk. = Greek. L. or Lat.= Latin. Scand. = Scan-
dinavian, used as a general term for Icelandic, Swedish, Danish, &c. W.= Welsh.
For other abbreviations, see 7 below.
4. The History. Next follows a brief account of the history of the word, shewing (approximately) the time
of its introduction into the language ; or, if a native word, the Middle-English form or forms of it, with a few quo-
tations and references. This is an important feature of the work, and (I believe) to some extent a new one. In
attempting thus, as it were, to date each word, I must premise that I often cite Shakespeare in preference to a
slightly earlier writer whose writings are less familiar ; that an attempt has nevertheless been made to indicate the
date within (at least) a century ; and lastly, that in some cases I may have failed to do this, owing to imperfect
information or knowledge. In general, sufficient is said, in a very brief space, to establish the earlier uses of each
word, so as to clear the way for a correct notion of its origin.
5. The References. A large number of the references are from Richardson's Dictionary, denoted by the
symbol ' (R.)' Some from Todd's Johnson, sometimes cited merely as ' Todd.' Many from Stratmann's Old
English Dictionary, or the still better (but unfinished) work by Matzner ; these are all ' M. E.,' i. e. Middle-
English forms. Many others are due to my own reading. I have, in very many instances, given exact references,
often at the expenditure of much time and trouble. Thus Richardson cites ' The Romaunt of the Rose ' at large,
but I have given, in almost every case, the exact number of the line. Similarly, he cites the Fairy Queen merely
by the look and canto, omitting the stanza. Inexact quotations are comparatively valueless, as they cannot be
verified, and may be false.
For a complete list of authorities, with dates, see the Preface.
6. The Etymology. Except in a few cases where the etymology is verbally described, the account of it
begins with the symbol-, which is always to be read as ' directly derived from,' or ' borrowed from,' wherever
it occurs. A succession of these symbols occurs whenever the etymology is traced back through another gra-
dation. The order is always upward, from old to still older forms.
7. Cognate Forms. Cognate forms are frequently introduced by way of further illustration, though
they form, strictly speaking, no part of the direct history of the etymology. But they frequently throw so much
light upon the word that it has always been usual to cite them ; though no error is more common than to mis-
take a word that is merely cognate with, or allied to, the English one for the very original of it ! For example,
many people will quote the German word acker as if it accounted for, or is the original of the English acre,
whereas it is (like the Lat. ager, or the Icelandic akr), merely a parallel form. It is remarkable that many
beginners are accustomed to cite German words in particular (probably as being the only continental-Teutonic
idiom with which they are acquainted) in order to account for English words ; the fact being that no Teutonic
language has contributed so little to our own tongue, which is, in the main, a Zcw-German dialect as dis-
tinguished from that High-German one to which the specific name ' German' is commonly applied. In order
to guard the learner from this error of confusing cognate words with such as are immediately concerned with the
etymology, the symbol + is used to distinguish such words. This symbol is, in every case, to be read as ' not
derived from, but cognate with.' The symbol has, in fact, its usual algebraical value, i.e. plus, or additional;
and indicates additional information to be obtained from the comparison of cognate forms.
8. Symbols and Etymological References. The symbols used are such as to furnish, in every case,
an exact reference to some authority. Thus the symbol ' Ital.' does not mean merely Italian, but that the word
has actually been verified by myself (and may be verified by any one else) as occurring in Meadows's Italian
Dictionary. This is an important point, as it is common to cite foreign words at random, without the slightest
hint as to where they may be found ; a habit which leads to false spellings and even to gross blunders. And, in
order that the student may the more easily verify these words, (as well as to curb myself from citing words of
B
* 1
2 KEY TO THE GENERAL PLAN OF THE ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY.
unusual occurrence) I have expressly preferred to use common and cheap dictionaries, or such as came most
readily to hand, except where I refer by name to such excellent books as Rietz's Svenskt Dialekt-Lexicon. The
following is a list of these symbols, with their exact significations.
A. S. Anglo-Saxon, or native English in its earliest form. The references are to Grein, Bosworth, or Lye,
as cited ; or to some A. S. work, as cited. All these words are authorised, unless the contrary is said. The absurd
forms in Somner's Dictionary, cited ad nauseam by our Dictionary-makers, have been rejected as valueless.
Bret. Breton ; as in Legonidec's Dictionary, ed. 1821.
Corn. Cornish; as in Williams's Dictionary, ed. 1865.
Dan. Danish; as in Ferrall and Repp's Dictionary, ed. 1861.
Du. Dutch ; as in the Tauchnitz stereotyped edition.
E. Modern English ; see Webster's English Dictionary, ed. Goodrich and Porter.
M. E. Middle English; i.e. English from about A.D. 1200 to about A.D. 1500. See 5 above.
F. French, as in the Diet, by Hamilton and Legros. The reference ' Cot.' is to Cotgrave's French Dic-
tionary, ed. 1660. The reference 'Brachet' is to the English translation of Brachet's French Etym. Diet, in the
Clarendon Press Series. Wherever O. P. (= Old French) occurs, the reference is to Burguy's Glossaire, unless
the contrary be expressly stated, in which case it is (in general) to Cot. (Cotgrave) or to Roquefort.
Gael. Gaelic; as in Macleod and Dewar's Dictionary, ed. 1839.
Q. German; as in Fliigel's Dictionary, ed. 1861.
Gk. Greek; as in Liddell and Scott's Lexicon, ed. 1849.
Goth. Moeso-Gothic ; as in Skeat's Moeso-Gothic Glossary, ed. 1868.
Heb. Hebrew; as in Leopold's small Hebrew Dictionary, ed. 1872.
Icel. Icelandic; as in Cleasby and Vigfusson's Icelandic Dictionary, ed. 1874.
Ir. or Irish. Irish; as in O'Reilly's Dictionary, ed. 1864.
Ital. Italian; as in Meadows's Dictionary, ed. 1857.
L. or Lat. Latin; as in White and Riddle's Dictionary, 5th ed., 1876.
Low Lat. Low Latin; as in the Lexicon Manuale, by Maigne d'Arnis, ed. 1866.
M. E. Middle-English ; see the line following E. above.
M. H. G. Middle High German; as in Wackernagel's Wfirterbuch, ed. 1861.
O. P. Old French; as in Burguy's Glossaire, ed. 1870.
O. H. G. Old High German ; chiefly from Wackernagel ; see M. H. G. above.
Pers. Persian; as in Palmer's Persian Dictionary, ed. 1876.
Port. Portuguese; as in Vieyra's Dictionary, ed. 1857.
Prov. Provenal; as in Raynouard's Lexique Roman (so called).
Buss. Russian; as in Heym's Diet, of Russian, German, and French, ed. 1844.
Skt. Sanskrit; as in Benfey's Dictionary, ed. 1866.
Span. Spanish; as in Meadows's Dictionary, ed. 1856.
Swed. Swedish ; as in the Tauchnitz stereotyped edition.
W. Welsh; as in Spurrell's Dictionary, ed. 1861.
For a complete list of authorities, see the Preface. The above includes only such as have been used too
frequently to admit of special reference to them by name.
Other abbreviations. Such abbreviations as ' adj.' = adjective, 'pl.'=plural, and the like, will be readily
understood. I may particularly mention the following. Cf.= confer, i.e. compare. pt. t.=past tense.
pp.=past participle. q. v.=quod vide, i.e. which see. s. v.=sub verbo, i.e. under the word in question.
tr.= translation, or translated. b.=book. c. (or ch., or cap.) = chapter; sometimes=ca.nto. l.=line.
s. = section. st. = stanza. A. V. = Authorised Version of the Bible ( 1 6 1 1 ).
9. The Boots. In some cases, the words have been traced back to their original Aryan roots. This has
only been attempted, for the most part, in cases where the subject scarcely admits of a doubt ; it being unad-
visable to hazard many guesses, in the present state of our knowledge. The root is denoted by the symbol V, to
be read as ' root.' I have here most often referred to G. Curtius, Principles of Greek Etymology, translated by
Wilkins and England, ed. 1875; and to A. Pick, Vergleichendes Worterbuch der Indogermanischen Sprachen,
third edition, Gottingen, 1874.
10. Derivatives. The symbol ' Der.,' i.e. Derivatives, is used to introduce forms derived from the pri-
mary word, or from the same source. For an account of the various suffixes, see Morris's Historical Outlines of
English Accidence, and Haldemann's Affixes to English Words ; or, for the purpose of comparative philology,
consult Schleicher's Compendium der Indogermanischen Sprachen.
n. Cross-references. These frequently afford additional information, and are mostly introduced to save
repetition of an explanation.
12. It may be added that, when special allusion is made to Brachet's Etymological Dictionary, or to a
similar work, it is meant, in general, that further details are to be found in the work referred to ; and that it will
commonly appear that there is a special reason for the reference.
Articles to which the mark [*] is suffixed are considerably altered or modified in the Errata and Addenda, beginning at p. 775.
Articles to which the mark [+] is suffixed are but slightly altered, or are further illustrated in the same Errata and Addenda.
A
A.
A, the indef. article ; see An.
A-, prefix, has at least thirteen different values in English, a. Represen-
tative words are (i)adown; (2) afoot; (3)along; (4) arise; (5) achieve;
(6) avert; (7) amend; (8) alas; (9) abyss; (lo)ado; (n) aware;
(12) apace ; (13) avast. p. The full form of these values may be
represented by of-, on-, and-, us-, ad-, ab-, ex-, he-, an-, at-, ge-, an, houd.
y. This may be illustrated by means of the examples given; cf. (i)
A.S. ofdiine; (2) on fool; (3) A.S. andlang; (4) Mceso-Gothic ur-
reisan, for us-reisan ; (5) verb from F. a chef, Lat. ad caput ; (6) Lat.
auertere, for abuertere; (7) F. amender, corrupted from Lat. emendare,
for exmendare ; (8) F. helas, where he is interjectional ; (9) Gk. aftvaaos,
for avQvaaos ; (10) for at do, i.e. to do; (n) for M.E. ywar, A.S.
gewcer; (12) apace, for a pace, i. e. one pace, where a is for A.S. an,
one; (13) avast, Dutch houd vast, hold fast. These prefixes are
discussed at greater length in my article ' On the Prefix A - in English,'
in the Journal of Philology, vol. v. pp. 32-43. See also each of the
above-mentioned representative words in its proper place in this
Dictionary. ^f Prefix 0(5) really has two values : (a) French, as in
avalanche ; (b) Latin, as in astringent ; but the source is the same, viz.
Lat. ad. Similarly, prefix a (6) really has two values ; (a) French,
as in abate ; (6) Latin, as in avert, avocation ; the source being Lat.
ab. gp- In words discussed below, the prefix has its number
assigned in accordance with the above scheme, where necessary.
AB-, prefix. (Lat.) Lat. ab, short form a ; sometimes extended to
abs. Cognate with Skt. apa, away, from ; Gk. airo ; Goth, of; A. S.
of; see Of. Hence numerous compounds, as abdicate, abstract, &c.
In French, it becomes a- or av- ; see Abate, Advantage.
ABACK, backwards. (E.) M. E. abaltlte ; as in 'And worthy to
be put abaltlte ; ' Gower, C. A. i. 295. For on bath, as in ' Sir Thopas
drough on bak ful faste ; ' Chaucer, C. T. Group B, 201 7, in the Har-
leian MS., where other MSS. have abak. A. S. onb<cc ; Matt. iv. 10.
Thus the prefix is a- (2) ; see A-. See On and Back, [t]
ABAFT, on the aft, behind. (E.) o. From the prefix a- (2), and
-baft, which is contracted from bi-aft, i.e. by aft. Thus abaft is for
on (the) by aft, i. e. in that which lies towards the after part. p. -baft
is M. E. baft, Allit. Poems, 3. 148 ; the fuller form is Ua.fi or biqften,
as in ' He let biaften the more del ' = he left behind the greater part ;
Genesis and Exodus, 3377. M. E. biaften is from A. S. betcftan, com-
pounded of be, by, and ceftan, behind ; Grein, i. 53. See By, and Aft.
ABANDON, to forsake, give up. (F.,-Low Lat.,-O. H. G.)
M. E. abandoune. 'Bot thai, that can thame abandoune Till ded' =
but they, that gave themselves up to death ; Barbour's Bruce, ed.
Skeat, xvii. 642. F. abandonner, to give up. F. a bandon, at liberty,
discussed in Brachet, Etym. F. Diet. F. a, prep., and bandon, per-
mission, liberty. - Lat. ad, to ; and Low Lat. bandum, a feudal term
(also spelt bannum) signifying an order, decree ; see Ban. ^f The F.
bandon is lit. 'by proclamation," and thus has the double sense (l)
'by license,' or 'at liberty,' and (2) 'under control.' The latter is
obsolete in modem English ; but occurs frequently in M. E. See
Glossary to the Bruce ; and cf. ' habben abandun,' to have at one's
will, O. Eng. Homilies, ed. Morris, i. 1 89. Der. abandon-ed, lit. given
up ; abandtm-ment.
ABASE, to bring low. (F.,-Low Lat.) Shak. has 'abase our
eyes so low,' 2 Hen. VI, i. 2. 15. Cf. 'So to abesse his roialte,'
Gower, C. A. i. 1 1 1 . F. abaisser, abbaisser, ' to debase, abase, abate,
humble ; ' Cotgrave. Low Lat. abassare, to lower. Lat. ad, to ; and
Low Lat. bassare, to lower. Low Lat. basstis, low. See Base.
Der. abase-ment, A.V. Ecclus. xx. II. ^f It is extremely probable
that some confusion has taken place between this word and to abash ;
for in Middle English we find abaist, abayst, abaysed, abaysyd, &c. with
the sense of abashed or dismayed. See numerous examples under
abasen in Matzner's Worterbuch. He regards the M. E. abasen as
equivalent to abash, not to abase.
ABASH, to confuse with shame. (F.) M. E. abaschen, abaischen,
abaissen, abasen, &c. 'I abasclte, or am amased of any thynge ;' Pals-
grave. ' Thei weren abaischt with greet stoneyinge ; ' Wyclif, Mk. v.
ABDICATE.
t
42. ' He was abasched and agast ; ' K. Alisaunder, ed. Weber, 1. 224.
O. F. esbahir, to astonish (see note below) ; mod. F. cbahir. Prefix
es- (Lat. ex, out) ; and bahir, to express astonishment, an onomato-
poetic word formed from the interjection bah ! of astonishment. Cf.
Dn. verbazen, to astonish, amaze; Walloon bam, to regard with
open mouth ; Grandg. ^[ The final -sh is to be thus accounted
for. French verbs in -ir are of two forms, those which (like venir)
follow the Latin inflexions, and those which (like fleurir) add -iss
to the root. See Brachet's Hist. French Grammar, Kitchin's trans-
lation, p. 131. This -iss is imitated from the Lat. -esc- seen in
' inchoative ' verbs, such as fioresco, and appears in many parts of
the French verb, which is thus conjugated to a great degree as if
its infinitive were fleurhsir instead of fleurir. p. An excellent
example is seen in dbeir, to obey, which would similarly have, as it
were, a secondary form Abeissir ; and, corresponding to these forms,
we have in English not only to obey, but the obsolete form obeysche, as
in ' the wynd and the sea obeyschen to hym ; ' Wyclif, Mk. iv. 41. y.
Easier examples appear in E. abolish, banish, cherish, demolish, embellish,
eslablish,Jinish,Jiourish,furbish,furnish, garnish, languish, nourish, polish,
punish, all from French verbs in -ir. 8. We also have examples like
admonish, diminish, replenish, evidently from French sources, in which
the termination is due to analogy ; these are discussed in their proper
places. . In the present case we have O. F. esbahir, whence (theo-
retical) esbahissir, giving M. E. abaischen and abaissen. ^f It is
probable that the word to abash has been to some extent confused
with to abase. See Abase.
ABATE, to beat down. (F.,-L.) M. E. abaten. ' To abate the
bost of that breme duke;' Will, of Paleme, 1141. ' Thou . . . abates!
alle tyranne;' K. Alisaunder, ed. Weber, 1. 7499. O.F. abatre, to
beat down. Low Lat. abbattere ; see Brachet. Lat. ab, from ; and
batere, popular form of batuere, to beat. Der. abate-ment, and F.
abbatt-oir. ^f Often contracted to bate, a. v.
ABBESS, fern, of abbot. (F..-L.) M.E. abbesse, Rob. of Glouc.
p. 370. O. F, abaesse, abbesse ; see abbe'esse in Roquefort. Lat. abbat-
issa, fern, in -issa from abbot-, stem of abbas, an abbot. See Abbot.
ABBEY, a religious house. (F..-L.) M.E. abbeye, abbaye.
' Abbeye, abbatia' [misprinted abbacia], Prompt. Parv. Spelt abbei in
the Metrical Life of St. Dunstan, 1. 39. O. F. abeie, abate ; Bartsch's
Chrestomathie. Low Lat. abbatia. Low Lat. abbat-, stem of abbas.
See Abbot.
ABBOT, the father (or head) of an abbey. (L., - Syriac.) M.E.
abbot, abbod. 'Abbot, abbas;' Prompt. Parv. Spelt abbod, Ancren
Riwle, p. 314; abbed, Rob. of Glouc. p. 447. A.S. abbod, abbad;
jElfric's homily on the Old Test, begins with the words ' JE\Mc
abbod.' Lat. abbatem, ace. of abbas, father. Syriac abba, father ; see
Romans, viii. 15 ; Galat. iv. 6. ^f The restoration of the t (corrupted
to d in A. S.) was no doubt due to a knowledge of the Latin form ;
cf. O. F. abet, an abbot.
ABBREVIATE, to shorten. (L.) Fabyan has abreuyatyd in the
sense of abridged ; Henry III, an. 26 (R.) Elyot has ' an abbreviate,
called of the Grekes and Latines epitoma ; ' The Governor, b. iii. c.
24 (R.) Lat. abbreuiare (pp. abbreuiatus), to shorten, found in Ve-
getius (Brachet). - Lat. ad, to ; and breuis, short. See Brief, and
Abridge. Der. abbreviat-ion, -or. Doublet, abridge. ^f Here
adbreuiare would at once become abbreuiare ; cf. Ital. abbonare, to im-
prove, abbassare, to lower, abbellare, to embellish, where the prefix is
plainly ad. te- The formation of verbs in -ale in English is
curious ; a good example is create , plainly equivalent to Lat. creare ;
but it does not follow that create was necessarily formed from the pp.
creatiis. Such verbs in -ate can be formed directly from Lat. verbs in
-are, by mere analogy with others. All that was necessary was to
initiate such a habit of formation. This habit plainly began with
words like advocate, which was originally a past participle used as a
noun, and, secondarily, was used as a verb by the very common
English habit whereby substantives are so freely used as verbs.
ABDICATE, lit. to renounce. (L.) In Levins, A.D. 1570 ; and
B 2
4 ABDOMEN.
used by Bishop Hall, in his Contemplations, b. iv. c. 6. 2 (R.)
Lat. abdicare (see note to Abbreviate). Lat. ab, from ; and dicare,
to consecrate, proclaim. Dicare is from the same root as dicere, to
say ; see Diction. Der. abdicat-ion.
ABDOMEN, the lower part of the belly. (L.) Modern ; bor-
rowed from Lat. abdomen, a word of obscure origin. ^f Fick sug-
gests that -domen may be connected with Skt. daman, a rope, that
which binds, and Gk. oiaorj/ia, a fillet, from the ^DA, to bind ; cf.
Skt. da, Gk. oefiv, to bind. See Fick, ii. 121. Der. abdomin-al.
ABDUCE, to lead away. (L.) Not old, and not usual. Used
by Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Errors, b. iii. c. 10. $ 4 (R.) where some
edd. have adduce. More common is the derivative abduction, used by
Blackstone, Comment, b. iv. c. 15, and a common law-term. Lat.
abducere, to lead away. Lat. ab, from, away ; and ducere, to lead.
See Duke. Der. abduct-ion, abduct-or, from the pp. abductus.
ABED, in bed. (E.) Shakespeare has abed, As You Like It, ii.
4. 6, and elsewhere. The prefix a- stands for on. ' Thu restest the
on btedde ' = thou restest thee abed ; Layamon, ii. 372.
ABERRATION, a wandering. (L.) In Blount's Gloss., ed.
1674. Lat. aberrationem, ace. of aberratio. *- Lat. aberrare, to wander
from. Lat. 06, away ; and errare, to wander. See Err.
ABET, to incite. (F., Scand.) Used by Shak. Com. of Errors,
ii. 2.172. [Earlier, the M.E. abet is a sb., meaning 'instigation;'
Chaucer, Troilus, ii. 357.] O. F. abeter, to deceive (Burguy) ; abel,
instigation, deceit ; cf. Low Lat. abettum, excitement, instigation.
O. F. a- Lat. ad, to ; and beter, to bait : cf. ' ung ours, quant il
est bien betez ' = a bear, when he is well baited ; Roquefort. led.
beita, to bait, chase with dogs, set dogs on ; lit. ' to make to bite ; '
causal verb from bita, to bite. See Bait ; and see Bet. Der.
abett-or, Shak. Lucrece, 886. ^f The sense of O. F. abeter is not
well explained in Burguy, nor is the sense of beter clearly made out
by Roquefort ; abeter no doubt had the sense of ' instigate,' as in
English. Burguy wrongly refers the etym. to A. S. beetan, instead of
the corresponding Icel. beita.
ABEYANCE, expectation, suspension. (F., L.) A law term;
used by Littleton, and in Blackstone's Commentaries; see Cowel's
Law Diet., and Todd's Johnson. F. abeiance, in the phrase ' droit
en abeiance,' a right in abeyance, or which is suspended (Roque-
fort). F. prefix a- ( = Lat. ad) ; and beiance, expectation, a form not
found, but consistent with the F. beant, gaping, pres. pt. of obs.
verb beer (mod. F. bayer), to gape, to expect anxiously. Lat. ad ;
and badare, to gape, to open the mouth, used by Isidore of Seville ;
see Brachet, s. v. bayer. The word badare is probably onomato-
poetic ; see Abash.
ABHOR, to shrink from with terror. (L.) Shak. has it fre-
quently. It occurs in Lord Surrey's translation of Virgil, b. ii ; cf.
'quanquam animus meminisse horret;' Aen. ii. 12. Lat. abhorrere,
to shrink from. Lat. ab, from; and horrere, to bristle (with fear).
See Horrid. Der. abhorr-ent, abhorr-ence.
ABIDE (1), to wait for. (E.) M. E. abiden, Chaucer, C.T. Group
E,757,no6; and in common use. A. S. dbidan, Grein, i. 12. A. S.
prefix a-, equivalent to G. er-, Goth, us- ; and bidan, to bide. + Goth.
usbeidan, to expect. See Bide. Der. abid-ing; abode, formed by
variation of the root-vowel, the A. S. passing into a, which answers
to the mod. E. long o ; March, A. S. Gram., sect. 230.
ABIDE (2), to suffer for a thing. (E.) a. We find in Shak.
' lest thou abide it dear,' Mids. Nt. Dream, iii. 2. 175 ; where the first
quarto has aby. The latter is correct ; the verb in the phrase ' to abide
it' being a mere corruption, p. The M. E. form is abyen, as in ' That
thou shall with this launcegay Abyen it ful soure;' Chaucer, C. T.,
Group B, 2011 (1. 13751). This verb abyen is also spelt abuggen and
abiggen, and is extremely common in Middle English ; see examples
in Matzner and Stratmann. Its pt. tense is aboughte, and we still
preserve it, in a reversed form, in the modem to buy off. y Hence
'lest thou abide it dear' signifies 'lest thou have to buy it off dearly,'
i. e. lest thou have to fay dearly for it. A. S. dbycgan, to pay for.
'Gif friman wiS fries mannes wif geligeS, his wergelde dbicge' =
If a free man lie with a freeman's wife, let him pay for it with his
wergeld ; Laws of King ^Ethelbirht, 31; pr. in Thorpe's Ancient
Laws of England, i. 10. A. S. a-, prefix, probably cognate with the
Goth, us- (unless the prefix is a-, and is short for of-, put for of-, i.e.
off) ; and A. S. bycgan, to buy. See Buy.
ABJECT, mean ; lit. cast away. (L.) Shak. has it several times,
and once the subst. objects. Rich. Ill, i. 1. 106. It was formerly used
also as a verb. 'Almighty God objected Saul, that he shulde no more
reigne ouer Israel;' Sir T. Elyot, The Govemour, b. ii. c. i. Lat.
abiectus, cast away, pp. of abiicere, to cast away. Lat. ab ; and iacere,
to cast. ^T The Lat. iacere, according to Curtius, vol. ii. p. 59, ' can
hardly be separated from Gk. ian-rdi-, to throw.' Fick suggests that
the G. jah, quick, and jagen, to hunt, are from the same root ; see
Yacht. Der. abject-ly, abject-ion, abject-ness, objects (pi. sb.).
ABOUT.
ABJURE, to forswear. (L.) Sir T. More has abiure. Works, p.
2i4b (R.) Cotgrave has 'abjurer, to abjure, forswear, deny with an
oath.' Lat. abiurare, to deny. Lat. ab, from ; and iitrare, to swear.
Lat. IKS, gen. iuris, law, right. fl" With Lat. ita cf. Skt. (Vedic)
yos, from the root yti, to bind, to join ; Benfey, p. 743 ; Pick, ii. 203.
J6" In several words of this kind, it is almost impossible to say
whether they were derived from Lat. immediately, or through the
French. It makes no ultimate difference, and it is easier to consider
them as from the Latin, unless the evidence is clearly against it
Der. abjur-al-ion.
ABLATIVE, taking away. (L.) Grammatical. Lat. ablatiuus,
the name of a case. Lat. ab, from ; and latum, to bear, used as active
supine of fero, but from a different root. Latum is from an older
form tlatum, from O. Lat. tulere, to lift ; cf. Lat. tollere. The cor-
responding Gk. form is r\t]Tot, endured, from r\a(tv, to endure. Co-
radicate words are tolerate and the Middle Eng. thole, to endure. See
Tolerate. ^f ' We leam from a fragment of Csesar's work, De
Analogia, that he was the inventor of the term ablative in Latin. The
word never occurs before ; ' Max Mu'ller, Lectures, i. 1 1 8 (Sth edit.).
ABLAZE, on fire. (E.) For on blaze, i.e. in a blaze. The A. S. and
Mid. Eng. on commonly has the sense of in. See Abed, and Blaze.
ABLE, having power; skilful. (F..-L.) M. E. able, Chaucer,
Prol. 584. O. F. habile, able, of which Roquefort gives the forms
abel, able. Lat. habilis, easy to handle, active. Lat. habere, to have,
to hold. p. The spelling hable is also found, as, e.g. in Sir Thomas
More, Dialogue concerning Heresies, b. iii. c. 16 ; also habilitie, R.
Ascham, The Schoolmaster, ed. 1570, leaf 19 (ed. Arber, p. 63).
Der. abl-y, abil-i-ty (from Lat. ace. habilitatem, from habilitas).
ABLUTION", a washing. (L.) Used by Bp. Taylor (R.) From
Lat. ace. ablutionem. Lat. abluere, to wash away. Lat. ab, away ;
and lucre, to wash. + Gk. \ovfiv, for \ofetv, to wash. ^/LU, to wash;
Fick, ii. 223. Cf. Lat. lauare, to wash, [f]
ABNEGATE, to deny. (L.) Used by Knox and Sir E. Sandys
(R.) Lat. abnegare, to deny. Lat. ab, from, away ; and negare, to
deny. See Negation. Der. abnegat-ion.
ABOARD, on board. (E.) For on board. ' And stode on horde
baroun and knight To help king Richard for to fyght ; ' Richard
Coer de Lion, 2543 ; in Weber, Met. Romances.
ABODE, a dwelling. (E.) The M. E. abood almost always has
the sense of ' delay ' or ' abiding ; ' see Chaucer, C. T. 967. Older
form abad, Barbour's Bruce, i.-i42. See Abide (i).
ABOLISH, to annul. (F.,-L.) Used by Hall, Henry VIII.
an. 28, who has the unnecessary spelling abholisii, just as abominate
was also once written abkominate. F. abolir ; (for the ending -sh see
remarks on Abash.) Lat. abolere, to annul. J[ The etymology of
abolere is not clear; Fick (ii. 47) compares it with Gk. oTruXXwai, to
destroy, thus making Lat. olere = Gk. oAXwai, to destroy. Mr. Wedg-
wood suggests that abolescere means to grow old, to perish, from the
root al, to grow, for which see Fick, i. 499. Benfey refers both
oXXvvai and iipwvai (as well as Lat. olere and ort'ri) to the same root
as Skt. ri, to go, to rise, to hurt, &c. See the various roots of the
form ar in Fick, i. 19. Der. abol-it-ion, abol-it-ion-ist.
ABOMINATE, to hate. (L.) The verb is in Levins, A. D. 1570.
Wyclif has abomynable, Titus, i. 1 6 ; spelt abhominable, Gower, C. A.
i. 363 ; iii. 204. Lat. abominari, to dislike ; lit. to turn away from a
thing that is of ill omen ; (for the ending -ate, see note to Abbreviate.)
Lat. ab, from; and omen, a portent. See Omen. Der. abomin-able,
abotnin-at-ion.
ABORTION, an untimely birth. (L.) Abortion occurs in Hake-
will's Apology, p. 317 (R.) Shak. has abortive, L. L. L. i. I. 104.
Lat. ace. abortionem, from abortio. Lat. abortus, pp. of aboriri, to
fail. Lat. ab, from, away ; and oriri, to arise, grow. + Gk. upvvfu, I
excite (root op). + Skt. rindmi, I raise myself, I excite (root ar).
y'AR, to arise, grow. See Curtius, i. 432 ; Fick, i. 19. From the
same root, abort-ive.
ABOUND, to overflow, to be plentiful. (F., L.) M. E. abound-
en, Wyclif, 2 Cor. ix. 8. Also spelt habimdm, as in Chaucer's trans-
lation of Boethius, b. ii. pr. 4 ; p. 41, 1. 1073. O. F. (and mod. F.)
abonder. Lat. abundare, to overflow. Lat. ab ; and undo, a wave.
See Undulate. Der. abund ance, abund-ant, abund-ant-ly.
ABOUT, around, concerning. (E.) M. E. abnten, Ormulum, 4084 ;
later, abouten, aboute. A. S. dbiitan ; as in ' tibiitan bone munt' = around
the mountain, Exod. xix. 12. a. Here the prefix a- is short for
an-, the older form (as well as a later form) of on ; and we accord-
ingly find also the form onbiitan, Genesis, ii. ii. [A commoner A. S.
form was ymbutan, but here the prefix is different, viz. ymb, about,
corresponding to Ger. urn.'] P. The word bittan is itself a com-
pound of be, by, and utan, outward. Thus the word is resolved into
on-be-utan, on (that which is) by (the) outside. y. Again utan,
outward, outside, is an adverb formed from the prep, lit, out. See
On, By, and Out. The words abaft and above have been simi-
ABOVE.
larly resolved into on-by-aft and on-by-ove(r). See Abaft, Above.
J Similar forms are found in Old Friesic, where abefta is deducible
from an-bi-efta ; abuppa (above), from an-bi-uppa ; and abuta (about),
from an-bi-uta.
ABOVE, over. (E.) M. E. abufen, Ormulum, 6438 ; later, aboveit,
above. A. S. now/an, A. S. Chron.an. 1090. A.S. an, on; be, by; and
ufan, upward ; the full form be-ufan actually occurs in the Laws of
^ithelstan, in Wilkins, p. 63. See About. The word ufan is exactly
equivalent to the cognate G. oben, and is an extended or adverbial
form from the Goth, uf, which is connected with E. up. See On,
By, and Up. Cf. Du. haven, above.
ABRADE, to scrape off. (L.) In Bailey, vol. ii. ed. I73i.-Lat.
abradere, to scrape off, pp. abrasus. Lat. ab, off; and radere, to scrape.
See Base. Ber. abrase, pp. in Ben Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, Act v.
sc. 3, descr. of Apheleia ; abras-ion.
ABREAST, side by side. (E.) In Shak. Hen. V, iv. 6. 17. The
prefix is for an, M. E. form of on ; cf. abed, asleep, &c.
ABRIDGE, to shorten. (F., - L.) M. E. abregen, abrege ; Ham-
pole, Pricke of Conscience, 4571 ; also abregge, Chaucer, C. T. 3001.
O. F. abrevier (Burguy) ; also spelt abrever, abbregier, abridgier,
abrigier (Roquefort). Lat. abbreuiare, to shorten. Der. abridge-ment.
Doublet, abbreviate, q. v.
ABROACH, TO SET, to broach. (Hybrid ; E. and F.) M. E.
setlen abrache, Gower, C. A. ii. 1 83. For setten on broche ; cf. ' to set on
fire.' From E. on ; and O. F. broche, a spit, spigot. See Broach.
ABROAD, spread out. (E.) M. E. abroad, Chaucer, C. T. Group F,
1. 441 ; abrod, Rob. of Glouc. p. 542. For on brood, or on brad. ' The
bawme thurghe his brayn all on brad ran ; ' Destruction of Troy,
8780. M. E. brod, brood is the mod. E. broad. See Broad.
ABROGATE, to repeal. (L.) In Shak. L. L. L. iv. 2. 55.
Earlier, in Hall, Ed. IV, an. 9. Lat. abrogare, to repeal a law ; (for
the ending -ate see note on Abbreviate.) Lat. ab, off, away; and
rogare, to ask, to propose a law. See Rogation. Der. abrogat-ion.
ABRUPT, broken off, short, rough. (L.) Shak. I Hen. VI, ii. 3.
30. Lat. abruptus, broken off, pp. of abrmnpere, to break off. Lat.
ab ; and rumpere, to break. See Rupture. Der. abrupt-ly, abrupt-
ness ; abrupt, sb., as in Milton, P. L. ii. 409.
ABSCESS, a sore. (L.) In Kersey, ed. 1715. -Lat. abscessus, a
going away, a gathering of humours into one mass. Lat. abscedere,
to go away ; pp. abscessus. Lat. abs, away ; and cedere, to go. See
Cede.
ABSCIND, to cut off. (L.) Bp. Taylor has the derivative ab-
scission, Sermons, vol. ii. s. 13. The verb occurs in Johnson's Rambler,
no. 90. Lat. abscindere, to cut off. Lat. ab, off; and scindere, to cut.
Scindere (pt. t. seidi) is a nasalised form of SKID, to cleave, which ap-
pears also in Gk. <TX<"', Skt. chhid, to cut; Fick, i. 237. Der.
abfdss-ion, from the pp. abscissas.
ABSCOND, to hide from, go into hiding. (L.) Blackstone, Com-
ment, b. iv. c. 24. Lat. abscondere, to hide. Lat. abs, away; and
condere, to lay up, to hide. Lat. con- = cum, together; and -dere, to
put; from ^DHA, to put, set, place. See Curtius, i. 316. [t]
ABSENT, being away. (L.) Wyclif, Philip, i. i-j. [The sb.
absence, which occurs in Chaucer, Kn. Ta. 381, is not directly from
the Latin, but through F. absence, which is Lat. absentia.'] Lat. ab-
sentem, ace. case of absens, absent, pres. pt. of abase, to be away.
Lat. ab, away, and sens, being, which is a better division of the word
than abs-ens ; cf. prat-sens, present. This Lat. sens, being, is cognate
with Skt. sant, being, and Gk. uiv, OVTOS, being ; and even with our
E. soo^A ; see Sooth. ^AS, to be ; whence Lat. est, he is, Skt. asti,
he is, Gk. lart, he is, G. ist, E. is ; see Is. Thus Lat. sens is short
for essens. See Essence. The Lat. ens is short for sens. See
Entity. Der. absence, absent-er, absent-ee.
ABSOLUTE, unrestrained, complete. (L.) Chaucer has abso-
lut; transl. of Boethius, b. iii. pr.io, 1. 2475. Lat. absolutus, pp. of
absolnere, to set free. See Absolve.
ABSOLVE, to set free. (L.) In Shak. Henry VIII, iii. I. 50.
The sb. absolution is in the Ancren Riv.-le, p. 346. The M. E. form
of the verb was assoile, taken from the O. French. Lat. absolnere, to set
free. Lat. ab; and soluere, to loosen. See Solve. Der. absolute,
from the pp. absolutus ; whence absolut-ion, absolut-ory.
ABSORB, to suck up, imbibe. (L.) Sir T. More has absorpt as a
past participle, Works, p. 2670 (R.) Lat. absorbere, to suck up.
Lat. ab, off, away ; and sorbere, (O suck up. + Gk. /lotyitiv, to sup up.
^SARBH, to sup up; Fick, i. 798; Curtius, i. 368. Der. absorb-
able, abforb-ent ; also absorpt-ion, absorpt-ive, from the pp. absorptus.
ABSTAIN, to refrain from. (F..-L.) M. E. absteynen ; Wyclif,
I Tim. iv. 3. The sb. abstinence occurs in the Ancren Riwle, p. 340.
O. F. abstener (Roquefort) ; cf. mod. F. abstenir. Lat. abstinere, to
abstain. Lat. abs, from ; and tenere, to hold. Cf. Skt. tan, to stretch.
y'TAN, to stretch. See Tenable. Der. abstin-ent, abstin-ence,
from Lat. abstin-ere ; and abstens-ion, from the pp. abslens-us.
ACCENT. 5
ABSTEMIOUS, temperate. (L.) In Shak. Temp. iv. 53. The
i suffix -otis is formed on a F. model. Lat. abstemius, temperate, re-
fraining from strong drink. Lat. abs, from ; and temum, strong drink,
a word only preserved in its derivatives temetum, strong drink, and
temulentus, drunken. Cf. Skt. tarn, to be breathless, originally, to
choke. - .y'TAM, to choke ; Fick, i. 89. Der. abstemious-ness, abstem-
ious-ly.
ABSTRACT, a summary; as a verb, to separate, draw away
from. (L.) Shak. has the sb. abstract. All's Well, iv. 3. 39. The pp.
abstracted is in Milton, P. L. ix. 463. The sb. appears to have been
first in use. Lat. abstractus, withdrawn, separated, pp. of abstrahere,
to draw away. Lat. abs, from ; and trahere, to draw. See Trace,
Tract. Der. abstract-ed, abstract-ion.
ABSTRUSE, difficult, out of the way. (L.) In Milton, P. L.
viii. 40. Lat. abstrusus, concealed, difficult, pp. of ahtrudere, to
thrust aside, to conceal. Lat. abs, away ; and trudere, to thrust. The
Lat. trudere is cognate with Goth, thriutan, to vex, harass, and A. S.
]n-edtian, to vex, to threaten ; and, consequently, with E. threaten.
See Threaten. Der. abstruse-ly, abstruse-ness.
ABSURD, ridiculous. (L.) In Shak. \ Hen. VI, v. 5. 13 7. -Lat.
absurdus, contrary to reason, inharmonious. Lat. 06, away ; and sur-
dus, indistinct, harsh-sounding ; also, deaf. Perhaps absurdus was,
originally, a mere intensive of surdus, in the sense of harsh-sounding.
See Surd. Der. absurd-ity, absurd-ness.
ABUNDANCE, plenty. (F., - L.) M. E. haboundanse, Wyclif.
Luke, xsi. 15. O. F. abandonee. i,. abundantia. See Abound.
ABUSE, to use amiss. (F., L.) M.E. abusen; the pp. abused,
spelt abwysit, occurs in the Scottish romance of Lancelot of the Laik,
1. 1 206. ' I abuse or misse order a thing ; ' Palsgrave. Chaucer has
the sb. abusion, Troilus, iv. 962. O.F. abuser, to use amiss. Lat.
abusus, pp. of abuti, to abuse, mis-use. Lat. ab, from (here amiss) ;
and iui, to use. See Use. Der. abus-we, abus-ive-ness.
ABUT, to project towards, to converge to, be close upon. (F., G.)
Shak. speaks of England and France as being ' two mighty monarch-
ies Whose high, upreared, and abutting fronts The perilous narrow
ocean parts asunder; ' Prol. to Hen. V, 1. 21. O. F. abouter (Roque-
fort), of which an older form would be abater ; mod. F. abouter, to
arrive at, tend to ; orig. to thrust towards. [The mod. F. aboutir, to
arrive at, evidently rests its meaning on the F. bout, an end, but this
does not affect the etymology.] O. F. a, prefix =. Lat ad ; and boter,
to push, thrust, but. See But. Der. abut-ment, which is that
which bears the ' thrust ' of an arch ; cf. buttress, a support ; but see
Buttress, [t]
ABYSS, a bottomless gulf. (L.,-Gk) Frequent in Milton,
P. L. i. 21, &c. Lat. abyssus, a bottomless gulf, borrowed from
Gk. Gk. aBvaaof, bottomless. Gk. d-, negative prefix ; and fivaoot,
depth, akin to /3v9os and 0d8os, depth ; from 0a9in, deep. jf Fick,
i. 688, connects 0a6vs with Lat. fodere, to dig ; but Curtius rejects
this and compares it with Skt. gambhan, depth, gabhiras, deep, and
with Skt. gah, to dip oneselve, to bathe. Der. abys-m, abys-mal.
jf The etymology of abysm is traced by Brachet, s. v. abime. It is
from O. F. abisme ; from a Low Lat. abyssimns, a superlative form,
denoting the lowest depth.
ACACIA, a kind of tree. (Gk.) Described by Dioscorides as a
useful astringent thorn, yielding a white transparent gum ; a de-
scription which applies to the gum-arabic trees of Egypt. Lat.
acacia, borrowed from Gk. Gk. anemia, the thorny Egyptian acacia.
Gk. axis, a point, thorn. ^AK, to pierce. See Acute. [)]
ACADEMY, a school, a society. (F., - Gk.) Shak. has academes,
pi., L. L. L. i. I. 13; iv. 3. 303 ; and Milton speaks of ' the olive
grove of Academe, Plato's retirement;' P. R. iv. 244. [This form is
more directly from the Latin.] Burton says ' affliction is a school
or academy;' Anat. of Melancholy, p. 717 (Todd's Johnson). F.
academic. Lat. academia, borrowed from Gk. Gk. aueaSruttta, a
gymnasium near Athens where Plato taught, so named from the
hero Academus. Der. academ-ic, academ-ic-al, academ-ic-ian. ['(*]
ACCEDE, to come to terms, agree to. (L.) The verb is not in
early use; but the sb. access is common in Shak. and Milton. In
Mid. Eng. we have accesse in the sense of a sudden accession of fever
or ague, a fever-fit ; as in Lydgate's Complaint of the Black Knight,
1. 136. This is a French use of the word. Lat. accedere, to come
towards, assent to ; also spelt adcedere ; pp. accesses. Lat. ad, to ;
and cedere, to come, go, yield. See Cede. Der. access, access-ary,
access-ible, access-ion, access-or-y ; all from the pp. accessus.
ACCELERATE, to hasten. (L.) 'To accelerate or spede his
iorney ; ' Hall, Hen. IV, an. 3 1 (R.) Lat. accelerare, to hasten ; (for
the ending -ate, see note on A bbreviate.*) Lat. ac- ( = ad) ; and celer-
are, to hasten. Lat. celer, quick. +Gk. /ce'Aijt, a race-horse. ^KAL,
to drive, impel ; cf. Skt. lal, to drive. Fick, i. 527 ; Curtius, i. 1 79.
Der. accelerat-ion, accelerat-ive.
ACCENT, a tone. (L.) Shak. L. L. L. iv. 2. 1 24. Lat. acctntus.
6
ACCEPT.
an accent. Lat. ac- ( = ad) ; and cantus, a singing. Lat. canere, to
sing, pp. cantus. ^KAN, to sound, Fick, i. 517; whence also E.
hen. See Hen. Der. accent-n-al, accent-u-ate, accent-u-at-ion. ["t*]
ACCEPT, to receive. (L.) M. E. accepten, Wyclif, Rom. iv. 6.
Lat. acceplare, to receive; a frequentative form. Lat. accipere, to
receive. Lat. ac- ( = ad) ; and capere, to take. It is not easy to say
whether cape re is cognate with E. heave (Curtius) or with E. have (Fick).
Der. accept-able, accept-able-ness, accept -at-ion, accept-once, accept-er. [f]
ACCESS, ACCESSARY; see Accede.
ACCIDENT, a chance event. (L.) In Chaucer, C. T. 8483. -
Lat. accident-, stem of accidens, happening, pres. pt. Lat. accidere,
to happen. Lat. ac ( = ad) ; and cadere, to fall. See Chance.
Der. acddent-al ; also accidence (French ; from Lat. accident-id), [t]
ACCLAIM, to shout at. (L.) In Milton four times, but only as
a sb. ; P. L. ii. 520; iii. 397; x. 455 ; P. R. ii. 235. The word
acclaiming is used by Bp. Hall, Contemplations, b. iv. c. 25. 4
(R.) [The word is formed on a French model (cf. claim from O. F.
claimer), but from the Latin.] Lat. acclamare, to cry out at. Lat.
ac- (=od); and clamare, to cry out, exclaim. See Claim. Der.
acclam-at-ion, from pp. of Lat. acclamare.
ACCLIVITY, an upward slope. (L.) Used by Ray, On the
Creation (R.) Lat. ace. accliuitatem, from nom. accliuitas, a steep-
ness ; whence acclivity is formed in imitation of a F. model : the
suffix -ty answers to F. -te, from Lat. -totem. Lat. ac- ( = ad); and
-cliuitas, a slope, a word which does not occur except in compounds.
Lat. cliuus, a hill, sloping ground ; properly, sloping. ^KLI, to
lean, slope ; whence also Lat. inclinare, to incline, Gk. nKiveiv, to
lean, and E. lean. See Lean, and Incline. See also Declivity.
ACCOMMODATE, to adapt, suit. (L.) Shak. Lear, iv. 6. 81.
Lat. accommodare, to fit, adapt ; for the ending -ate, see note on
Abbreviate. Lat. ac- ( = aa*); and commodore, to fit. Lat. commodus,
fit, commodious. See Commodious and Mode. Der. accommod-
at-ion, accommod-at-ing.
ACCOMPANY, to attend. (F., - L.) Sir. T. Wyat has it in his
Complaint of the Absence of his Love' (R.) O. F. acompaignier,
to associate with. F. a = Lat. ad ; and O. F. compaignier, campaigner,
cumpagner, to associate with. O. F. compaignie, cumpanie, association,
company. See Company. Der. accompani-ment.
ACCOMPLICE, an associate, esp. in crime. (F..-L.) Shak.
I Hen. VI, v. 2. 9. An extension (by prefixing either F. a or Lat. ac-
= ad) of the older form complice. F. complice, ' a complice, confeder-
ate, companion in a lewd action ; ' Cot. Lat. ace. complicem, from
nom. complex, an accomplice, lit. interwoven. Lat. com- (for cum),
together ; and plicare, to fold. See Complex.
ACCOMPLISH, to complete. (F..-L.) M. E. accomplisen, in
Chaucer's Tale oi Melibeus (Six-text, Group B, 2322). O. F.acomplir,
to complete ; (for the ending -ish, see note to Abash.) Lat. ao", to ;
and complere, to fulfil, complete. See Complete. Der. accomplish-
able, accomplish-ed, accomplish-ment.
ACCORD, to grant; to agree. (F..-L.) M. E. accorden, to
agree ; Chaucer, C. T. Group B, 2137 ; an ^ L st 'U earlier, viz. in Rob.
of Glouc. pp. 237, 309 (R.) and in K. Alisaunder, ed. Weber, 1. 148.
O. F. acorder, to agree. Low Lat. accordare, to agree, used in much
the same way as Lat. concordare, and similarly formed. Lat. ac- ad,
to, i. e. in agreement with ; and cord-, stem of cor, the heart. Cf. E.
concord, discord. The Lat. cor is cognate with E. Heart, q. v. Der.
accord-once, accord-ing, according-ly, accord-ant, accord-ant-ly ; also ac-
cord-ion, from its pleasing sound.
ACCOST, to address. (F..-L.) Shak. Tw. Nt. i. 3. 52, which
see. F. accoster, ' to accoast, or join side to side ; ' Cot. Lat. ac-
costare, which occurs in the Acta Sanctorum, iii. Apr. 523 (Brachet).
Lat. ac- = ad ; and costa, a rib ; so that accostare means to join side
to side, in accordance with Cotgrave's explanation. See Coast.
ACCOUNT, to reckon, value. (F..-L.) M. E. accompten, ac-
counten. In Gower, C. A. iii. 298, we find accompteth written, but it
rhymes with surmounteth. The pi. sb. accountes, i. e, accounts, occurs
in Rob. of Brunne, tr. of Langtoft, p. 135 0. F. aconter (Burguy)
and acompter (Roquefort) ; the double forms being still preserved in F.
compter and comer, which are doublets. F. a, prefix = Lat. ad; and
cotiter, or compter, to count. Lat. computare, to compute, count. See
Count. Per, account, sb., account-able, account-able-ness, account-ant.
ACCOUTRE, to equip. (F..-L.?) -Shak. has accoutred, Jul.
Cses. i. 2. 105. F. accoutrer, accoustrer. Cotgrave gives both forms,
and explains accoustrer by ' to cloath, dress, apparell, attire, array,
deck, trim.' Marked by Brachet ' origin unknown.' [f] ^f The most
likely guess is that which connects it with the O. F. ' cousteitr, coustre,
coutre,' the sexton or sacristan of a church (Roquefort). One of the
sacristan's duties was to have charge of the sacred vestments, whence
the notion of dressing may have arisen. If this be right, we may
further suppose the O. F. coustetir or coustre to be a corruption of
Lat. cuftos, which was the Med. Latin name for the sacristan of
ACHIEVE.
a church. Custos seems to have been corrupted into castor, as shewn
by the existence of the fern, form custrix, which see in Ducange.
From custorem was formed the O. F. cousleur. Castor seems to
have been further corrupted into custer, which would give the form
coustre, like maistre from magister ; this also accounts for G. kiister, a
sacristan. In this view, coustrer would mean to act as sacristan, to
keep the sacred vestments, and hence, to invest. Der. accoutre-ment.
ACCREDIT, to give credit to. (F..-L.) Not in early use. In
Cowper, Letter 43 (R.) F. accrediter, to accredit ; formed from the
sb. credit, credit. See Credit, Creed.
ACCRETION, an increase. (L.) In Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Er-
rors, b. ii. c. I. 13 (R.) Lat. ace. accretionem, from nom. accretio.
Lat accrescere, pp. accretus, to grow, increase. Lat. ac- for ad, to ;
and crescere, to grow. See Crescent. Der. accret-ive ; and see
accrue.
ACCRUE, to grow to, to come to in the way of increase. (F., L.)
Spenser, F. Q. iv. 6. 18, has both decrewed, decreased, and accrewed,
increased or gathered. O. F. ' accreu, growne, increased, enlarged,
augmented, amplified ; ' Cot. The E. word must have been borrowed
from this, and turned into a verb. O. F. accroistre (Cotgrave), now
accroitre, to increase, enlarge ; of which accreu (accru) is the pp. Lat.
accrescere, to enlarge. Lat. ac- ad, to; and crescere, to grow. See
above, [t]
ACCUMULATE, to amass. (L.) Hall has accumulated; Hen.
VII, an. 1 6 (R.) Lat. accumulare, to amass; for the ending -ate see
note to Abbreviate. Lat. ac- = ad; and cumulare, to heap up.
Lat. cumulus, a heap. See Cumulate. Der. accumulat-ion, accumul-
at-ive.
ACCURATE, exact. (L.) Used by Bishop Taylor, Artificial
Handsomeness, p. 19 ; Todd. Lat. accuratus, studied ; pp. of accu-
rare, to take pains with. Lat. ac-=ad; and curare, to take care.
Lat. cura, care. See Cure. Der. accurate-ness, accurate-ly ; also
accur-acy, answering (nearly) to Lat. accuratio.
ACCURSED, cursed, wicked. (E.) The spelling with a double
c is wrong, and due to the frequency of the use of ac- = Lat. ad
as a prefix. M. E. acorsien, acursien. ' Ye shule . . . acursi alle
fijtinge ; ' Owl and Nightingale, 1 701 ; acorsy, Rob. of Glouc. p.
296. A. S. o-, intens. prefix = G. er- =Goth. us-; and cursian, to
curse. See Curse.
ACCUSE, to lay to one's charge. (F.,-L.) Chaucer has ac-
cused, accusyng, and accusours, all in the same passage ; see his tr. of
Boethius, b. i. pr. 4, 1. 334. F. accuser. Lat. accusare, to criminate,
lay to one's charge. Lat. ac- = ad ; and causa, a suit at law, a cause.
See Cause. Der. accus-able, accus-at-ion, accus-at-ory, accus-er, accus-
at-ive (the name of the case expressing the subject governed by a trans-
itive verb).
ACCUSTOM, to render familiar. (F..-L.) ' He was euer ac-
customed ; ' Hall, Hen. V, an. 5. [The sb. accustomaunce, custom, oc-
curs in a poem of the ijth century, called ' Chaucer's Dream,' 1. 256.]
O. F. estre acostumt, to be accustomed to a thing. F. prefix a =
Lat. ad ; and O. F. costume, coustume, coustome, a custom. Lat. consue-
tudinetn, ace. of consuetude, custom. See Custom.
ACE, the 'one' of cards or dice. (F.,-L.,-Gk.) M. E. as,
Chaucer, C. T. 4544, 14579. O. F. as, an ace. Lat. as, a unit.
Gk. as, said to be the Tarentine pronunciation of Gk. th, one ; but
not cognate with E. one.
ACEPHALOUS, without a head. (Gk.) Modem. -Gk. oJttQ-
aAos, the same. Gk. d-, privative; and Kdpa.\Tj, the head, cognate
with E. head. See Head.
ACERBITY, bitterness. (F..-L.) Used by Bacon, On Amend-
ing the Laws; Works, vol. ii. p. 542 (R.) F. acerbili, 'acerbitie,
sharpnesse, sourenesse ; ' Cot. Lat. acerbitatem, ace. of acerbitas, bit-
terness. Lat. acerbus, bitter. Lat. acer, sharp, acrid. See Acrid.
ACHE, a severe pain. (E.) a. The spelling ache is a falsified one,
due to the attempt to connect it more closely with the Gk. axos, which
is only remotely related to it. In old authors it is spelt ate. 'Ake.
or ache, or akynge, dolor ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. That the word is truly
English is best seen from the fact that the M. E. alien, to ache, was a
strong verb, forming its past tense as ook, ok, pi. ooke, oke, oken. ' She
saide her hede oke ' [better spelt ook, pron. oak] ; The Knight of La
Tour, ed. Wright, p. 8. ' Thauh alle my fyngres oken ; ' P, Plow-
man, C. xx. 1 59. A. S. cece, an ake, a pain ; ' eal Jjset sir and se tece
onwseg ala&Jed WEES ' = all the sore and the ake were taken away ; Beda,
5. 3. 4 (Bosworth). ^f The connection with the Gk. axos, obvious
as it looks, is not after all very certain ; for the Gk. x is an E. g, and
the right corresponding word to axos is the Goth, agis, A. S. ege, mod.
E. awe, as pointed out both in P'ick and Curtius. For the root of
axos and awe see Anguish, Awe. [t]
ACHIEVE, to accomplish. (F.,-L.) M. E. acheuen = acheven.
Chaucer has 'acheued and performed;' tr. of Boethius, b. i. pr. 4,
1. 404. O. F. achner, achiever, to accomplish. Formed from the
ACHROMATIC.
phrase venir a chef or venir a chief, to come to the end or arrive at '
one's object. Lat. ad caput venire, to come to an end (Brachet). Lat.
caput is cognate with E. head. See Chief, and Head. Der. achieve-
ment.
ACHROMATIC, colourless. (Gk.) Modern and scientific.
Formed with suffix -ie from Gk. dxpw/rros, colourless. Gk. d-, pri-
vative; and xpw/ia, colour. Connected with xpws, the skin, just as Skt.
tamos, colour, is connected with the root var, to cover ; cf. xp<"',
Xpatif IP, to graze ; Curtius, i. 142, 251. Fick, i. 819, places Gk. x/x**,
the hide, under the form skravd, from ^ SKRU ; cf. E. shroud.
ACID, sour, sharp. (L.) Bacon speaks of ' a cold and acide juyce ; '
Nat. Hist. 644 (R.) Lat. acidus, sour. y'AK, to pierce; cf. Skt.
af, to pervade ; E. to egg on. See Egg, verb. Der. acid-ily, acid-ify,
acid-ul-ate, acid-ul-at-ed, acid-ul-ous. ['Y]
ACKNOWLEDGE, to confess, own the knowledge of. (E.)
Common in Shakespeare. M. E. knowlechen, to acknowledge, o. The
prefixed a- is due to the curious fact that there was a M. E. verb a-
knowen with the same sense ; ex. ' To mee wold shee neuer aknow That
any man for any meede Neighed her body,' Merline, 901 , in Percy Folio
MS., i. 450. This aknowen is the A. S. oncndwan, to perceive. Hence
the prefixed a- stands for A. S. on. p. The verb knowlechen is common,
as e. g. in Wyclif ; ' he knowelechide and denyede not, and he knowle-
chide for I am not Christ ; ' St. John, i. 20. It appears early in the
thirteenth century, in Hali Meidenhad, p. 9 ; Legend of St. Katharine,
1. 1 35 2 . Formed directly from the sb. knowleche, now spelt knowledge.
See Knowledge. Der. acknowledg-ment, a hybrid form, with F. suffix.
ACME, the highest point. (Gk.) Altogether a Greek word, and
written in Gk. characters by Ben Jonson, Discoveries, sect, headed
Scriptomm Catalogus. Gk. uKfaj. edge. ^AK, to pierce.
ACOLYTE, a servitor. (F.,-Gk.) Cotgrave has 'Acolyte, Ac-
colite, he that ministers to the priest while he sacrifices or saies mass.'
Low Lat. acolythus, borrowed from Gk. Gk. ax6\ov0os, a follower.
Gk. d-, with (akin to Skt. sa-, sam, with) ; and Ke\tv9os, a road, way;
so that ax6\ov$os meant originally 'a travelling companion.' The Gk.
Ke\(v$os is cognate with Lat. callis, a path, ^f Fick, i. 43, suggests
the V KAR, to run ; which Curtius, i. 179, hardly accepts, [f]
ACONITE, monk's hood; poison. (F.,-L.,-Gk.) Occurs in
Ben Jonson, Sejanus, Act. iii. sc. 3 (R.) [It may have been borrowed
directly from the Gk. or Latin, or mediately through the French.] F.
Aconit, Acanitum, a most venemous herb, of two principall kinds, viz.
Libbards-bane and Wolf-bane ; ' Cot. Lat. aconitum. Gk. oxdvnov,
a plant like monk's-hood ; Pliny, Nat. Hist. bk. xxvii. c. 3. ^f Pliny
says it is so called because it grew iv cacovats, on ' steep sharp rocks '
(Liddell and Scott). Gk. outovij, a whetstone, hone. ^AK, to
pierce; Curtius, i. 161.
ACORN, the fruit of the oak. (E.) Chaucer speaks of ' acornes
of okes ; ' tr. of Boethius, b. ii. met. 5, p. 50. A. S. acern, tecirn ; pi.
acirnu, which occurs in the A. S. version of Gen. xliii. 1 1 , where the
exact meaning is not clear, though it is applied to some kind of fruit.
+ Icel. a/tarn, an acom.+ Dan. agern, an acorn. + Du. alter, an acom.
j-G. eclter, the fruit of the oak or beech ; Fick, iii. 8.-f Goth, akran,
fruit; cf. the comp. akrana-laus, fruitless. A. S.tecer, a field, an acre.
See Acre, ^f The suffix -ern has been changed to -orn, from a notion
that <ecern meant an oat-corn, an etymology which is, indeed, still
current. It is remarkable that acorn is related, etymologically, neither
to oak nor to corn. p. If it be remembered that acre should rather
be spelt acer or alter (the latter is common in Mid. Eng.), and that
acorn should rather be acern or altern, it will be seen that akern is de-
rived from alter much in the same way as silvern from silver, or wooden
from wood. y. The cognate languages help here. 1. The Icel. akarn
is derived from akr, a field, not from eik, an oak. 2. The Du. aker
is related to akker, a field, not to eik, an oak ; indeed this has been so
plainly felt that the word now used for ' acom ' in Dutch is generally
eikel. 3. So in German, we have eichel, an acom, from eiche, an oak,
but the word eclter is related to acker, a field, and stands for acker.
4. The Danish is clearest of all, forming agern, an acom, from ager,
a field. 6. That the Goth, akran, fruit, is immediately derived from
airs, a field, has never been overlooked. 8. Thus the original sense of
the A. S. neut. pi. cecirnu or cecernu was simply ' fruits of the field,' un-
derstanding ' field ' in the sense of wild open country ; cf. Gk. a-ypus,
a field, the country, and aypios, wild. e. It will now be seen that
Chaucer's expression ' acornes of okes ' is correct, not tautological.
ACOUSTIC, relating to sound. (Gk.) Modern and scientific.
Gk. djcovffrifcos, relating to hearing. Gk. ujcovtiv, to hear. Con-
nected by Curtius and Liddell with the verb noeiv, to perceive.
1/K.Of, to perceive; Curtius, i. 186; Fick, i. 815; a form which
has probably lost an initial s. ^SKU, to perceive; whence also E.
shew. See Shew.
ACQUAINT, to render known. (F..-L.) M. E. acqueynten,
earlier acointen, akointen. 'Acqtieynlyn, or to make knowleche, noiifico ; '
Prompt. Parv. 'Wei akointed mid ou' = well acquainted with you;
AD. 7
Ancren Riwle, p. 218. O.F. acoinler, acoinlier, to acquaint with, to
advise. Low. Lat. adcognitare, to make known ; see Brachet.
Lat. ad, to ; and cognitare * (not used), formed from cognitus, known,
which is the pp. of cognoscere, to know. Lat. co- = cum, with ; and
gnoscere (commonly spelt noscere), to know, cognate with E. know.
See Know. Der. acquainl-ance, acquainl-ance-ship.
ACQUIESCE, to rest satisfied. (L.) Used by Ben Jonson, New
Inn, Act iv. sc. 3 (R.) Lat. acquiescere, to rest, repose in. Lat. ac-
= ad; and quiescere, to rest. Lat. quies, rest. See Quiet. Der.
acguiesc-ence, acquiesc-ent.
ACQUIRE, to get, obtain. (L.) Used by Hall, Hen. VIII, an.
37 (R.) Lat. acquirere, to obtain. Lat. ac- =ad; and qiuerere, to
seek. See Query. Der. acquir-able, acqjtire-ment ; also acquisit-ion,
acquisit-ive, acquisit-ive-ness, from acquisilns, pp. of acquirere.
ACQUIT, to set at rest, set free, &c. (K..-L.) M. E. acwilen,
aqiiyten, to set free, perform a promise. ' Uorto acwiten his fere ' =
to release his companion. Ancren Riwle, p. 1 24 ; ' whan it aquyted
be ' = when it shall be repaid ; Rob. of Glouc. p. 265. O. F. aquiter,
to settle a claim. Low Lat. acquietare, to settle a claim ; see Brachet.
Lat. ac- =ad; and quietare, a verb formed from Lat. quietus, dis-
charged, free. See Quit. Der. acjuitt-al, acguitt-ance.
ACRE, a field. (E.) M. E. aker. The pi. akres occurs in Rob. of
Brunne's tr. of P. Langtoft, ed. Heame, p. 115. A. S. acer, a field.
+ O. Fries, ekker. + O. Sax. accar.+ Du. akker.+ Icel. akr. + Swed.
Aker. + Dan. ager. + Goth. airs. + O. H. G. achar, G. acker. + Lat.
ager. + Gk. &yp6s. + Skt. ajra ; in all of which languages it means
' a field.' Whether it meant originally ' a pasture,' or (more pro-
bably) ' a chase ' or hunting-ground (cf. Gk. afpa, the chase), the
root is, in any case, the same, viz. VAG, to drive ; Lat. ag-ere, Skt.
aj, to drive ; Curtius, i. 209 ; Fick, i. 8. See Act. Der. acre-age.
ACRID, tart, sour. (L.) Not in early use. Bacon has acrimony.
Nat. Hist. sect. 639 (R.) There is no good authority for the form
acrid, which has been made (apparently in imitation of acid) by
adding the suffix -id to the stem acr-, which is the stem of Lat. acer,
sharp, and appears clearly in the O. Lat. acrus, sharp ; see Curtius,
i. 161. This O. Lat. form is cognate with Gk. axpos, pointed, Skt.
afra, pointed. y'AK, to pierce. See Curtius, as above ; Fick, i. 5.
Der. acrid-ness ; acri-mony, acri-moni-ous, from Lat. acrimonia, sharp-
ness. Co-radicate words are add, acerbity, and many others. See
Egg, verb.
ACROBAT, a tumbler. (Gk.) Modem. Probably borrowed, in
the first instance, from F. acrobate. Gk. axpoffarris, lit. one who
walks on tip-toe. Gk. axpo-v, a point, neut. of axpos, pointed ; and
Paris, verbal adj. of fraivtiv, to walk, which is cognate with E. come.
See Acrid, and Come. Der. acrobat-ic.
ACROPOLIS, a citadel. (Gk.) Borrowed from Gk. d/t/xiiroXis,
a citadel, lit. the upper city. - Gk. dxpo-s, pointed, highest, upper ;
and ir6\ts, a city. For axpos, see Acrid. For iroAis, see Police.
ACROSS, cross-wise. (Hybrid.) Surrey, in his Complaint of
Absence, has 'armes across*.' (R.) Undoubtedly formed from the
very common prefix a (short for an, the later form of A. S. on), and
cross ; so that across is for on-cross, like 06^0* for on bed. I do not
find the full form on-cross, and the word was probably formed by
analogy. Thus the prefix is English. But the word is a hybrid.
See Cross.
ACROSTIC, a short poem in which the letters beginning the
lines spell a word. (Gk.) From Gk. oKpoarix^ov, an acrostic. Gk.
axpo-s, pointed, also first ; and O-TI'X""', dimin. of <rri'xoi, a row, order,
line.-VAK, to pierce; and^STIGH, to climb, march, whence
Gk. verb <rTf<x", to march in order. See Acrid and Stirrup.
ACT, a deed. (L.) M. E. act, pi. actes. The pi. actes occurs in
Chaucer's Freres Tale, C. T. 7068 (misprinted 2068 in Richardson).
Lat. actum, an act, thing done, neut. of pp. actus, done. Lat. agere,
to do, lit. to drive. + Gk. 07(11', to drive. + Icel. aka, to drive. -f-
Sansk. aj, to drive. -VAG, to drive; Fick, i. 7. Der. act, verb,
whence act-ing ; also (from the pp. actus) act-ion, act-ion-able, act-ive,
act-iv-ity, act-or, act-r-ess ; also act-ual (Lat. actualis), act-ual-ily ; also
act-vary (Lat. acttiarius) ; also act-u-ale (from Low Lat. actuare, to
perform, put in action). From the same root are exact, react, and a
large number of other words, such as acre, &c. See Agent.
ACUMEN, keenness of perception. (L.) It occurs in Selden's
Table -Talk, art. Liturgy. Borrowed from Lat. acumen, sharpness.
^AK, to pierce ; whence the verb ac-u-ere, to sharpen, ac-u-men,
sharpness, ac-u-s, a needle, with added u. Cf. Zend akv, a point ;
Fick, i. 4. Der. acumin-ated, i. e. pointed, from the stem acumin-.
ACUTE, sharp. (L.) Shak. L. L. L. iii. 67. Lat. acutus, sharp ;
properly pp. of verb acnere, to sharpen. From the stem ac-u-, which
from VAK, to pierce. See Acuman. Der. acute-ly, acute-ness.
AT)-, prefix : corresponding to Lat. ad, to, cognate with E. at. See
At. ^f The Lat. ad often changes its last letter by assimila-
tion ; becoming ac- before c, af- before /, ag- before g, al- before /,
8
ADAGE.
ADMIRE.
an- before n, ap- before p. Ex. ac-cord, af-fect, ag-gregate, al-lude,
an-nex, ap-pear ; also ar-, as-, at-, as in ar-rest, as-sist, at-test.
ADAGE, a saying, proverb. (F..-L.) Used by Hall; Hen. IV,
an. 9 (R.) - F. adage, ' an adage, proverb, old-said saw, witty saying ; '
Cot. Lat. adagium, a proverb. Lat. ad, to ; and -aginm, a saying.
VAGI!, to say, represented in Latin by the verb dio, I say (with
long a) : in Gk. by the verb i}/*i, I say : and in Sanskrit by the root
ah, to say, whence aha, he said. Kick, i. 481.
ADAMANT, a diamond. (F., - L., - Gk.) Adamaunt in Wyclif,
Ezek. iii. 9 ; pi. adamauntz, Chaucer, C. T. 1992. [It first occurs
in the phrase ' adamantines stan ; ' Hali Meidenhad, p. 37. The
sense in Mid. Eng. is both ' diamond ' and ' magnet.'] O. F. adamant.
Lat. adamanla, ace. of adamas, a very hard stone or metal. Gk.
ddapas, gen. aSduavros, a very hard metal, lit. that which is un-
conquerable. Gk. d-, privative ; and Sauddv, to conquer, tame,
cognate with E. tame. See Tame. Der. adamant-ine ; from Lat.
adamantines, Gk. aSaftavTivos.
ADAPT, to fit, make suitable. (L.) In Ben Jonson's Discoveries;
sect, headed Lectio, Parnassus, Sec. Lat. adaplare, to fit to. Lat.
ad, to ; and aptare, to fit. See Apt. Der. adapt-able, adapt-at-ion,
adapt-abil-ity.
ADD, to put together, sum up. (L.) M. E. adden. Wyclif has
addide, Luke, xix. n. Chaucer has added, Prol. to C.T. 501. Lat.
addere, to add. Lat. ad, to ; and -dere, to put, place ; see Abscond.
Der. add-enditm, pi. add-enda, neut. of add-endus, fut. part. pass, of
Lat. addere ; also addit-ion, addit-ion-al, from pp. additus.
ADDER, a viper. (E.) M. E. addere, P. Plowman, B. xviii. 352 ;
and again, in P. Plowman, C. xxi. 381, we find ' in persone of an addere,'
where other MSS. have a naddere and a neddere. The word addere is
identical with naddere, and the two forms are used interchangeably
in Middle English. [There are several similar instances of the loss of
initial n in English, as in the case of auger, umpire, orange, &c.] A.S.
naedre, an adder, snake ; Grein, ii. 275. + Du. adder, a viper. + Icel.
ndor, naora. + Goth, nadrs. + O. H. G. natra, G. natter. ^[ The
root is not clear; possibly from y'NA, to sew, spin, cf. Lat. nere, to
spin, so that the original sense may have been ' thread,' ' cord.' Cf.
Old Irish, snathe, a thread. See Curtius, i. 393. Wholly unconnected
with A. S. altar, dlor, poison.
ADDICT, to give oneself up to. (L.) Addicted occurs in Grafton's
Chronicles, Hen. VII, an. 4 (R.) Lat. addicere, to adjudge, assign;
pp. addictus.L.a.t. ad, to ; and dicere, to say, proclaim. See Diction.
Der. addict-ed-ness.
ADDLED, diseased, morbid. (E.) Shak. has ' an addle egg ; '
Troilus, i. 2. 145. Here addle is a corruption of addled, which is also
in use, and occurs in Cowper, Pairing-time Anticipated. Addled
means ' affected with disease,' the word addle being properly a sub-
stantive. The form adle, sb. a disease, occurs in the Ormulum, 4801.
A. S. adl, disease ; Grein. i. 1 6. ^f The original signification of
ddl was ' inflammation," and the word was formed by suffix -/ (for -el,
-al) from A.S. dd, a funeral pile, a burning; cf. M. H. G. eiten, to
heat, glow, O. H. G. '/, a funeral pile, a fire ; Lat. testus, a glowing
heat, astas, summer ; Gk. aWav, to bum, afflos, a burning ; Skt. edhas,
edha, wood for fuel, from indk, to kindle; Curtius, i. 310. yMDH,
to kindle ; Pick, i. 28. [#]
ADDRESS, to direct oneself to. (F., - L.) M. E. adressen. ' And
therupon him hath adressed;' Gower, C. A. ii. 295. F. adresser, to
address. F. a- = Lat. ad ; and dresser, to direct, dress. See Dress.
Der. address, sb.
ADDUCE, to bring forward, cite. (L.) Bp. Taylor has adduction
and adductive ; Of the Real Presence, 1 1. Lat. adducere, to lead to,
pp. adductus. Lat. ad, to ; and ducere, to lead; See Duke. Der.
adduc-ible ; also adduct-ion, adduct-ive.
ADEPT, a proficient. (L.) ' Adepts, or Adeptists, the obtaining
sons of art, who are said to have found out the grand elixir, com-
monly called the philosopher's stone;' Kersey's Diet. ed. 1715.
Lat. adeptus, one who has attained proficiency ; properly pp. of adip-
isci, to attain, reach to. Lat. ad, to ; and apisci, to reach. The form
ap-isci is from^AP, to attain, which appears also in the Gk. air-rdv,
to tie, bind, seize, and in the Skt. dp, to attain, obtain. ^f From
the same root is apt, which see ; also option. See Fick, i. 489,
Curtius, ii. 119.
ADEQUATE, equal to, sufficient. (L.) It occurs in Kale's
Contemplation of Wisdom, and in Johnson's Rambler, No. 17. Lat.
adaequaius, made equal to, pp. of adaequare, to make equal to. Lat.
ad, to ; and aequare, to make equal. Lat. aequus, equal. See Equal.
Der. adetjuale-ly, adequacy.
ADHERE, to stick fast to. (L.) Shak. has adhere ; and Sir T.
More has adherents, Works, p. 222. Lat. adhaerere, to stick to.
Lat. ad, to; and haerere, to stick; pp. haesus. .y'GHAIS, to stick;
which occurs also in Lithuanian; Fick, i. 576. Der. adher-ence, ad-
her-ent ; also adhes-ive, adhes-ion, from pp. adhaesus.
A
ADIEU, farewell. (F..-L.) Written a dieu, Gower, C. A. i. 251.
F. a dieu, (I commit you) to God. Lat. ad deum.
ADJACENT, near to. (L.) It occurs in Lydgate's Siege of
Thebes, pt. J (R.) ; see Chaucer's Works, ed. 1561, fol. 360 back, col. i.
Lat. adiacentem, ace. of adiacens, pres. pt. of adiacere, to lie near.
Lat. ad, to, near ; and iacere, to lie. Iacere is formed from iacere, to
throw. See Jet. Der. adjacenc-y.
ADJECT, to add to. (L.) Unusual. Fuller has adjecting;
General Worthies, c. 24. [The derivative adjective is common as a
grammatical term.] Lat. adiicere, to lay or put near, pp. adiectus.
Lat. ad, near; and iacere, to throw, put. See Jet. Der. adject-ton.
adject-ive.
AD JOIN, to lie next to. (F..-L.) Occurs in Sir T.More's Works,
p. 40 b (R.) O. F. adjoindre, to adjoin. Lat. adinngere, to join to;
pp. adiunctus. Lat. ad, to ; and iungere, to join. See Join. Der.
adjunct, adjunct-ive ', both from pp. adiunctus.
ADJOURN, to postpone till another day. (F..-L.) M.E.
aiornen (ajornen), to fix a day, Rob. of Brunne's tr. of P. Langtoft,
p. 309. O. F. ajorner, ajurner, properly to draw near to day, to dawn.
O. F. a- = Lat. ad ; and jornee, a morning ; cf. O. F. jar, jur, jour,
a day, originally jorn = Ital. giorno. Lat. diurnus, daily. Lat. dies,
a day. See jour in Brachet, and see Journey, Journal. Der.
adjourn-ment.
ADJUDGE, to decide with respect to, assign. (F..-L.) M. E.
adiugen ( = adjugen), or better aitigen ( = ajiigen) ; Fabyan, an. 1 2 1 2 ;
Grafton, Hen. II, an. 9 (R.) Chaucer has aiuged, tr. of Boethius,
bk. i. pr.4, 1. 325. O. F. ajuger, to decide. O.F. a- =Lat. ad; and
juger, to judge. See Judge. ^f Since the F. jugcr is from the
Lat. iudicare, this word has its doublet in adjudicate.
ADJUDICATE, to adjudge. (L.) See above. Der. adjudicat-
ion, which occurs in Blackstone's Commentaries, b. ii. c. 21.
ADJUNCT. See Adjoin.
ADJURE, to charge on oath. (L.) It occurs in the Bible of
J 539> ' Sam. c. 14. Chaucer, Pers. Tale, De Ira, has ' that horrible
swering of adiuration and coniuration.' Lat. adiurare, to swear to.
Lat. ad, to; and iurare, to swear. See Abjure. Der. adjur-
at-ion.
ADJUST, to settle, make right. (F..-L.) In Addison's trans-
lation of Ovid's story of Aglauros. M. E. aiusten (=ajusten) in the
old editions of Chaucer's Boethius, but omitted in Dr. Morris's edi-
tion, p. 37, 1. 6; see Richardson. O. F. ajosler, ajuster, ajousler
(mod. F. ajoitter), to arrange, lit. to put side by side. Low Lat.
adiuxtare, to put side by side, arrange. Lat. ad, to, by ; and iuxta.
near, lit. adjoining or joining to. ^YUG, to join ; whence also Lat.
iugum, cognate with E.yoke, and iu-n-gere, to join. See Join. Der.
adjust-meni,' adjust-nble. ^f But see Errata. [#]
ADJUTANT, lit. assistant. (L.) Richardson cites a passage
from Shaw's translation of Bacon, Of Julius Caesar. Adjutors occurs
in Drayton's Barons' Wars, and adjuting in Ben Jonson, King's Enter-
tainment at \Velbeck. Lat. adiutantem, ace. of adiutans, assisting,
pres. pt. of adiutare, to assist ; a secondary form of adiuuare, to assist.
Lat. ad, to ; and iuuare, to assist, pp. tutus. ^YU, to guard ; cf.
Skt. yu, to keep back ; Fick, ii. 202. Der. adjutanc-y ; and (from
the vb. adiutare) adjut-or, adjute. From the same root is aid, q. v.
ADMINISTER, to minister to. (L.) Administer occurs in The
Testament of Love, bk. i, and administration in the same, bk. ii (R.)
Lat. administrare, to minister to. Lat. ad, to; and ministrare, to
minister. See Minister. Der. administral-ion, administrat-ive, ad-
ministral-or ; all from Lat. administrare.
ADMIRAL, the commander of a fleet. (F.,- Arabic.) See
Trench's Select Glossary, which shews that the term was often ap-
plied to the leading vessel in a fleet, called in North's Plutarch the
' admiral-galley.' Thus Milton speaks of ' the mast Of some great
ammiral ; ' P. L. i. 294. But this is only an abbreviated expression,
and the modern use is correct, p. M. E. admiral, admirald, admirail
(Layamon, iii. 103), or more often anu'ral, amirail. Rob. of Glouc.
has amyrayl, p. 409. O.F. amirail, amiral ; also found as amire,
without the suffix. There is a Low Lat. form amiraldus, formed by
suffix -aldus (O. F. -aid, F. -and) from a shorter form amirtevs.
Arabic amir, a prince, an 'emir;' see Palmer's Pers. Diet. p. 51.
% Hammer derives admiral from Arabic amir-al-bdhr, commander of
the sea, supposing that the final word bahr has been dropped. As to
the reason for this supposition, see note in Errala. [#] See
Max Muller, Lectures, ii. 264, note (8th edition). 0. The suffix is
just the same as in rib-aid, Regin-ald, from Low Lat. -aldus, answering
to Low G. -wald; see Brachet's Diet, of French Etym. sect. 195;
Kitchin's translation. In King Horn, 1. 89, admirald rhymes with
bald, bold ; and in numerous passages in Middle English, amiral or
amirail means no more than ' prince,' or ' chief.' Der. admiral-ty.
ADMIRE, to wonder at. (F..-L.) Shak. has ' admir'd disorder;'
Macb. iii. 4. no. F. admirer, 'to wonder, admire, man-el at:'
ADMIT. ADVERTISE. 9
Cot. Lat. admirari, to wonder at. Lat. ad, at ; and mirari, to won- ' however, takes a different view of the matter, and identifies the -/-
der. Mirari is for an older sniirari, to wonder at, smile at ; cognate
with Gk. lutoaftv, to smile, Skt. smi, to smile, smera, smiling, and E.
smirk and smile ; Curtius, i. 409. See Smile. Der. admir-able, ad-
mir-at ion, admir-er, admir-ing-ly.
ADMIT, to permit to enter. (L.) Fabyan has admytted, admys-
sion; Hen. Ill, an. 1261. Lat. admittere, lit. to send to. Lat. ad,
to ; and mittere, to send, pp. missits. See Missile. Der. admitt-
ance, admitt-able ; also admiss-ion, admiss-ible, admiss-ibil-ity, from pp.
admissus.
ADMONISH, to warn. (F., - Lat.) M. E. amonesten, so that ad-
monish is a corruption of the older form amonest. ' I amoneste, or
warae;' Wyclif, i Cor. iv. 14. 'This figure amonesteth thee ; ' Chau-
cer, tr. of Boethius, b. v. met. 5. 'He amonesteth [advises] pees;'
Chaucer, Tale of Melibeus. The sb. amonestement is in an Old. Eng.
Miscellany, ed. Morris, p. 28. O. F. amonester (F. admonester), to
advise. Low. Lat. admonitare, afterwards corrupted to admonistare, a
frequentative of admonere, to advise, formed from the pp. admonitus
(Brachet). Lat. ad, to ; and manere, to advise. See Moni-
tion. Der. admonit-ion, admonit-ive, admonit-ory, all from the pp.
admonitus.
A -DO, to-do, trouble. (E.) M. E. at do, to do. We have othere
thinges at do;' Towneley Mysteries, p. 181; and again, 'With that
prynce . . . Must we have at do;' id. p. 237. In course of time the
phrase at do was shortened to ado, in one word, and regarded as a
substantive. 'Ado, or grete busynesse, sollicitudo ; ' Prompt. Parv. p.
7. ^f The prep, at is found thus prefixed to other infinitives, as at ga,
to go; Seuyn Sages, 3017 ; 'That es at say,' that is to say; Halli-
well's Diet. s. v. at. See Matzner, Engl. Gram. ii. 2. 58. p. This
idiom was properly peculiar to Northern English, and is of Scandina-
vian origin, as is evident from the fact that the sign of the infinitive
is at in Icelandic, Swedish, &c.
ADOLESCENT, growing up. (L.) Rich, quotes adolescence
from Howell, bk. iii. letter 9 ; and adolescency occurs in Sir T. Elyot's
Govemour, b. ii. c. 4. Lat. adolescentem, ace. of adolescens, pies. pt.
of adolescere, to grow up. Lat. ad, to, up ; and olescere, to grow, the
' inceptive ' form of the shorter olere, to grow ; which again is formed
from alere, to nourish. ^A.L, to nourish ; whence also Icel. ala, to
produce, nourish, and Goth, a/an, to nourish, cherish. The ^AL is
probably a development of ^ AR, to arise, to grow, seen in Lat.
oriri ; see Abortion. Der. adolescence ; and see adult.
ADOPT, to choose or take to oneself. (L.) Adopt occurs in Hall,
Hen. VII, an. 7. The sb. adopcioun is in Wyclif, Romans, c. 8 ; and
in the Ayenbite of Inwyt, pp. 101 , 104, 146. Lat. adoptare, to adopt,
choose. Lat. ad, to; and optare, to wish. ^AP, to wish. See
Option. Der. adopt-ive, adopt-ion.
ADOBE, to worship. (L.) See Levins, Manip. Vocabulorum, p.
174; adored is in Surrey's Virgil, tr. of JEa. ii. 700. [The M. E.
adouren in The Legends of the Holy Rood, p. 163, was probably
taken from the O. F. adourer, generally cut down to aourer.~] Lat.
adorare, lit. to pray to. Lat. ad, to ; and orare, to pray. Lat. os,
oris, the mouth ; cf. Skt. a'sya, the mouth, asus, vital breath ; shewing
that the probable signification of ^ AS, to be, was originally ' to
breathe;' Curtius, i. 469. See Oral. Der. ador-at-ion, ador-er,
odor-able, ador-able-ness, ador-ing-ly.
ADORN, to deck. (L.) Chaucer has adorneth, Troilus, iii. i.-
Lat. adornare, to deck. Lat. ad, to, on ; and ornare, to deck. Cur-
tius has no hesitation in stating that here the initial o stands for
va (or wa), so that Lat. ornare is to be connected with Skt. vama, co-
lour, which is from ^ WAR (Skt. vti), to cover over. See Orna-
ment. Per, adorn-ing, adorn-ment.
ADOWJST, downwards. (E.) M. E. adune, Havelok, 2735 ; very
common. A. S. of-dune, lit. off the down or hill. A. S. of, off, from ;
and dun, a down, hill. See Down ; and see A-, prefix.
ADRIFT, floating at random. (E.) In Milton, P. L. xi. 832. For
on drift ; as afloat for on float, ashore for on shore. See Afloat, and
Drift.
ADROIT, dexterous. (F..-L.) Used by Evelyn, The State of
France (R.) F. adroit, ' handsome, nimble, wheem, ready or quick
about ; ' Cotgrave. F. a droit, lit. rightfully, rightly ; from a, to, to-
wards ; and droit, right. The F. droit is from Lat. directum, right,
justice (in late Latin), neut. oldirectus, direct. See Direct. Der.
adroil-ly, adroit-ness.
ADULATION, flattery. (F.,-L.) In Shak. Henry V, iv. I.
271. F. adulation, 'adulation, flattery, fawning,' &c. ; Cotgrave.
Lat. adulationem, ace. of adulatio, flattery. Lat. adulari, to flatter,
fawn, pp. adulatus. ^[ The supposed original meaning of adulari is to
wag the tail as a dog does, hence to fawn, which Curtius connects
with the ^ WAL, to wag, roll (cf. Skt. val, to wag, move to and fro,
Lat. uoluere, to roll). And the */ WAL points back to an older <J
WAR, to surround, twist about; Curtius, 1.447, Fick.i. 213. p. Fick,
in advlari with Gk. oipa, a tail ; i. 770. Der. adulat-or-y.
ADULT, one grown up. (L. ; or F..-L.) Spelt adulte in Sir T.
Elyot, The Governour, b. ii. c. I. [Perhaps through the French, as
Cotgrave has 'Adulte, grown to full age.'] Lat. adultus, grown up,
pp. of adolescere, to grow up. See Adolescent.
ADULTERATE, to corrupt. (L.) Sir T. More, Works, p. 636 h,
has adulterate as a past participle ; but Bp. Taylor writes adulterated,
On the Real Presence, sect. 10. Lat. adulterare, to commit adultery,
to corrupt, falsify. Lat. adulter, an adulterer, a debaser of money.
[Of the last word I can find no satisfactory etymology.] Der. adulter-
at-ion; also (from Lat. adulterium) the words adulter-y, adulter-er,
adulter-ess ; and (from Lat. adulter) adulter-ous, adulter-ine.
ADUMBRATE, to shadow forth. (L.) Adumbrations occurs in
Sir T. Elyot, The Govemour, book iii.c. 25. Lat. adumbrare, to cast
shadow over. Lat. ad, to, towards, over ; and umbrare, to cast a sha-
dow. Lat. umbra, a shadow. [Root unknown.] Der. adumbrant
(from pres. pt. adumbrans), adumbrat-ion.
ADVANCE, to go forward. (F., - L.) [The modem spelling
is not good ; the inserted d is due to the odd mistake of supposing
that, in the old form avance, the prefix is a-, and represents the Lat.
ad. The truth is, that the prefix is av, and represents the Lat. ab.
The inserted d came in about A.D. 1500, and is found in the Works of
Sir T. More, who has aduauncement, p. 1 369. The older spelling is
invariably without the d.~] M. E. avancen, avauncen. Chaucer has
'auaunced and forthered,' tr. of Boethius, b. ii. pr. 4, 1. 1057. The
word is common, and occurs in Rob. of Glouc. p. 77. O. F. avancer
(F. avancer), to go before. O. and mod. F. nvant, before. Low Lat.
ab ante, also written abante, before (Brachet). Lat. ab, from ; ante,
before. See Ante-, and Van. Der. advance-ment ; and see below.
ADVANTAGE, profit. (F..-L.) Properly a state of forward-
ness or advance. [The d is a mere wrong insertion, as in advance (see
above), and the M.E. form is avantage or avauntage.~] 'Avantage,
profectus, emolument um ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 1 7. Hampole has avan-
tage, Pricke of Conscience, 1. 1012 ; and it is common. O. F. and
mod. F. avantage, formed by suffix -age from prep, avant, before. See
Advance. Der. advantage-ous, advantage-ous-ness.
ADVENT, approach. (L.) M. E. aduent, Rob. of Glouc. p. 463 ;
also in Aacren Riwle, p. 7. Lat. aduentus, a coming to, approach.
Lat. aduenire, to come to, pp. aduentus. Lat. ad, to ; and uenire, to
come, cognate with E. come. See Come. Der. advenl-u-al, advenl-
it-i-ous.
ADVENTURE, an accident, enterprise. (F.,-L.) [The older
spelling is aventvre, the F. prefix a- having been afterwards replaced
by the corresponding Lat. prefix ao*-.] Sir T. More, Works, p. ;6i e,
has adventure as a verb. The old form aventure is often cut down to
auntre. Rob. of Glouc. has to auenture at p. 70, but the sb. an auntre
at p. 64. The sb. auenture, i. e. occurrence, is in the Ancren Riwle,
p. 340. O. F. and mod. F. aventure, an adventure. Lat. aduenturus,
about to happen, of which the fern, aduentura was used as a sb. (res,
a thing, being understood), and is represented in Italian by the form
awentura. Lat. aduenire, to come to, happen ; fut. part. act. aduentu-
rus. Lat. ad, to ; and uenire, to come, cognate with E. come. See
Come. Der. adventure, vb., adveiitur-er, adventur-ous, adventur-
ous-ness. [1*]
ADVERB, a part of speech. (L.) In Ben Jonson, Eng. Gram-
mar, ch. xxi. Used to qualify a verb ; and formed from Lat. ad, to,
and uerbum, a verb, a word. See Verb. Der. adverb-ial, adverb-ial-ly.
ADVERSE, opposed to. (F., - Lat.) M. E. aduerse. Gower has
'Whan he fortune fint [finds] aduerse;' C. A. ii. 116. Aduersite,
i.e. adversity, occurs in the Ancren Riwle, p. 194. Chaucer has
aduersarie, an adversary, C. T. 13610. O. F. advers, generally avers
(mod. F. av erse), adverse to. Lat. aduersus, turned towards, contrary,
opposed to ; pp. of aduertere, to turn towards. Lat. ao", to ; and uert-
ere, to turn. -./ WART, to turn; Fick, i. 215. See Towards.
Der. advers-ary, advers-al-ive, adverse-ness, advers-ity. See below.
ADVERT, to turn to, regard. (L.) Aduert occurs in The Court
of Love, 1. 150, written about A.D. 1500. Lat. aduertere, to turn to-
wards; see above. Der. advert-ent, advert-ence, advert-enc-y.
ADVERTISE, to inform, warn. (F..-L.) Fabyan has aduert-
ysed, Hist. c. 83. For the ending -ise, see note at the end of the
article. O. F. advertir, avertir. Cotgrave has 'Adverlir, to inform,
certifie, advertise, warn, admonish.' Lat. aduertere, to turn towards,
advert to. See Advert. [Thus advertise is really a doublet of arf-
vert.~] Der. advertis-er, advertis-ing ; also adverthe-ment, from O. F.
advertisement, which see in Cotgrave. fl' In this case the ending
-ise is not the Gk. -l(av, nor even the F. -iser, but a development
from the mode of conjugating the verb avertir, which has the pres.
part, avertiss-ant, and the imperf. avertiss-ais ; see Brachet, Hist.
French Gram., trans, by Kitchin, p. 131. p. Hence also the F.
sb. avertiste-ment, formerly adi-ertisse-ment, whence E. ndrer- : 'e-ment.
10
ADVICE.
ADVICE, counsel. (F..-L.) Sir T. More, Works, p. II a, has
advisedly. Fabyan has aduyce, Hen. Ill, an. 46. Cotgrave has 'Advis,
advise, opinion, counsel!, sentence, judgment,' &c. p. But in M.
E. and O. F. there is generally no d. Rob. of Glouc. has auys, p.
144. O. F. avis, an opinion ; really a compounded word, standing for
a vis, lit. according to my opinion, or ' as it seems ' to me ; which
would correspond to a Lat. form ad uisum. Lat. ad, according to ;
and uisum, that which has seemed best, pp. neuter of uidere, to see.
^ WID, to know. See Wit. Der. advise (O. F. adviser) ; advis-able,
advis-able-ness, advis-ed, advis-ed-ness, advis-er. See below.
ADVISE, to counsel. (F..-L.) The form advise is from O. F.
adviser, a form given by Cotgrave, and explained to mean ' to advise,
mark, heed, consider of,' &c. P. But in Middle English, as in O. F.,
the usual form is without the d; though advised occurs in Gower,
C. A. i. 5. The pt. t. avisede occurs in Rob. of Glouc. p. 558, and the
sb. auys (i. e. advice) in the same, p. 144. O. F. aviser, to have an
opinion. O. F. avis, opinion; see above.
ADVOCATE, one called on to plead. (Lat.) ' Be myn adudcat
in that heye place ; ' Chaucer, Sec. Nun's Ta., Group G, 68. Lat.
aduocatus, a common forensic term for a pleader, advocate, one
' called to ' the bar. Lat. ad, to ; uocalus, called, pp. of uocare, to
call. See Voice. Der. advocate, verb ; advocate-ship ; advocac-y (F.
advocat-ie, which see in Cotgrave) ; also advowee, advowson, for which
see below, [t]
ADVpWSON, the right of presentation to a benefice. (F..-L.)
Occurs in the Statute of Westminster, an. 13 Edw. I, c. 5 ; see
Blount's Law Dictionary. Merely borrowed from O. F. advouson,
also spelt adwouson ; see Adwouson d'eglise in Roquefort. The sense
is patronage, and the corresponding term in Law Lat. is aduocatio
(see Blount), because the patron was called aduocatus, or in O. F.
avoue, now spelt avowee or advowee in English. Hence advowson is
derived from Lat. aduocationem, ace. of aduocatio, and advowee is de-
rived from Lat. aduocatus. See Advocate, [f]
ADZE, a cooper's axe. (E.) M. E. adse ; the pi. adses occurs in
Palladius on Husbandrie, ed. Lodge, bk. i. 1. 1161 ; adese, Wyclif,
Isaiah, xliv. 13. A. S. adesa, adese, an axe or hatchet; ^Elfric's
Glossary, 25 ; Beda, Hist. Eccl. iv. 3 ; Grein, p. I. fl' I suspect
that A. S. adesa or adese is nothing but a corruption of an older acesa
(with hard c) or acwesa, and is to be identified with Goth, akwisi, an
axe, cognate with Lat. ascia (put for acsia) and Gk. dfiyi] ; in which
case adze is merely a doublet of axe. See Axe.
AERIAL, airy, high, lofty. (L.) Milton has aerial, also written
aereal, P. L. iii. 445, y. 548, vii. 442 ; also aery, P. L. i. 430, 775.
Formed, apparently in imitation of ethereal (P. L. i. 25, 70, &c.),
from Lat. aerius, dwelling in the air. Lat. aer, the air. See Air
Der. From the same Lat. sb. we have aer-ale, aer-ify. ^[ The cog-
nate Gk. word is a-qp, whence the Gk. prefix afpo-, relative to air,
appearing in English as aero-. Hence aero-lilt, an air-stone, from
Gk. \i8os, a stone ; aero-naut, a sailer or sailor in the air, from Gk.
vavrrjs (Lat. nauta) a sailor, which from Gk. vavi (Lat. nauis) a ship ;
aero-static, for which see Static ; &c.
AERY, lit. an eagle's nest ; also, a brood of eagles or hawks. (F.,
Teut. ?) 'And like an eagle o'er his aery towers ; ' K. John, v. 3.
149. 'There is an aery of young children;' Hamlet, ii. 2. 354.
F. aire; Cotgrave has 'Aire, m. an airie or nest of hawkes.' Low
Lat. area, a nest of a bird of prey ; of which we find an example in
Ducange. 'Aues rapaces . . . exspectant se inuicem aliquando prope
nidum suum consuetum, qui a quibusdam area dicitur ; ' Fredericus
II, de Venatu. ft. The word aire is marked as masculine in Cot-
grave, whereas F. aire, Lat. area, in the ordinary sense of ' floor,' is
feminine. It is sufficiently clear that the Low Lat. area is quite a
distinct word from the classical Lat. area, and is a mere corruption
of a term of the chase. Now these terms of the chase are mostly
Teutonic ; hence Brachet derives this F. aire from the M. H. G. or
or are (O. H. G. aro, mod. G. aar, an eagle). 7. It must be admitted,
however, that the word is one of great difficulty ; and Littre main-
tarns the contrary opinion, that the F. aire is nothing but the Lat.
area, supposed to mean ' a flat place on the surface of a rock, where
an eagle builds its nest.' He thinks that its meaning was further
extended to imply dwelling, stock, family, race; so that hence was
formed the expression de ban aire, which appears in the E. debonair.
He would even further extend the sense so as to include that of manner,
mien, or air ; as in the E. expression ' to give oneself airs.' See Littre,
HisLde la Langue Franjaise, i. 61. 8. Cognate with Icel. art, an eagle,
are Q. H. G. aro, Goth, ara, Swed. orn, A. S. earn, all in the same
sense, Gk. opvit, a bird ; probably from y'AR, to raise oneself; cf.
Gk. opvwtu, Lat. oriri. ^[ When fairly imported into English, the
word was ingeniously connected with M. E. ey, an egg, as if the word
meant an egg-ery ; hence it came to be spelt eyrie or eyry, and to be
misinterpreted accordingly, [f]
AESTHETIC, tasteful, relating to perception. (Gk.) Modern.
AFFILIATION.
Borrowed from Gk. alaSrjTm6s, perceptive. Gk. aloOavoiuu,
I perceive ; a form which, as Curtius shews (vol. i. p. 483), is ex-
panded from the older Ha, I hear, cognate with Lat. au-d-ire, to
hear, and Skt. av, to notice, favour. ^AW, to take pleasure in, be
pleased with; Fick, i. 501. Der. testhetic-s, testhetic-al.
AFAR, at a distance. (E.) For on far or of far. Either expres-
sion would become o far, and then a-far ; and both are found ; but,
by analogy, the former is more likely to have been the true original ;
cf. abed, asleep, &c. Stratmann gives of f ear, O. E. Homilies, i. 247 ;
afer, Gower, C. A. i. 314 ; onferrum, Gawain, 1575 ; oferrum, Minot,
39. See Par.
AFFABLE, easy to be addressed. (F., L.) Milton has affable,
P. L. vii. 41 ; viii. 648. F. affable, ' affable, gentle, curteous, gracious
in words, of a friendly conversation, easily spoken to, willingly giving
ear to others ; ' Cot. Lat. affabilis, easy to be spoken to. Lat. af-
= ad ; and fart, to speak. ^ BHA or BH AN, to resound, to speak ;
Fick, i. 156. See Fable. Der. affabl-y, affabil-ity (F. affabilite = Lat.
affabilitatem, ace. of affabilitas).
AFFAIR, business. (F..-L.) M.E. affere, afere, effer; the pi.
afferes is in P. Plowman, C. vii. 152. Commonest in Northern English ;
spelt effer hi Barbour's Bruce, i. 161. O. F. afaire, afeire (and pro-
perly so written with one/), business; merely the phrase afaire, to
do, used as a substantive, like ado in English for at do ; see Ado.
0. F. faire = Lat. facere ; see below.
AFFECT, to act upon. (L.) In Shak. it means to love, to like ;
Gent, of Ver. iii. I. 82 ; Antony, i. 3. 71, &c. The sb. affection
(formerly affeccioun) is in much earlier use, and common in Chaucer.
Lat. affectare, to apply oneself to ; frequentative form of afficere, to
aim at, treat. Lat. of- =ad; and facere, to do, act. See Fact.
Der. affect-ed, affect-ed-ness, affect-ing, affect-at-ion, affect-ion, affect-ion-
ate, affecl-ion-ate-ly. Of these, affectation occurs in Ben Jonson,
Discoveries, sect, headed Periodi, Sec.
AFFEER, to confirm. (F., L.) Very rare; but it occurs in
Macbeth, iv. 3. 34; 'the title is affeer'd.' Blount, in his Law
Dictionary, explains Affeerers as ' those that are appointed in court-
leets upon oath, to settle and moderate the fines of such as have com-
mitted faults arbitrarily punishable.' ft. Blount first suggests an
impossible derivation from F. affter, but afterwards adds the right
one, saying, ' I find in the Customary of Normandy, cap. 20, this
word affeurer, which the Latin interpreter expresseth by taxare, that
is, to set the price of a thing, which etymology seems to me the
best.' O. F. afeurer, to fix the price of things officially (Burguy).
Low Lat. afforare, to fix the price of a thing ; Ducange. (Migne
adds that the O. F. form is afforer, affeurer.) Lat. af- = ad ; and
forum, or fonts, both of which are used synonymously in Low Latin
in the sense of ' price ; ' the O. F. form of the sb. being fiier orfeur,
which see in Burguy and Roquefort. The classical Latin is forum,
meaning ' a market-place,' also ' an assize;' and is also (rarely) written
forus. ^f If forum be connected, as I suppose, with forts and
foras, out of doors (see Fick, i. 640), it is from the same root as E.
door. See Door. fS~ The change from Lat. o to E. ee is clearly
seen in Lat. bovem, O. F. buef (mod. F. bauf), E. beef. The Lat.
equivalent of affeerer is afforator, also written (by mistake) afferator.
AFFIANCE, trust, marriage-contract. (F..-L.) [The verb affy
is perhaps obsolete. It means (i) to trust, confide, Titus Andron.
1. 47 ; and (2) to betroth ; Tarn, of Shrew, iv. 4. 49.] Both affye and
affiance occur in Rob. of Brunne's tr. of P. Langtoft, pp. 87, 155.
1. The verb is from O. F. affier, to trust in, also spelt afier ; which is
from a- (Lat. ad), andjier, formed from Low Lat.yfdVire, a late form
from Lat./oVf, to trust. 2. The sb. is from O. F. ofiance, which is
compounded of a- (Lat. ad) and fiance, formed from Low Lat.Jidantia,
a pledge, security ; which is from the same Low Lat. fidare, pres. pt.
fidans, of which the stem isjldant-. Thus both are reduced to Lat.
fidere, to trust. + Gk. jrelffetv, to persuade, whence ntiroiSa, I trust.
^ BHIDH, perhaps meaning to pledge or oblige ; a weakened form
of V BHANDH, to bind. See Bind. So Curtius, i. 325. p. Fick
also gives ^ BHIDH, but assigns to it the idea of 'await, expect,
trust,' and seems to connect it with E. bide. See Bide. Der.
affiance, verb ; affianc-ed.
AFFIDAVIT, an oath. (L.) Properly the Low Lat. affidavit =
he made oath, 3 p. s. perf. of affidare, to make oath, pledge. Lat.
af- =ad; and Low Lat.Jidare, to pledge, a late form homjidere, to
trust. See above.
AFFILIATION", assignment of a child to its father. (F..-L.)
The verb affiliate seems to be later than the sb., and the sb. does not
appear to be in early use, though the corresponding terms in French
and Latin may long have been in use in the law courts. F. affiliation,
explained by Cotgrave as 'adoption, or an adopting.' Law Lat.
affiliationem, ace. ofaffiliatio, ' an assigning a son to,' given by Ducange,
though he does not give the verb affiliare. Lat. af- =ad, to; and
filius, a son. See Filial.
AFFINITY.
AFFINITY, nearness of kin, connection. (F., - L.) Fabyan has
affynite, c. 133. F. affinite, 'affinity, kindred, allyance, nearness;'
Cot. Lat. affinitatem, ace. of affinitas, nearness. Lat. afflnis, near,
bordering upon. Lat. of- = ad, near; and_/fm's, a boundary. See
Final
AFFIRM, to assert strongly. (F., - L.) M. E. qffermm ; Chaucer
has affermed; C. T. 2351. It occurs earlier, in Rob. of Brunne's
tr. of P. Langtoft, p. 316. O.F. afermer, to fix, secure. O. F. a-
= Lat. ad; and \ja!i. firmare, to make firm: from firmus, firm. See
Firm. ^f The word has been assimilated to the Lat. spelling, but
was not taken immediately from the Latin. Der. affirm-able, affirm-
at-ion, qffirm-at-ive, afftrm-at-ive-ly,
AFFIX, to fasten, join on to. (F..-L.) [Not from Lat. directly,
but from the French, the spelling being afterwards accommodated to
the Latin.] M. E. affichen. Gower has ' Ther wol thei al her love
affiche,' riming with riche ; C.A.ii. 211. Wyclif has afficchede (printed
affitchede), 4 Kings, xviii. 1 6. O. F. aficher, to fix to. O. F. a- = Lat.
ad; andjicher, to fix. Low iat.figicare* (an unauthenticated form)
developed from Lat. ./?, to fix. See Fix. Der. affix, sb.
AFFLICT, to harass. (L.) Sir T. More has afflicteth. Works, p.
io8og. [The pp. aflyght occurs in Octovian, 1. 191 ; and the pt. t.
aflighte in Gower, C. A. i. 327; these are from O. F. afflit (fern.
afflite), pp. of afflire, to afflict. The sb. affliction occurs early,
in Rob. of Brunne's tr. of Langtoft, p. 202.] Lat. afflictus, pp. of
affligere, to strike to the ground. Lat. af- = ad, to, i.e. to the ground ;
and fligere, to dash, strike, pp. fiictus. Cf. Gk. <p\i0eiv, 6\ifi(iv, to
crush. -./BHLIGH, to dash down; Fick, i. 703. ^f ThisV
BHLIGH is but a weakened form of i/ BHLAGH, to strike, whence
Lat. jlag-ellum, a scourge, and G. bleuen, to strike. Hence both
Flagellate and Blow (in the sense of stroke, hit) are related
words. Der. afflict-ion (Lat. ace. afflictionem, from pp. afflictus) ; also
afflict-ive.
AFFLUENCE, profusion, wealth. (F., - L.) It occurs in Wot-
ton's Reliquiae, art. A Parallel ; and in his Life of Buckingham in
the same collection. Also in Blount's Gloss, ed. 1674. F. affluence,
' affluence, plenty, store, flowing, fulness, abundance ; ' Cot. Lat.
affluencia, abundance. Lat. affluere, to flow to, abound. Lat. af- = ad ;
an&fluere, to flow. See Fluent. Der. affluent (from Lat. affluentem,
ace. of affluent, pres. pt. of affluere) ; afflux, given by Cotgrave as a
French word (from Lat. affluxus, pp. of affluere).
AFFORD, to supply, produce. (E.) a. This word should have
but one /. The double f is due to a supposed analogy with words
that begin with off- in Latin, where off- is put for adf- ; but the
word is not Latin, and the prefix is not ad-. p. Besides this, the
pronunciation has been changed at the end. Rightly, it should be
aforth, but the Ik has changed as in other words ; cf. murther, now
murder, further, provincially furder. y. M. E. aforthen, to afford,
suffice, provide. ' And here and there, as that my litille wit Aforthe
may [i. e. may suffice], eek thiuke I translate it' ; Occleve, in Halli-
well's Dictionary (where the word is misinterpreted). ' And there-
of was Piers proude, and put hem to worke, And yaf hem mete
as he myghte aforth [i.e. could afford or provide], and mesurable
huyre ' [hire] ; P. Plowman, B. vi. 200. B. In this word, as in
aware, q. v., the prefix a- is a corruption of the A. S. prefix ge-,
which in the 1 2th century was written ye- or i-, and iforlh easily
passed into aforth, owing to the atonic nature of the syllable.
Hence we find the forms yeforthian and iforthien in the 1 2th century.
Ex. ' thenne he iseye thet he ne mahte na mare yeforthian ' when
he saw that he could afford no more ; Old Eng. Homilies, ed.
Morris, ist series, p. 31 ; 'do thine elmesse of thon thet thu maht
iforthien' =Ao thine alms of that which thou mayest afford, id. p.
37. A. S. ge-forSian (where the ge- is a mere prefix that is often
dropped), orforSian, to further, promote, accomplish, provide, afford.
'Hwilc man swa haued behaten to faren to Rome, and he ne
muge hit forSian ' = whatever man has promised [vowed] to go to
Rome, and may not accomplish it ; A. S. Chron. ed. Thorpe, an. 675,
later interpolation ; see footnote on p. 58. ' pa waes geforSad }>in
fsegere weorc ' = then was accomplished thy fair work (Grein) ; ' hsefde
gefofftod, J>aet he his frean gehet ' = had performed that which he
promised his lord ; Grein, i. 401. A. S. ge-, prefix (of slight value) ;
and forSian, to promote, forward, produce, cause to come forth.
A. S. for$, forth, forward. See Forth.
AFFRAY, to frighten; AFRAID, frightened. (F..-L.)
Shak. has the verb, Romeo, iii. 5. 33. It occurs early. Rob. of
Brunne, in his translation of P. Langtoft, p. 1 74, has ' it affraied
the Sarazins ' = it frightened the Saracens ; and ' ther-of had many
affray ' = thereof many had terror, where affray is a sb. O. F. effreier,
effraier, esfreer, to frighten, lit. to freeze with terror ; cf. Proven9al
esfreidar, which shews a fuller form. Low Lat. exfrigidare, a non-
occurrent form, though the simple form frifidare occurs. The prefix
s- ( Lat. ex) may have been added in the French. Low Lat.
AFTERWARD.
11
frigidare, to chill. -Lat. frigidus, cold, frigid. See effrayer in
Brachet, and see Frigid. f The pp. affrayed, soon contracted
to affrayd or afraid, was in so common use that it became a mere
adjective. See, however, corrections in Errata. [#]
AFFRIGHT, to frighten. (E.) The double / is modem, and
a mistake. The prefix is A. S. a-. A transitive verb in Shak. Mid-
summer Nt. Dream, v. 142, &c. The old pp. is not affrighted, but
afright, as in Chaucer, Nun's Priest's Tale, 1. 75. A. S. afyrhtan, to
terrify; Grein, i. 19. A. S. a-, prefix, = G. er-, Goth, us-, and of
intensive force ; and fyrhtan, to terrify, though this simple form
is not used. A. S. fyrhto, fright, terror. See Fright. Der. aff-
right-ed-ly.
AFFRONT, to insult, lit. to stand front to front. (F., - L.) The
double / was originally a single one, the prefix being the F. a.
M . E. afronten, afrounten, to insult. ' That afrontede me foule * =
who foully insulted me ; P. Plowman, C. xxiii. 5. The inf. affrounti
occurs in the Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 229. O. F. afronter, to confront,
oppose face to face. O. F. a, to, against ; and front, the front ; so
that a front answers to Lat. ad fronlem ; cf. Low Lat. affrontare,
to strike against. Lat. ad; andfrontem, ace. case of frons, the fore-
head. See Front. Der. affront, sb. [f]
AFLOAT, for on float. (E.) ' Now er alle on/o/e' = now are all
afloat ; Rob. of Brunne's tr. of P. Langtoft, p. 169. So also on/lot,
afloat, in Harbour's Bruce, ed. Skeat, xiv. 359.
AFOOT, for on foot. (E.) ' The way-ferande frekez on fate and on
hors' = the wayfaring men, afoot and on horse; Allit. Poems, ed.
Morris, B. 79. We still say ' to go on foot.'
AFORE, before, in front ; for on fore. (E.) M. E. afore, aforn,
' As it is afore seid," Book of Quinte Essence, ed. Furnivall, p. 1 2 ;
aforn, Rom. Rose, 3951. A. S. onforan, adv. in front, Grein, ii. 344.
There is also an A. S. form atforan, prep. Grein, i. 61. See Fore.
Der. afore-said, afore-hand, afore-time.
AFRAID, adj. ; see Affray.
AFRESH, anew. (E.) Sir T. More, Works, p. 13900. Either for
on fresh or of fresh. Perhaps the latter, by analogy with anew. q. v.
AFT, AFTER, adj. and adv. behind. (E.) As a nautical term,
perhaps it is rather Scandinavian than English. Cf. Icel. aptr
(pronounced aftr), used like aft in nautical language (Cleasby and
Vigfusson). InM. E. generally eft, with the sense of 'again;' and
after, prep, and adv. A. S. aft, eft, again, behind, Grein, i. 219;
tcftan, behind (very rare) ; after, prep., after, behind, also as an adv.,
after, afterwards (very common). + Icel. aptan (pron. aftan), adv.
and prep, behind ; aptr, aftr, aptan, backwards ; aftr, back, in com-
position. + Dan. and Swed. efter, prep, and adv. behind, after. + Du.
achter, prep, and adv. behind. + Goth, aftra, adr. again, backwards.
+ O. H. G. aftar, after, prep, and adv. behind. + Gk. avurtpai, adv.,
further off. +O. Persian apalaram, further (Fick, i. 17). ^[ In
English, there has, no doubt, been from the very first a feeling that
after was formed from aft ; but comparative philology shews at once
that this is merely an English view, and due to a mistake. The
word aft is, in fact, an abbreviation or development from after, which
is the older word of the two, and the only form found in most other
languages. 2. The word after, as the true original, deserves more
consideration. It is a comparative form, but is, nevertheless, not to
be divided as aft-er, but as af-ter. The -ter is the suffix which appears
in Lat. al-ter, u-ter, in the Gk. va-rtpos, f-rtpos, Skt. ka-tara. Sec. ;
and in English is generally written -ther, as in o-ther, whe-ther, ei-ther,
&c. ' By Sanskrit grammarians the origin of it is said to be found
in the Skt. root tar (cp. Lat. trans, E. through), to cross over, go
beyond ; ' Morris, Outlines of English Accidence, p. 106 ; and see
L2O4- The positive form af- corresponds to Skt. apa, Gk. diro,
t. ab, Goth, af, A. S. of, E. o/and off. Thus after stands for of-ter,
i.e. more off, further away. See Of. Der. after-crop, after-most
(q. v.), after-noon, after-piece, after-ward, after-wards (q. v.), ab-aft (q. v.).
AFTERMOST, hindmost. (E.) ' The suffix -most in such words
as utmost is a double superlative ending, and not the word most ' ;
Morris, Outlines of Eng. Accidence, p. no. M. E. eftemeste, Early
Eng. Homilies, ed. Morris, ii. 23. A. S. tfftemest, ceftemyst, last, used
by jElfric (Bosworth). + Goth, aftumists, the last; also aftuma, the
last, which is a shorter form, shewing that aftum-ists is formed
regularly by the use of the suffix -ists (E. -est). ^f The division of
aftuma is into af and -tuma (see explanation of aft), where af is the
Goth, af, E. of, and -tuma is the same as the Lat. -ttimus in O. Lat.
op-tumus, best, and the Skt. -tama, the regular superl. termination
answering to the comparative -tara. Thus aftermost is for aftemot.1,
i. e. af-tem-ost, double superl. of af=of, off. See Aft.
AFTERWARD, AFTERWARDS, subsequently. (E.) M.
E. afterward, Ormulum, 14793; efter-ward, Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 24.
The adverbial suffix -s (originally a gen. sing, suffix) was added at a
later time. Shakespeare has both forms, but I do not find that
afterwards is much earlier than his time. A. S. tefterweard, adj.
12
AGAIN.
8,
behind, Grein. i. 55. A. S. after, behind; and weard, answering to]
E. -ward, towards. See After and Towards.
AGAIN, a second time; AGAINST, in opposition to (E.)
M. E. ayein, ayett, aye, again, onyain, generally written with 3 for y,
and very common both as an adverb and preposition. Also in the
forms ayaines, ogaines, ayens, onyanes, generally written with 3 for y.
P. At a later period, an excrescent t (common after s) was added, just
as in whilst from the older form whiles, or in the provincial Eng. wunst
for once ; and in belwix-t, amongs-l. Ayenst occurs in Maundeville's
Travels, p. 220; and ayeynest in Chaucer's Boethius, p. 12 ; I doubt
if it is much older than A.D. 1350. y. The final -es in ayaines
is the adverbial suffix -es, originally marking a gen. singular. The
form ayeines occurs in Old Eng. Homilies, ed. Morris, p. 7 ; onytenes
is in the Ormulum, 1. 249 ; I doubt if this suffix is much older
than A.D. 1 200, though the word td-gegnes or togenes is common
at an early period. A. S. ongeen, ongedn, against, again, prep,
and adv. Grein, ii. 344. -f- O. Sax. angegin, prep, and adv. again,
against. + Icel. gegn, against. + Dan. igien, adv. again. + Swed.
igen, adv. again. + O. H. G. ingagene, ingegene, engegene (mod. G.
enlgegen, where the t appears to be merely excrescent). ^J Hence
the prefix is plainly the A. S. and mod. E. on, generally used in
the sense of in. The simple form gedn occurs in Caedmon, ed.
Thorpe, p. 62, 1. 2 (ed. Grein, 1009); 'he him gedn ]>ingode' = he
addressed him again, or in return ; cf. Icel. gegn, G. gegen, con-
trary to. A. S. ongedn seems thus to mean 'in opposition to.'
The remoter history of the word is obscure ; it appears to
be related either to the sb. gang, a going, a way, or to the verb
gdn or gangan, to gang, to go, the root being either way the
same. In Beowulf, ed. Thorpe, 3772, we have the phase on gange,
in the way ; from which phrase the alteration to ongdn is not violent.
See Go. ^[ The prefix again- is very common in Mid. Eng.,
and enters into numerous compounds in which it frequently answers
to Lat. re- or red- ; ex. ayenbite = again-biting, i.e. re-morse ; ayenbuye
= buy back, i. e. red-tern. Nearly all these compounds are obsolete.
The chief remaining one is M. E. ayein-seien, now shortened to
gain-say.
AGAPE, on the gape. (E.) No doubt for on gape ; cf. ' on the
broad grin.' See Abed, &c. And see Gape.
AGATE, a kind of stone. (F., - L., - Gk.) Shak. L. L. L. ii. 236.
Often confused with gagate or gagales, i. e. jet, in Middle English ; see
Spec, of Eng., ed. Morris and Skeat, sect, xviii. A. 30, and gagate in
Halliwell. O.K. agate, spelt agalhe in Cotgrave. Lat. achales, an
agate (see Gower, C. A. Hi. 130); borrowed from Gk. dxarijs, an agate;
which, according to Pliny, 37. 10, was so called because first found
near the river Achates in Sicily. For the M. E. form gagate, see Jet.
AGE, period of time, maturity of life. (F., L.) 'A gode clerk
wele in age;' Rob. of Brunne, tr. of P. Langtoft, p. 114. O. F.
aage, age ; fuller form, edage (nth century). Low Lat. celaticum, a
form which is not found, but the ending -aticum is very common ;
for the changes, see age in Brachet. Lat. tetatem, ace. of alas, age ;
which is a contraction from an older form teuitas, formed by
sufiixing -tas to the stem <eui- ; from eeuum, life, period, age. + Gk.
alum (for alptav), a period. + Goth, aims, a period, time, age. + Skt.
eva, course, conduct ; discussed by Curtius, i. 482. Der. ag-ed.
(See Max Miiller, Lectures, i. 337, ii. 274, 8th ed.)
AGENT, one who performs or does, a factor. (L.) Shak. Macb.
iii. 2. 53. Lat. agentem, ace. of agens, pres. pt. of agere, to do.
Lat. agere, to do, drive, conduct; pp. actus. + Gk. a-ydv, to conduct.
+ Icel. aka, to drive. + Skt. aj, to drive. 4/AG, to drive, conduct.
See Fick, i. 7. Der. agency, from F. agencer, to arrange, which see
in Brachet ; also (from Lat. pp. actus) act, act-ion, &c. See Act.
Also, from the same root, ag-ile, ag-ility ; see Agile. Also, from
the same root, ag-itate, ag-itation, ag-itator. See Agitate. Also,
from the same root, ag-ony, ant-ag-onist ; see Agony. Also amb-ig-
uous, q.v.; and several others.
AGGLOMERATE, to mass together. (L.) Modern. Used by
Thomson, Autumn, 766. Lat. agglomeratus, pp. of agglomerare,
to form into a mass, to wind into a ball. Lat. ad, to, together
(which becomes ng- before g) ; and glomerare, to wind into a ball.
Lat. glomer-, stem of glomus, a clue of thread (for winding), a
thick bush, orig. a mass ; closely related to Lat. globus, a globe, a
ball. See Globe. Der. agglomeration.
AGGLUTINATE, to glue together. (L.) Agglutinated occurs
in Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, b. ii. c. i. 14. L&t. agglutinatus, pp.
f agglutinare, to glue together. Lat. ad (becoming ag- before g) ;
glutinare, to fasten with glue. Lat. gluten (stem glulin-), glue.
See Glue. Der. agglutinat-ion, agglttlinat-ive.
AGGRANDISE, to make great. (F., L.) Young has a ggrand-
ize. Night Thoughts, Nt. 6, 1. in. F. aggrandiss-, a stem which
occurs in the conjugation of aggrandir, which Cotgrave explains b;
'to greaten, augment, enlarge.' &c. The older form of the verl
AGITATE.
must have been agrandir, with one g ; the double g is due to analogy
with Latin words beginning with agg-. O. F. a, to (for Lat. ad) ;
and grandir, to increase. Lat. grandire, to increase. Lat. grandis,
great. See Grand. Der. aggrandise-ment.
AGGRAVATE, lit. to make heavy, to burden. (L.) Hall has
aggrauale as a past participle ; Hen. V. Shak. has the verb, Rich.
II, i. I. 43. Lat. aggrauatus, pp. of aggrauare, to add to a load.
Lat. ad (ag- before g) ; grauare, to load, make heavy. Lat. grauis,
heavy. See Grave. Der. aggravat-ion. ^J Nearly a doublet
of aggrieve.
AGGREGATE, to collect together. (L.) Aggregate occurs in
Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, b. iii. c. 22. [The Mid. Eng. has the
form aggreggen, which is like the F. agreger (which see in Brachet),
and occurs in Chaucer's Melibeus : but this aggreggen is really
distinct from agreger, and represents O. F. agregier, to aggravate.]
Lat. aggregare, to collect into a flock. Lat. ad (ag- before g) ;
gregare, to collect a flock. Lat. grex (stem greg-), a flock. See
Gregarious. Der. aggregate, pp. as adj. or sb. ; aggregate-ly ,
aggregat-ion.
AGGRESS, to attack. (F..-L.) Not in early use. Either from
F. aggresser, or from the stem of aggressor, which is purely Latin,
and occurs in Blackstone's Commentaries, b. iv. c. I. Cotgrave
gives ' Aggresser, to assail, assault, set on.' Lat. aggressus, pp. of
aggredior, I assail. Lat. ad (ag- before g) ; gradior, I walk, go.
Lat. gradus, a step. See Grade. Der. aggress-ion, aggress-ive,
aggress-ive-ness, aggress-or.
AGGRIEVE, to bear heavily upon. (F., - L.) M. E. agreuen ;
whence agreued, Chaucer, C. T. 41 79 ; Rob. of Brunne, tr. of Lang-
toft, p. 323. O.F. agrever, to overwhelm (see Burguy, p. 190,
s. v. grief). O. F. a, to ; and grever, to burden, injure. Lat. ad,
to; grauari, to burden, grauare, to weigh down. Lat. grams,
heavy. See Grave. ^f Aggrieve is thus nearly a doublet of
aggravate.
AGHAST, struck with horror. (E.) Misspelt, and often mis-
interpreted. Rightly spelt agast. [? Spelt agazed in Shak. I Hen.
VI, i. i. 126, ' All the whole army stood agazed on him ;' evidently
with the notion that it is connected with gaze ; but see the Note
below.] Probably Shakespeare did not write this line, as he rightly
has gasted for 'frightened ' in Lear, ii. I. 57 ; a word which is often now
misspelt ghosted. 1. M. E. agaslen, to terrify, of which the pp. is
both agasad and agast ; and examples of the latter are very numerous.
See Matzner, Altenglische Sprachproben (Wo'rterbuch), ii. 41. In
Wyclif s Bible, Luke, xxiv. 37, we have ' Thei, troublid and agast,'
where one MS. has agasted. ' He was abasched and agast ; ' K. Alis-
aunder, ed. Weber, 1. 224. ' So sore agast was Emelye ;' Chaucer,
C. T. 2343. ' What may it be That me agasteth in my dreme ?' Leg.
of Good Worn. Dido, 245. ' The deouel schal 3et agesten ham ' = the
devil shall yet terrify them ; Ancren Riwle, p. 212. 2. The simple
form gasten also occurs. ' Gaste crowen from his corn ' = to frighten
crows from his corn; P. Plowman, A. vii. 129. A. S. intensive
prefix a- ( = G. er-, Goth, us-) ; and A. S. gcestan, to terrify, hence,
to frighten by torture, torment ; ' hie gibston godes cempan gare
and lige ' = they tortured God's champions with spear and flame ;
Juliana, 17 ; Grein, i. 374. The vowel-change in A. S. gastan, E. E.
gesten, later gasten, is just parallel to that in A. S. Icestan, E. E. lesten,
mod. E. last. The final t is properly excrescent, just as in our hes-t,
behes-t, from A. S. ha-s, a command. B. Hence the root is an A. S.
g&s-, answering to Goth, gets- or gats-, to terrify, which appears in the
compounds us-gaisjan, to make afraid, and us-geisnan, to be amazed ;
where, by the way, the prefix us- is the same as in E. a-gasl. The
primary notion of this gais- is to fix, stick, fasten ; hence, to fix to
the spot, to root to the spot with terror ; cf. Lat. h<er-ere, to stick
fast, cling; as in 'adspectu conterritus heesit;' Verg. Aen. iii. 597;
'uox faucibus hcesit;' Aen. ii. 774; 'Attonitis htesere animis,' i.e.
they were utterly agast; Aen. iii. 529. y'GHAIS, to stick fast;
which appears not only in Goth, us-gaisjan and usgeisnan, and in
Lat. hterere, but in the Lithuanian gaisz-tu, to tarry, delay, with
its derivatives ; Fick, i. 576, ii. 359. ^J It will now, perhaps, be
perceived that the word agazed, if it be spelt agased, is really a good
one, and corresponds to an older form without an inserted /. Nor
is it the only instance ; for we find another in ' the were so sore
agased ' = they were so sorely terrified ; Chester Plays, ii. 85.
AGILE, active. (F., L.) Shak. has agile once ; Romeo, iii. i.
171. P'. agile, which Cotgrave explains by ' nimble, agile, active,'
&c. Lat. agilis, nimble, lit. moveable, easily driven about; formed
by suffix -His from agere, to drive. ^AG, to drive. See Agent.
Der. agil-ity, from F. agilite (Cotgrave) ; from Lat. agilitatem, ace.
of agilitas,
AGITATE, to stir violently. (L.) Shak. has agitation, Macb. v.
i. 2. Agitate is used by Cotgrave to translate F. agiter. Lat. agtt-
atus. pp. of agitare, to agitate ; which is the frequentative of agert.
AGLET.
to drive, and strictly signifies 'to drive about often.' ^AG, to
drive. See Agent. Der. agitat-ion, agilat-or.
AGLET, a tag of a lace ; a spangle. (F., L.) Spenser has
aygulet, F. Q. ii. 3. 26. Sir T. More has aglet. Works, p. 675 h.
F. aiguillette, a point (Cotgrave), dimin. of aiguille, a needle ; formed
by adding the dimin. fern, suffix -ette. Low Lat. acucula, dimin. of
Lat. ams, a needle. yAK, to pierce. See Acute.
AGNAIL, a corn on the foot; obsolete. (F., L.) a. Much
turns on the definition. In Ash's Dictionary, we find it to be ' the
disease called a willow (sic) ' ; but in Todd's Johnson it is ' a disease
of the nails ; a whitlow ; an inflammation round the nails ; ' without
any citation or authority. The latter definition proves that the de-
finer was thinking of the provincial Eng. hangnails, rightly explained
by Halliwell to be ' small pieces of partially separated skin about
the roots of the finger-nails ; ' but this is really quite a different
word, and is plainly made up of hang and nail, unless it be a cor-
ruption of A. S. angn&gl, a sore by the nail (occurring in A. S. Leech-
doms, ii. 81, 34, but given in Lye's Dictionary without a citation).
f3. The old word agnail, now probably obsolete, meant something
different, viz. a swelling or a corn. It means 'a com' in Rider's
Dictionary, A. D. 1640 (Webster), and seems to have been especially
used of a com on the foot. Palsgrave has ' agnayle upon one's too ; '
and in MS. Med. Line. fol. 300 is a receipt ' for agnayls one [on]
mans fete or womans ' (Halliwell). The fuller form is angnail, as-
serted by Grose to be a Cumberland word, and explained to mean
a corn on the toe (Halliwell). F. angonaille; Cotgrave has 'an-
gonailles, botches, pockie bumps, or sores;' also called angonages,
according to the same authority. The Italian has likewise the
double form anguinaglia and anguinaja, but these are generally ex-
plained to mean the groin; though there is little reason for con-
necting them with Lat. inguen. Rather, turning to Ducange, we
should note Low Lat. anguen, a carbuncle ; anguinalia, with the
same sense ; and anghio, a carbuncle, ulcer, redness. I should con-
nect these with Lat. angina, quinsy, Gr. a-fx&vr), a throttling,
strangling ; from Lat. angere, Gr. a-f\tiv, to choke ; from VAGH
or ANGH, to choke, compress, afflict. From the same root come
anger, anxious, &c. ; and the notion of ' inflamed ' is often expressed
by 'angry.' Hence I should suppose the original notion in the
Low Lat. anghio and anguen to be that of 'inflammation,' whence
that of ' swelling' would at once follow. A com would, according
to this theory, be called an agnail because caused by irritation or
pressure. And from the same root must also come the first syllable
of the A. S. ang-neegl, which may, after all, be the true source of
both angnail and agnail. The word is one of some difficulty ; see
remarks in the Errata. [#]
AGO, AGONE, gone away, past. (E.) Sometimes explained
as if a miswritten form of ygo, the old pp. of go. This explanation
is altogether wrong as far as the prefix is concerned. It is the M. E.
ago, agon, agoon, by no means uncommon, and used by Chaucer,
C. T. 1782. This is the pp. of the verb agon, to go away, pass by,
used in other parts of the verb. Thus we find ' J>is worldes wele al
agoth ' = this world's wealth all passes away ; Reliquiae Antiquae, i.
1 60. A. S. dgdn, to pass away (not uncommon) ; Grein, i. 20.
A. S. d- (G. er-, Goth, us-) ; and gdn, to go. See Go. Cf. G.
ergehen, to come to pass (which is one meaning of A. S. dgdn) ;
Goth, us-gaggan, to go forth.
AGOG, in eagerness ; hence, eager. (Scand.) Well known as
occurring in Cowper's John Gilpin; 'all agog,' i.e. all eager. Gog-
signifies eagerness, desire; and is so used by Beaumont and Fletcher:
' you have put me into such a gog of going, I would not stay for all
the world ; ' Wit Without Money, iii. I ; see Todd's Johnson. To
' set agog ' is to put in eagerness, to make one eager or anxious to
do a thing. Cf. F. vivre gogo, to live in clover, lit. according to
one's desire ; en avoir a gogo, to have in full abundance, to have all
one can wish. Both F. and E. terms are of Scand. origin. Cf. Icel.
gtegjaik, to be all agog, to bend eagerly forward and peep; also
gagjur, fern, pi., only used in the phrase standa d gcefrjum, to stand
agog, or on tiptoe (of expectation) ; Cleasby and Vigfusson's Icel.
Diet. [*]
AGONY, great pain. (F.,-L.,-Gk.) The use of the word by
Gower (C. A. i. 74) shews that the word was not derived directly
from the Gk., but from the French. Wyclif employs agonye in
the translation of Luke, xxii. 43, where the Vulgate has ' factus in
agonia.' F. agonie (Cotgrave). Lat. agonia, borrowed from Gk.
aytuvla, agony ; orig. a contest, wrestling, struggle. Gk. dywv,
(i) an assembly, (2) an arena for combatants, (3) a contest, wrestle.
Gk. dfeiv, to drive, lead. yAG, to drive. See Agent. Der.
agonise, from F. agoniser, " to grieve extreamly, to be much perplexed '
(Cotgrave); whence agonis-ing, agonis-ing-ly ; Agonisles, directly
from Gr. a~t<uvia-rris, a champion. Also ant-agon-ist, ant-agon-islic,
ant-agon-ism. m
AIM.
13
AGREE, to accord. (F..-L.) M. E. agreen, to assent. 'That
... Ye wolde somtyme freshly on me se And thanne agreen that I
may ben he ; ' Chaucer, Troilus, iii. 8 1 . Chaucer also has agreablely,
graciously, tr. of Boethius, p. 43, whence mod. E. agreeably.
O. F. agreer, to receive favourably; a verb made up from the phrase
a gre. O. F. a gre, favourably, according to one's pleasure;
composed of prep, it, according to (Lat. ad), and gre, also spelt
gret, greit, pleasure ; from Lat. neuter gratum, an obligation, favour.
Lat. gratus, pleasing (neuter gratum). See Grateful. Der.
agree-able (F.), agree-able-ness, agree-ment ; also dis-agree, dis-agree-
able, dis-agree-ment.
AGRICULTURE, the art of cultivating fields. (L.) Used by
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Errors, bk.vi.c. 3. 7. Lat. agriculttira (Cicero).
Lat. agri, gen. of ager, a field ; and cultura, culture. Ager is
cognate with E. acre, and cultura is from Lat. colere, to till, fut. act.
part, culturus. See Acre and Culture. Der. agricultur-al, agri-
cultur-ist.
AGROUND, on the ground. (E.) For on ground. ' On grounde
and on lofte," i. e. aground and aloft, both on the earth and in
heaven ; Piers Plowman, A. i. 88 ; the B-text reads ' agrounde and
aloft,' i. 90. See Abed, Afoot, &c.
AGUE, a fever-fit. (F., L.) M. E. agu, ague. Spelt agu in
Rich. Coer de Lion, ed. Weber, 1. 3045. ' Brenning agues,' P. Plowman,
B. xx. 33. ' Agvte, sekenes, acuta, querquera ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 8.
'A fever terciane Or an agu;' Chaucer, C. T. 16445. O. F. agu,
ague, sharp, acute; mod. F. aigu. Lat. acutus, acute, fern, acuta.
The explanation is found in Ducange, who speaks of ' febris acuta,'
a violent fever, s. v. Acuta ; observe that the Prompt. Parv. gives
Lat. acuta as the equivalent of M. E. agvje. The final e in ague
is due to the//?m. form of O. F. agu. yAK., sharp. See Acute.
AH ! an interjection. (F., L.) NotinA.S. ' He bleynte and cryed
a! As that he stongen were to the herte,' Chaucer, C. T. 1080.
In the 1 2th century we find a wah or a wey, i. e. ah ! woe ! See Old
Eng. Homilies, ed. Morris, i. 25, 29 ; Rob. of Glouc. p. 25. O. F. a,
interjection. Lat. ah, interjection. + Gr.a, int. + Skt. a, int. + Icel. <e,
ai, int. + O. H. G. d, int. + Lithuanian d, dd, int. See Fick, i. 4.
We also find M. E. a ha! as in Towneley Myst. p. 214. This is
formed by combining a with ha! Matzner remarks that a ha! in
Mid. English denotes satisfaction or irony. See Ha !
AHEAD, in front. (E.) Prob. for on head, where on signifies in,
as common in Mid. English. By analogy with afoot, abed, asleep,
&c. It is used by Milton, on the Doctrine of Divorce; and by
Dryden, JEn. bk. v. 1. 206. See Head.
AHOY, interj. used in hailing a boat. (Dutch.) Like many sea-
terms, it is Dutch. Du. hut, pronounced very nearly like hoy, interj.
used in calling to a person. The prefixed a- is here a mere interjec-
tional addition, to give the word more force.
AID, to help. (F., L.) Used by Chaucer, who has ' to the aiding
and helping of thin euen-Christen ; ' Pers. Tale, De Ira (where he
speaks of swearing). O. F. aider, to aid. Lat. adiutare, to aid, in
later Latin aiutare, afterwards shortened to aitare; see Brachet.
Adiutare is the frequent, form oladiuuare, to assist. Lat. ad, to ; and
iituare, to help, pp. iutus. ^YU, to guard ; cf. Skt. yu, to keep back ;
Fick, ii. 202. See Adjutant. Der. aid, sb. ; also F. aide-de-camp,
lit. one who aids in the field. From the same root, adjutant.
ATT., to feel pain ; to give pain. (E.) M. E. eilen, rarely ailen.
' What eileth the?' Chaucer.C.T. 1081. Spelt 5/n, Ormulum, 4767.-
A. S. eglan, to trouble, pain; Grein, i. 222. Cf. A. S. egle, trouble-
some, hostile. + Goth, agljan, only in the comp. us-agljan, to trouble
exceedingly, to distress, to weary out, Luke, xviii. 5. Cf. Goth.
agio, anguish ; aglitha, agony, tribulation ; aglus, difficult, hard.
From a stem ag-, with a suffixed I, often used to give a frequentative
force ; so that agl- means ' to keep on vexing ' or ' to distress con-
tinually.' The stem ag- corresponds to mod. E. awe, and appears in
A. S. eg-esa, awe, terror, distress, eg-sian. to frighten ; also in Goth.
ag-is, fright, af-ag-jan, to terrify ; also in Gk. ax-o, distress, pain.
y'AGH, to feel distress, orig. to choke; Fick, i. 481. See Awe.
Der. ail-ment, in Kersey, a hybrid compound, with F. suffix.
AIM, to endeavour after. (F., L.) M.E. amen, aimen, eimm, to
guess at, to estimate, to intend. No mon vpon mold might ayme
the number;' Will, of Paleme, 1596, 3819, 3875. Wyclif has
eymeth, Levit. xxvii. 8. ' Gessyn or amyn, estimo, arbitror ; ' Prompt.
Parv. p. 190. 'I ayme, I mente or gesse to hyt a thynge;' Pals-
grave. ' After the mesure and eymyng [Lat. aestimationem] of the
synne;' Wycl. Levit. v. 18; cf. xxvii. 2, 8. O. F. aesmer, esmer, to
estimate. Cotgrave has ' esmer, to aim?, or levell at ; to make an
offer to strike, to purpose, determine, intend ;' also ' esme, an aime,
or levell taken ; also, a purpose, intention, determination.' The s
was dropped in English before m just as in blame, from O. F. blasmer,
phantom for phantasm, emerald from O. F. esmeralde, ammell (i. e.
en-amel) from O. F. esrnail (translated by Cotgrave ' ammell or en-
14
AIR.
ammell'), &c. The O. F. esm-=Lat. cestimare, but O. F. aesmer =
Lat. adaestimare; yet they may have been confused. There was also
an intermediate form eesmer. See examples in Bartsch's Chresto-
mathie Franchise, 69, 22 ; 116, 33; 394, 37. Lat. cestimare, to esti-
mate, perhaps with the prefix ad, to, about. See Estimate. Der.
aim, sb., aim-less.
AIR, the atmosphere, &c. (F., L., Gk.) M. E. air, eir. Spelt
air in Mandeville's Travels, p. 3 1 2 ; eyre in Chaucer, C. T. Group G.
767 (Can. Yeom. Tale). F. air, air. Lat. aer, air. Gk. arif, air,
mist; the stem being af(p-, according to Curtius, i. 483. Gr. ata>,
to breathe ; root df . ^AVf, to blow, according to Curtius, who
remarks that ' av changes into va, as auks into vaks,' the latter being
an allusion to the relation between Gk. avfftv arifl the E. wax, to
grow. Cf. Skt. vd, to blow, and E. wind, q. v. Der. air, verb, air-y,
air-less, air-gun, &c. ^f For Air (2), see Errata, &c.
AISLE, the wing of a church. (F., L.) Spelt aisle in Gray's
Elegy and by Addison ; see Richardson. F. aile, a wing ; sometimes
spelt aisle, as Cotgrave notices. But the s is a meaningless insertion.
Lat. ala, a wing; the long a being due to contraction. It is no
doubt contracted from axla or axula, whence the dimin. axilla, a
wing; see Cicero, Oral. 45. 153; Fick, i. 478. The proper meaning
of axula is rather 'shoulder-blade' or 'shoulder'; cf. G. achsel.
It is a diminutive of Lat. axis, a word borrowed by us from that
language. See Axis, and Axle. (Max Muller quotes the passage
from Cicero ; see his Lectures, ii. 309, 8th ed.) [f]
AIT, a small island. (E.) A contraction of ey-ot, dimin. of ey, an
island. Cf. Angles-ey, Angle's island ; &c. See Eyot. [t]
AJAR, on the turn ; only used of a door or window. (E.) A cor-
ruption of a-char, which again stands for on char, i. e. on the turn ;
from M. E. char, a turn.
' Quharby the day was dawyn, weil I knew ;
A schot-wyndo onschet a litill on char,
Persauyt the morning bla, wan, and bar.'
G. Douglas, tr. of Virgil ; Prol. to Book vii.
It means ' I undid a shot-window, a little ajar.' [Jamieson quotes
this, and explains it rightly, but wrongly adds another example in
which on char means 'in a chariot, 'the Latin being bijugis; JEn.
x - 399-] The M. E. char was earlier spelt cherre, as in the Ancren
Riwle, pp. 36, 408 ; it is not an uncommon word ; see seven ex-
amples in Stratmann. A. S. on cyrre, on the turn ; where cyrre is
the dat. case of cyrr, a turn, turning, time, period. A. S. cyrran,
cirran, cerran, to turn; Grein, i. 156, 161, 180. + O.H.G. cheren,
cherren (G. kehren), to turn. y' GAR, perhaps in the sense to turn ;
cf. Gk. yvp6s, round, yvpos, a circle. See Fick, i. 73 ; who assigns
a different sense, [t]
AKIMBO, in a bent position. (C. and E.) In the Tale of
Beryn, ed. Furnivall, oddly spelt in kenebowe ; ' The host . . set his
bond in kenebowe ;' 1. 1838 (1. 1105 in Urry). Dryden uses kimbo as
an adj. in the sense of 'bent,' 'curved.' 'The kimbo handles seem
with bears-foot carved ; ' Virgil, Eel. 3. o. It is clear that in kene-
bowe, lit. in a sharp curve, is a corruption, because kene in M. E. is not
used to denote ' sharp ' in such a context. Also in is here a transla-
tion of the older form on, of which a is a shortened form (through
the intermediate form an). P. Again, we may feel tolerably certain
that the right word, in place of kene, is the M. E. cam or kam, of
Celtic origin (W. cam, crooked) ; which is sometimes attenuated to
kim, as in the reduplicated phrase kim-kam, used by Holland to
signify ' all awry.' Hence akimbo stands for on-kimbow, and that
again for on-kam-bow, i.e. lit. ' hi a bend bend." y. The last syllable
is, in fact, superfluous, and only repeats the sense of the second one.
This is quite a habit of the E. language, which abounds in words of
this character, especially in place-names. Thus Derwentwater means
4 white water water,' luke-warm means ' warm warm,' and so on.
The addition of the E. bow was a necessary consequence of the W.
cam not being well understood. Cf. Gael, camag, anything curved,
a bent stick ; Scot, cammock, a bent stick ; Irish camog, a twist or
winding, a curve ; camlorgain, a bandy leg, &c. [t]
AKIN, of kin. (E.) For of kin ; ' near of kin ' and ' near akin '
are equivalent expressions. A- for of occurs also in Adown,
q. v.
ALABASTER, a kind of soft marble. (L.-Gk.) 'Alabaster, a
stone ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 8. Wyclif has ' a boxe of alabastre ' in
Mark, xiv. 3, borrowed from the Vulgate word alabastrum. Lat.
alabastrum, and alabaster, alabaster. Gk. a\a&affTpos, aXa^affrpov,
alabaster, more properly written a\af3aaTos ; also aXa^apTiTrjt,
a\a^aaTins. Said to be derived from Alabastron, the name of a
town in Egypt ; see Pliny, Nat. Hist. 36. 8, 37. 10. [t]
ALACK, interjection. (E.) Very common in Shakespeare ; Temp.
i. 2. 151; L. L. L. ii. 1 86, &c. Said in some dictionaries to be
a corruption of alas ! ' which would be an unusual phonetic
change. It is more probably a corruption of ' ah ! lord ! ' or ' ah I
ALCHEMY.
' lord Christ 1 ' Otherwise, it may be referred to M. E. lak, signifying
loss, failure, defect, misfortune. ' God in the gospel grymly repre-
ueth Alle that lakken any lyf, and lakkes ban hem-selue ' = God
grimly reproves all that blame anybody, and have faults themselves ; '
P. Plowman, x. 262. Thus alack would mean ' ah ! failure' or ' ah !
a loss ; ' and alackaday would stand for ' ah ! lack on (the) day,'
i. e. ah ! a loss to-day ! It is almost always used to express failure.
Cf. alack the day! Shak. Pass. Pilgrim, 227. In modern English
lack seldom has this sense, but merely expresses ' want.'
ALACRITY, briskness. (Lat.) Sir T. More has alacritie. Works,
p. 75 b. [The word must have been borrowed directly from the
Latin, the termination being determined by analogy with such
words as bounty (from O. F. bonte, bontet, Lat. ace. bonitatem). This
we know because the O. F. form was alaigrete, which see in Cot-
grave; the form alacrite, being modem.] Lat. ace. alacritatem,
nom. alacritas, briskness. Lat. alacer, brisk. Perhaps from VAL,
to drive, Fick, i. 500; he compares Gk. i\avvfit>, iXativ, to drive;
Goth, al-jan, zeal. ^f The Ital. allegro is likewise from the
Lat. alacer.
ALARM, a call to arms. (F.,- Ital., -Lat.) M. E. alarme,
used interjectionally, to call men to arms. ' Alarme ! Alarme ! quath
that lord;' P. Plowman, C. xxiii. 92. F. alarme, a call to arms.
Cotgrave gives 'Alarme, an alarum.' Brachet says that the word
alarme was first introduced into French in the i6tk century, but this
must be a mistake, as it occurs in the Glossary to Bartsch's
Crestomathie, which contains no piece later than the ifth century,
and it is obvious that it must even have come to England before
the close of the I4th century. The form, however, is not French, as
the O. F. form was as armes ; and we actually find as armes in
Alisaunder, ed. Weber, 3674. It was obviously merely borrowed
from Italian, and may very well have become generally known at
the time of the crusades. Ital. alt arme, to arms ! a contracted
form of alle arme, where alle stands for a le, lit. ' to the,' and arme is
the pi. of arma, a weapon, not now used in the singular. The
corresponding Latin words would be ad Ma arma, but it is remark-
able that the Lat. pi. arma is neuter, whilst the Ital. pi. arme is
feminine. Ducange, however, notes a Low Lat. sing, arma, of the
feminine gender; and thus Ital. all' arme answers to Low Lat. ad
illas armas. See Arras. Der. alarm-ist. ^[ Alarm is a doublet
of alarum, q. v.
ALARUM, a call to arms ; a loud sound. (F., - Ital., - Lat.) M.
E. alarom ; mention is made of a ' loude alarom ' in Allit. Poems,
ed. Morris, B. 1207. The o is no real part of the word, but due to
the strong trilling of the preceding r. Similarly in Havelok the
Dane, the word arm is twice written arum, 11. 1982, 2408; harm is
written harum, and corn is written koren. It is a well-known
Northern peculiarity. Thus alarom is really the word alarm, which
see above.
ALAS, an interjection, expressing sorrow. (F., L.) M. E.
alas, alias. Occurs in Rob. of Glouc. pp. 125, 481, 488: and in
Havelok, 1. 1878. O. F. alas, interjection. [The mod. F. has only
helas, formed with interj. he in place of the interj. a, the second
member las being often used as an interjection in O. F. without
either prefix.] -O. F. a, ah I and las! wretched (that I am)! Cf.
Ital. ahi lasso (or fossa), ah I wretched (that I am) ! Lat. ah ! interj.
and lassus, fatigued, miserable. See Fick, i. 750, where he supposes
lassus to stand for lad-tus, and compares it with Goth, lats, which is
the E. late. See Late.
ALB, a white priestly vestment. (F., L.) M. E. albe, Rob.
of Brunne's tr. of Langtoft, p. 319; and in O. Eng. Homilies,
ed. Morris, ii. 163. O.F. albe, an alb. Low Lat. alba, an alb;
fern, of Lat. albus, white. Cf. Gk. a\<t> 6s, a white rash ; O. H. G.
elbiz, a swan; See Curtius, i. 364. From the same root, album,
albumen.
ALBATROSS, a large sea-bird. (F.,-Port.) The word occurs
in Hawkesworth's Voyages, A.D. 1773 (Todd's Johnson). F. alba-
tros. ' The name albatross is a word apparently corrupted by Dampier
[died i? 1 ^] from the Portuguese alcatraz, which was applied by
the early navigators of that nation to cormorants and other sea-birds;'
Eng. Cyclopaedia. Portuguese alcatraz, a sea-fowl. fl" It has
been supposed that the prefix al is the Arabic article, and that the
word was originally Arabic. [*]
ALBUM, a white book. (Lat.) Lat. album, a tablet, neuter of
albus, white. See Alb. [t]
ALBUMEN, white of eggs. (Lat.) Merely borrowed from
Latin albumen out, the white of an egg, rarely used. More com-
monly album out. From Lat. albus, white (whence albu-men, lit.
whitenessX See Alb. Der. albumin-otis.
ALCHEMY, the science of transmutation of metals. (F., Arab.,
Gk.) Chaucer has alkamistre, an alchemist; C. T. Group G,
1204. The usual M. E forms of the word are alkenamye and
ALCOHOL.
alconomy, P. Plowman, A. xi. 157; Gower, C. A. ii. 89. O. F.
alchemic, arquetnie; see arquemie in Roquefort. Arabic al-klmid ;
in Freytag, iv. 75 b; a word which is from no Arabic root,
but simply composed of the Arabic def. article al, prefixed to the
late Greek xw e <", given by Suidas (eleventh century). Late Gk.
Xrintia, chemistry, a late form of x v f f ' a , a mingling. Gk. x'""'
to pour (root ,\") ; cognate with, fundere. ^GHU, to pour out;
Curtius, i. 252 ; Pick, i. 585. See Chemist.
ALCOHOL, pure spirit. (F., Arabic.) Borrowed from F. alcool,
formerly spelt alcohol (see Brachet), the original signification of
which is a fine, impalpable powder. ' If the same salt shall be
reduced into alcohol, as the chymists speak, or an impalpable powder,
the particles and intercepted spaces will be extremely lessened;'
Boyle (in Todd's Johnson). Arab, alkahal or alkohl, compounded of
al, the definite article, and kahdl or kohl, the (very fine) powder of
antimony, used to paint the eyebrows with. See Richardson's Diet,
p. 1173; cf. Ituhl, collyrium; Palmer's Pers. Diet. col. 484. The
extension of meaning from ' fine powder ' to ' rectified spirit ' is
European, not Arabic. Der. alcohol-ic, alcohol-ize. [t]
ALCORAN, see KORAN. (Al is the Arabic def. article.)
ALCOVE, a recess, an arbour. (F.,-Ital.,- Arabic.) 'The Ladies
stood within the alcove ; ' Burnet, Hist, of His Own Time, an. 1688
(R.) F. alcove, a word introduced in the i6th century from Italian
(Brachet). Ital. alcovo, an alcove, recess; the same word as the
Span, alcoba, a recess in a room ; the Spanish form being of Arabic
origin. Arab, al, def. article, and qobbah, a vaulted space or tent;
Freytag, iii. 388 a ; qubbah. a vault, arch, dome ; Palmer's Pers.
Diet. col. 467. See Alcova in Diez, whose explanation is quite satis-
factory. % Not to be confused (as is usual) with the English
word cove.
ALDER, a kind of tree. (E.) Chaucer has alder, C. T. 2923
(Kin. Ta. 2063). ' Aldyr-tre or oryelle tre, alnus;' Prompt. Parv.
p. 9. [The letter d is, however, merely excrescent, exactly as in
alder-first, often used for oiler-first, i. e. first of all ; or as in alder-
liefest, used by Shakespeare for aller-liefest. Hence the older form is
aller.~\ ' Coupet de aunne, of allerne ;' Wright's Vocabularies, i. 1 71 ;
1 3th century. A.S. air, an alder-tree = Lat. alnus ; ^Elfric's Glossary,
Nomina Arborum. + Du. els, alder ; elzen, aldem ; elzen-boom,
alder-tree. +Icel. elrir, elri, blr, an alder.+Swed. oi.+Dan. eile, el.+
O. H. G. elira, erila, erla ; M. H. G. erle ; G. trie ; prov. G. eller, else.
+ Lat. alnus. + Lithuanian elksznis (with excrescent i), an alder-tree.
+ Church-Slavonic elicha, jelucha, olcha, an alder-tree ; Russian oleltha.
See Fick, i. 500, who gives the Lith. and Slavonic forms, and gives
alsna as the original form of the stem. ^AL, to grow ; connected
with ^AR, to rise. From the same root we have old, ad-vlt, elm ;
cf. Gbthe's ' erl-king,' i. e. alder-king. See TCIm ^f Ihre's notion
of connecting alder with a word al, water, which he supposes to
exist in some Teutonic dialects, is wholly inadequate to account
for the wide-spread use of the word. See Aliment.
ALDERMAN, an officer in a town. (E.) M. E. alderman, al-
dermon. ' Princeps, alderman ; ' Wright's Vocabularies, p. 88 ; 1 2th
century. Spelt aidermon in Layamon, i. 60. Northumbrian aldormon,
used to explain centurio in Mark, xv. 39, and occurring in many other
passages in the Northumbrian glosses ; West-Saxon ealdor-man, a
prince, lit. ' elder-man." See Turner's Hist, of the Anglo-Saxons, bk.
viii. c. 7. A.S. ealdor, an elder; and man, a man. A.S. eald, old;
and man. See Old, Elder.
ALE, a kind of beer. (E.) M. E. ale. Reliquiae Antiquse, i. 177;
Layamon, ii. 604. A.S. ealu, Grein, i. 244. + Icel. 61. + Swed. SI.
+ Dan. 61. + Lithuanian, alus, a kind of beer. + Church-Slavonic olu,
beer. ^f See Fick, iii. 27, who gives the Lith. and Slavonic forms,
and gives alu as the original form of the stem. The root is rather
al, to burn, than al, to nourish. [The nature of the connection with
Gaelic and Irish ol, drink, is not quite clear.] Der. brid-al, i.e.
bride-ale ; ale-stake (Chaucer), ale-house, ale-wife.
ALEMBIC, a vessel formerly used for distilling. (F., Span.,
Arab., Gk.) Also limbeck, as in Shak. Macb. i. 7. 67, but that is a
contracted form. Chaucer has the pi. alembykes, C. T. Group G,
774- F. alambique, ' a limbeck, a stillatory ; ' Cot. Span, alam-
bique. Arabic al-anbik ; where al is the definite article, and anbik is
' a still,' adapted from the Greek. Gk. a#i#i, a cup, goblet, used
by Dioscorides to mean the cap of a still. Gk. apfhi, the Ionic
form of dpfiaiv, the foot of a goblet; see Curtius, i. 367 ; a word
related to Gk. !>n<t>a\i>s, Lat. timbo, the boss of a shield. Graco-Lat.
VAMBH ; SktVNABH, to burst, tear, swell out (Curtius). [t]
ALERT, on the watch. (F.,- Ital., -Lat.) Alertness, Spectator,
no. 566. ' The prince, finding his rutters [knights] alert, as the
Italians say,' &c. ; Sir Roger Williams, Act of the Low Countries,
1618, p. 87 (R.) F. alerte, formerly allerte, and in Montaigne and
Rabelais a ferte, on the watch ; originally a military term, borrowed
from Italian in the i6th century (Brachet). Ital. alferta, on the
ALIMENT.
15
watch; properly in the phrase stare alferta, to be on one's guard.
Ital. alia (for a la), at the, on the ; and erta, fern, of adj. erto, erect. -
Lat. ad, prep, at; illam, fern, accus. of ille, he; and erectam, fern, accus.
of erectus, erect. See Erect. ^T The phrase ' on the alert' contains
a reduplication ; it means ' on-the-at-the-erect.' Der. alert-ness.
ALGEBRA, calculation by symbols. (Low Lat., Arab.) It
occurs in a quotation from Swift in Todd's Johnson. a. Brachet
(s. v. algebre) terms algebra a medieval scientific Latin form ; and
Prof. De Morgan, in Notes and Queries, 3 S. ii. 319, cites a Latin poem
of the 1 3th century in which ' computation ' is oddly called ' Indus
algebra almucgrabalceqve.' p. This phrase is a corruption of aljabr
via al mokdbalah, lit. the putting-together-of-parts and the equation, to
which the nearest equivalent English phrase is ' restoration and reduc-
tion.' y. I" Palmer's Pers. Dictionary, col. 165, we find ' Arabicjair,
power, violence ; restoration, setting a bone ; reducing fractions to
integers in Arithmetic ; aljabr wa'lmukdbalah, algebra.' - Arabic_/afeara,
to bind together, to consolidate. Mukdbalah is lit. ' comparison;' from
mukdbil, opposite, comparing ; Palmer's Pers. Diet. col. 591. Cf. He-
brew gdbbar, to be strong. Der. algebra-ic, algebra-ic-al, algebra-ist.
ALQTJAZIL, a police-officer. (Span., Arab.) In Beaum. and
Fletcher, Span. Curate, v. 2. Span, alguacil, a police-officer. Arab.
al, def. art., the; and wazir, a vizier, officer, lieutenant. See Vizier.
ALGUM, the name of a tree; sandal-wood. (Heb., Aryan.)
Called algum in 2 Chron. ii. 8, ix. 10, ii ; corrupted to almug in
i Kings, x. ii, 12. A foreign word in Hebrew, and borrowed from
some Aryan source, being found in Sanskrit as valgvka, sandal-wood.
' This valguka, which points back to a more original form valgu [for
the syllable -ka is a suffix] might easily have been corrupted by
Phenician and Jewish sailors into algum, a form, as we know, still
further corrupted, at least in one passage of the Old Testament, into
almug. Sandal-wood is found indigenous in India only, and there
chiefly on the coast of Malabar ;' Max Miiller, Lectures, i. 232, 8th ed.
ALIAS, otherwise. (Lat.) Law Latin ; alias, otherwise ; from the
same root as E. else. See Else.
ALIBI, in another place. (Lat.) Law Latin alibi, in another
place, elsewhere. Lat. ali-us, another ; for the suffix, cf. Lat. i-U,
there, n-bi, where. See above.
ALIEN, strange ; a stranger. (F., L.) We find ' an aliene knyght ;'
K. Alisaunder, ed. Weber, 1. 3919. Wyclif has alienys, i.e. strangers,
Matt. xvii. 25 ; also ' an alien womman,' Ecclus. xi. 36. 'Aliens suld
sone fond our heritage to winne ; ' Rob. of Brnnne, tr. of Langtoft,
p. 140. O.F. alien, allien, a stranger (Roquefort). Lat. alienus, a
stranger; or as adj., strange. Lat. alias, another (stem ali-, whence
ali-enus is formed). + Gk. oXAos, another. + Goth, alis, other, another.
+ Old Irish aile, another. From European stem ALIA, another,
Fick, i. 501 ; see Curtius, i. 445. See Else. Der. alien-able, alien-
ate, alien-at-ion ; cf. al-ter, al-ter-nate, al-ter-c-at-ion.
ALIGHT, (i) to descend from ; (2) to light upon. (E.) 1. M. E.
alighten, alihten, particularly used of getting off a horse. ' Heo letten
alle tha horsmen i than wude alihten ' = they caused all the horse-
men to alight in the wood ; Layamon, iii. 59. 2. Also M. E.
alighten, alihten ; as in ' ur louerd an erthe alighte her ' = our Lord
alighted here upon earth ; Rob. of Glouc., p. 468. p. The two
senses of the word shew that the prefix a- has not the same force in
both cases. It stands (i) for of-, i. e. oflihlen, to alight from; and (2)
for on-, i. e. onlihten, to light upon ; but, unfortunately, clear instances
of these are wanting. y. The A.S. only has the simple form lihlan
or gelihtan, and the ambiguous dlihtan (apparently of-lihtan), to get
down, in ^Elfric's Grammar, De Quarta Conj. iii. The simple form
lihtan, to alight (from horseback), occurs in the Death of Byrhtnoth,
ed. Grein, 1. 23. [The radical sense of lihtan is to render light, to
remove a burden from.] Northumbrian liht, leht, West-Saxon leoht,
light (i. e. nnheavy) ; see A. S. Gospels, St. Matt. xi. 30. See Light,
in the sense of un-heavy.
ALIKE, similar. (E.) M. E. alike, alyke, adj. and adv. ' Alyke or
euynlyke, eqtialis ; alyke, or lyke yn lykenes, similis ; ' Prompt. Parv.
p. 10. Also alike, Gen. and Exodus, ed. Morris, 1. 2024. a. The
forms alike, alike, are short for anlike, onlike ; the adverbial form re-
tains the final e, but the adj. is properly without it. P. The adj. form
anlik is also written anlich, as in ' thet is him anlich' = that is like him ;
Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 186. y- The prefix is therefore a- or o-,
short for an- or on-, and corresponding to A. S. on-. A. S. onlic, adj.
like, Grein, ii. 348 ; also written anlic, Grein, i. 8. A. S. on, prep,
on, upon ; and lie, like. 5T The fullest form appears in the Gothic
adv. ann!eiko, in like manner. See Like, and On.
ALIMENT, food. (F.,-L.) Milton has alimental, P. L. v. 424 ;
Bacon has 'medicine and aliment,' Nat. Hist. sect. 67. F. 'aliment,
food, sustenance, nourishment ;' Cot. Lat. alimentnm, food ; formed
with suffix -mentum from alere, to nourish. [This suffix is due to a
combination of the Aryan suffixes -man and -ta, on which see Schlei-
cher.] Lat. alere, to nourish. + Goth, alan, to nourish. + Icel. ala,
16
ALIQUOT.
to nourish, support. Cf. Old Irish altram, nourishment. ^AL, to
grow ; and, transitively, to make to grow, to nourish, from a still
older ^AR, to rise up. See Fick, i. 499, Curtius, i. 444. Der.
aliment-al, aliment-ary, aliment-at-ion ; cf. also alimony (from Lat. ali-
monium, sustenance, which from stem ali-, with suffixes -man and
~j a )- H From the same root a!- we have also ad-ult, old, elder,
alder, and others.
ALIQUOT, proportionate. (Lat.) Borrowed from Lat. aliquot,
several ; which from Lat. ali-us, other, some, and quot, how many.
Aliquot nearly corresponds, in general force, to Eng. somewhat.
ATilVJi, in life. (E.) A contraction of the M. E. phrase on live,
in life, where on signifies in, and Hue or lyue (live, lyve) is the dat. case
of lyf, life. ' Yf he haue wyt and his on lyue ' if he has wit, and
is alive ; Seven Sages, ed. Wright, 1. 56. A. S. on life, alive, Grein,
ii. 1 84 ; where on is the preposition, and life is dat. case of Hf, life.
See On and Life.
ALKALI, a salt. (Arabic.) Chaucer has alkaly, C. T. Group G,
8 10. Arabic al qali ; where al is the def. article, and qali is the name
given to the ashes of the plant glass- wort (Salicornia), which abounds
in soda. ^f By some, qali is derived from the Ar. verb qalay, to fry
(Rich. Diet. p. 1146) ; Palmer's Pers. Diet, gives ' qali, alkali,' and
'qaliyah, a fricassee, curry;' col. 474. Others make qali the name
of the plant itself. Der. alltali-ne, alkal-escent, allial-oid, alkali-fy.
ALL, every one of. (E.) M. E. al, in the singular, and alle (disyl-
labic) in the plural ; the mod. E. is the latter, with the loss of final
e. Chaucer has al a, i. e. the whole of, in the phrase ' al a companye,'
C. T. Group G, 996 ; also at al, i. e. wholly, C. T. Group C, 633.
The plural alle is very common. A. S. eal, sing., ealle, plural; but
the mod. E. follows the Northumb. form alle, a gloss to omnes in
Mark, xiv. 30. + Icel. allr, sing., allir, pi. + Swed. all, pi. alle. +
Dan. al, pi. alle. + Du. al, alle. + O. H. G. al, oiler. + Goth, alls, allai.
+ Irish and Gael, uile, all, every, whole. + W. oil, all, whole, every
one. ^f When all is used as a prefix, it was formerly spelt with
only one /, a habit still preserved in a few words. The A. S. form of
the prefix is eal-, Northumbrian al-, Icel. al-, Gothic a/a-. Hence
al-mighty, al-most, al-one, al-so, al-though, al-together, al-ways; and
M. E. al-gales, i. e. always. This prefix is now written all in later
formations, as all-powerful, &c. In all-hallows, i.e. all saints, the
double I is correct, as denoting the plural. ts~ In the phrase all
to-brake, Judges, ix. 53, there is an ambiguity. The proper spelling,
in earlier English, would be al tobralt, where al is an adverb, signify-
ing ' utterly,' and tobralt the 3 p. s. pt. t. of the verb tobreten, to
break in pieces ; so that al lobrak means ' utterly brake in pieces.'
The verb tobreken is common; cf. ' Al is tobroten thilke regioun;'
Chaucer, C. T. 2759. p. There was a large number of similar
verbs, such as tobresten, to burst in twain, tocleouen, to cleave in
twain, todelen, to divide in twain, &c. ; see Stratmann's O. E. Diet,
pp. 500, 501, 502. y. Again, al was used before other prefixes be-
sides to; as ' he was al awondred ; ' Will, of Palerne, 1. 872 ; and
again ' al ii'weped for wo ; ' id. 661. 8. But about A. D. 1500, this
idiom became misunderstood, so that the to was often joined to al
(misspelt all), producing a form ail-to, which was used as an intensive
prefix to verbs, yet written apart from them, as in ' we be fallen into
the dirt, and be ail-to dirtied ; ' Latimer, Rem. p. 397. See the article
on all to in Eastwood and Wright's Bible Wordbook. B. The gen.
pi. of A. S. eal was ealra, in later English written oiler, and some-
times alder, with an inserted excrescent d. Hence Shakespeare's
alderliefest is for allerliefest, i.e. dearest of all; 2 Hen. VI, i. I. 28.
See Almighty, Almost, Alone, Also, Although, Always,
As, Withal ; also Hallowmass.
ALLAY, to alleviate, assuage. (E.) [The history of this word
as given in the first edition of this work is here repeated, but
requires correction ; see Errata.] The word itself and its sense is
purely French, but its form is English, due to confusion with an older
English word now obsolete. I first trace the sense of the word and
its origin, and afterwards account for its change of form. <r [To
make the confusion still worse, the word now spelt alloy was for-
merly spelt- allay, but we need not here do more than note the fact ;
see further under Alloy. The modem form of the word should
have been allege, but it has nothing to do with the word now so spelt ;
see Allege. Putting aside alloy and allege, we may now proceed.]
a. Allay (properly allege) is the M. E. aleggen, to alleviate, and is
really no more than a (French) doublet of (the Latin) alleviate, q. v.
1. ' Aleggyn, or to softe, or relese peyne, allevio;' Prompt. Parv.
p. 9. 2. ' To allege thair saules of payne ' = to allay their souls
with respect to pain ; Hampole, Pricke of Conscience, 3894. 3.
' Alle the surgyens of Saleme so sone ne couthen Haue your lan-
goures allegget ' = all the surgeons of Salerno could not so soon have
allayed your langours ; Will, of Palerne, 1033. 4. ' The sight
only and the saviour Alegged much of my langour;' Rom. of the
Rose, 6625 ; where the original has ' Le voir sans plus, et 1'oudenr
ALLEY.
Si nfalegeoient ma douleur.' O. F. alegier, aleger (mod. F. elUger), to
alleviate, lighten, assuage, soften. Lat. alleuiare, to lighten (Brachet).
See further under Alleviate. p. The confusion of form ap-
pears so early as in Gower's Confessio Amantis, iii. 273, where we
find ' If I thy peines mighte alaie.' Here, instead of alegge, he has
written alaie, which is a variant of the obsolete M.E. aleggen, to lay
down, the direct descendant of A. S. dlecgan, to lay down ; a word in
which the gg is hard, as in beggar, not softened as in the O. F. aleger,
to alleviate. Cf. aleide = alleged, id. i. 91. It so happened that this
pure old English aleggen was sometimes used in the sense of to put
down, to mitigate, as in ' to allegge alle luther lawes,' i. e. to put down
all bad laws, Rob. of Glouc. p. 422. y. It is now easy to see how
the confusion arose. We English, already possessing a word aleggen
(with hard gg) = to put down, mitigate, &c., borrowed the O. F. aleger
(with soft g) = to alleviate, lighten, soften. The forms and senses of
these verbs ran into each other, with the result that the English form
prevailed, just as English grammar prevailed over French grammar,
whilst the various senses of the French word became familiar. 8.
The word is, therefore, truly French in spirit, and a doublet of allevi-
ate, whilst overpowered as to form by the A. S. dlecgan, a verb formed
by prefixing the A. S. a- ( = G. er-, Goth. us-), to the common verb
lecgan, to lay. The confusion first appears in Gower, and has con-
tinued ever since, the true sense of A. S. dlecgan having passed out
of mind. ^f Observe another passage in Gower, C. A. iii. 1 1 ,
viz. ' Which may his sory thurst alaye.' [#]
ALLEGE, to affirm. (F..-L.) M. E. aleggen, alegen, to affirm.
' Alleggyn awtours, allege ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 9. ' The! wol aleggen
also, and by the gospel preuen ; ' P. Plowman, B. xi. 88. F. alleguer,
' to alleadge, to urge, or produce reasons ; ' Cot. [I do not find an
example in early French, but the word was surely in use, and Roque-
fort gives the deriv. allegances, signifying ' citations from a written
authority.'] Lat. allegare, to send, despatch ; also to bring forward,
mention. Lat. al- = ad; and legare, to send, appoint. Lat. leg ,
stem of lex, law. See Legal. Der. alleg-at-ion.
ALLEGIANCE, the duty of a subject to his lord. (F..-G.)
Fabyan has allegeannce, cap. 207. The older form is with one /.
' Of alegeaunce now lerneth a lesson other tweyne ; ' Richard the
Redeles, i. 9. Spelt alegeawns in Wyntown, 7, 8, 14. Formed by
prefixing a- ( = F. a-, Lat. ad-) to the word legeaunce, borrowed from
the O. F. ligance, homage. [The compound aligance does not appear
in O. French, as far as I can find.] O. F. lige, liege ; with suffix
-ance ( = Lat. -antia). Of Germanic origin ; see Liege.
ALLEGORY, a kind of parable. (F., - Gk.) The pi. allegories
occurs in Tyndal's Prol. to Leviticus, and Sir T. More's Works, p.
1041 a. F. allegoric, an allegory ; Cot. Lat. allegoria, borrowed from
Greek, in .the Vulgate version of Galat. iv. 24. Gk. a\\rftopla, a
description of one thing under the image of another. Gk. a\\-
ij-fopfiv, to speak so as to imply something else. Gk. aXAo-, stem of
aXXos, another ; and dyopfiiav, to speak, a verb formed from dyopa,
a place of assembly, which again is from dydpfiv, to assemble. The
prefix d- appears to answer to Skt. sa, together, and -ydpav implies
a root GAR ; see Fick, i. 73. Der. allegor-ic, allegor-ic-al, allegor-
ic-al-ly, allegor-ise, allegor-ist.
ALLEGRO, lively, brisk. (Ital.,-Lat.) In Milton's V Allegro,
f =fo, the Ital. def. article, from Lat. ille, he. The Ital. allegro, brisk,
is from Lat. alacrum, ace. of alacer, brisk. See Alacrity.
ALLELUIA, ALLELTTJAH, an expression of praise. (He-
brew.) Better hallelujah. Heb. halelii jdh, praise ye Jehovah.
Heb. halelii, praise ye, from halal, to shine, which signifies ' praise '
in the Pial voice ; andjdh, a shortened form of Jehovah, God. [#]
ALLEVIATE, to lighten. (Lat.) Used by Bp. Hall, Balm of
Gilead, c. I. Formed as if from alleuiattis, pp. of Low Lat. alleuiare, to
alleviate ; see note on Abbreviate. Lat. alleuare, to lighten, which
passed into the occasional form alleuiare in late times ; Ducange.
Lat. al- =ad; and leuare, to lift up, to lighten. Lat. leuis, light,
of which an older form must have been leguis, cognate with Gk.
(\ax\is, small, and E. light (i.e. un-heavy). Stem LAGHU, light;
Fick, i. 750. See Light, adj. Der. alleviat-ion. See Allay.
ALLEY, a walk. (F..-L.) M. E. aley, alley. ' So long about
the aleys is he goon;' Chaucer, C. T. 10198. O.F. alee, a gallery;
a participial substantive. O. F. aler, alter, to go; mod. F. oiler.
Low Lat. anare, to come, arrive ; on the change from anare to aner,
and thence to aler, see Brachet ; cf. F orphelin from Low Lat. orpha-
nittits. Lat. adnare, to come, especially to come by water. Lat. ad,
to ; and nare, to swim, properly ' to bathe ; ' cf. Skt. snd, to bathe.
ySNA, to wash, bathe. See Benfey, and Fick, i. 828. f The
chief difficulties are (i) the transition from n to /, and (2) the rarity
of O. F. aner, to come. a. However, other instances occur of the
assumed change, viz. orphelin, Low Lat. orphaninus (cf. E. orphan) ;
Palerme, Palermo, formerly Panormas ; Rotissillon, from Lat. ace.
Ruscinonem ; llologne, from Lat. Bononia. p. As to O. F. aner.
ALLIANCE.
Diez finds a few clear traces of it ; and in Bartsch's Chrestomathie
Franjaise, p. 7, it appears in a very old poem on the Passion of
Christ; of which the gth line is ' E dune orar cum el anned' = and
then as He came to pray. This O. F. oner or miner is clearly the
same as Ital. andare, to go, which (according to the above theory) is
for Lat. anare or adnare, [Brachet instances arrive, q. v. as being
similarly generalised from the sense of 'coming by water' to that of
' coming.'] y. Another theory makes the Ital. andare a nasalised
form of Lat. aditare, to approach.
ALLIANCE, ALLIES. See Ally.
ALLIGATION, a rule in arithmetic. (Lat.) 1. The verb alli-
gate, to bind together, is hardly in use. Rich, shews that it occurs
in Male's Origin of Mankind (1667), pp. 305, 334. 2. The sb. is
formed from this verb by the F. suffix -/ion, answering to the Lat.
suffix -tionem of the accusative case. Lat. alligare, to bind together.
Lat. al- ad; and ligare, to bind. See Ligament.
ALLIGATOR, a crocodile. (Span., -Lat.) Properly it merely
means 'the lizard.' In Shak. Romeo, v. I. 43. A mere corruption
from the Spanish. [The F. alligator is borrowed from English.]
Span, el lagarto, the lizard, a name esp. given to the American cro-
codile, or cayman. ' In Hawkins's Voyage, he speaks of these under
the name of alagartoes ; ' Wedgwood. Lat. Hie, he (whence Ital.
il. Span, el, the) ; and lacerta, a lizard. See Lizard.
ALLITERATION, repetition of letters. (Lat.) The well-
known line ' For apt alliteration's artful aid ' occurs in Churchill's
Prophecy of Famine. The stem alliterat- is formed as if from the
pp. of a Lat. verb alliterare, which, however, did not exist. This
verb is put together as if from Lat. ad literam, i. e. according to the
letter. Thus the word is a mere modern invention. See Letter.
Der. A verb, to alliterate, and an adj., alliterat-ive, have been invented
to match the sb.
ALLOCATE, to place or set aside. (Lat.) Burke, On the
Popery Laws, uses allocate in the sense of ' to set aside,' by way of
maintenance for children. [On the suffix -ale, see Abbreviate.]
Low Lat. allocalns, pp. of allocare, to allot, a Low Latin form ; see
Ducange. Lat. a!-=ad; and locare, to place. Lat. locus, a place.
See Locus. Der. allocat-ion. fl" Allocate is a doublet of allow,
to assign. See Allow (i).
ALLOCUTION, an address. (Lat.) Spelt adlomtion by Sir G.
Wheler (R.) Borrowed from Latin ; with F. suffix -/ion = Lat. ace.
ending -tionem. Lat. allocutio, adlocutio, an address. Lat. ad, to ;
and locutio, a speaking. Lat. locutus, pp. of lojui, to speak ; see
Loquacious.
ALLODIAL, not held of a superior ; used of land. (L., Scand.)
Englished from Low Lat. allodialis, an adj. connected with the sb.
allodium. ' The writers on this subject define allodium to be every
man's own land, which he possesses merely in his own right, without
owing any rent or service to any superior ; ' Blackstone, Com-
ment, b. ii. c. 7. a. The word allodium is ' Merovingian Latin ; '
Brachet (s. v. alleu). It is also spelt alaudum, alaudium, alodium,
alodum, alodis, and means a free inheritance, as distinguished from
beneficium, a grant for the owner's life-time only. p. The word ap-
pears as alleu in French, which Brachet derives from O. H. G. alod
(see Graff), said to mean ' full ownership ; ' where -id is to be explained
as short for uodil, uodal, or ddhil, a farm, homestead, or piece of in-
herited land j = Icel. 6dal, a homestead. y. The prefix al- does not
mean ' full,' or ' completely,' but is to be accounted for in a different
way ; its nearest equivalent in English is the nearly obsolete word eld,
signifying ' old age ; ' and the words whence allodium was composed
are really the Icel. aldr, old age (E. eld), and 66al, a homestead.
8. This is apparent from the following note in the 'Addenda' to
Cleasby and Vigfusson's Icelandic Dictionary, p. 777. 'In the Old
Norse there is a compound alda-ddal, a property of ages or held for
ages or generations, an ancient allodial inheritance ; " ok ef eigi er
leyst innan briggja vetra, ba verSr su J6r8 honum at alda ddali " = and
if it be not released within three years, then the estate becomes his
allodial property, Diplomatarium Norvagicum, i. 1 29 ; "til sefinlegrar
eignar ok alda dials " = for everlasting possession and allodial tenure,
id. iii. 88. Then this phrase became metaphorical, in the phrase "at
alda 68H " = to everlasting possession, i. e. for ever,' &c. See the whole
passage. The transition from ald'ddal to allodal or alodal is easy, and
would at once furnish a Low Lat. form allodialis, by confusion with the
Lat. adjectival form in -alis. . This suggests, moreover, that the
adj. allodialis is really older than the sb. allodium, and that the sb.
was formed from the adjective, and not vice versa. See further on this
subject s. v. Feudal. B. Having thus arrived at Icel. aldr and
dial as the primary words, it remains to trace them further back.
1. The Icel. aldr = E. eld (Shakespeare and Spenser), a sb. from the
adj. old; see Old. 2. The Icel. o<W = A. S. eftel, one's native in-
heritance or patrimony, and is from Icel. ado/, nature, disposition,
native quality, closely connected with A. S. a^&ele, noble (whence
ALMANACK.
17
JEtMing, a prince), and O. H. G. adal (G. adel), noble. The remoter
origin of the word is not clear; see Fick, iii. 14, who compares Gk.
dra\6t, tender, delicate, and oTiraXAeii', to tend, cherish. [*]
ALLOPATHY, an employment of medicines to produce an ef-
fect different to those produced by disease ; as opposed to homoeopathy,
q. v. (Gk.) Modern. Formed from Gk. aAAo-, crude form of oAAot,
another; and iraSos, suffering, from mOiiy, naa\nv, to suffer. See
Pathos. Der. allopath-ic, allofath-ist.
ALLOT, to assign a portion or lot to. (Hybrid ; L. and E.) A
clumsy hybrid compound ; formed by prefixing the Lat. ad (becom-
ing al- before t) to the English word lot. Cotgrave gives ' Allotir, to
divide or part, to allot ; ' also ' Attotement, a parting, dividing ; an al-
lotting, or laying out, unto every man his part.' [It is likely that the
F. word was borrowed from the English in this case.] Shak. not
only has allot, but even allotlery, As You Like It, i. I. 77 ; and allotted
occurs much earlier, viz. in Lord Surrey's translation of the 2nd bk.
of the >Eneid, 1. 729. See Lot. Der. allot-ment, allotl-ery. [t]
ALLOW (i), to assign, grant as a portion or allowance. (F., L.)
1. Not to be confused with allow in the sense of ' to approve of,' ' to
praise,' which is the common sense in old writers ; see Luke, xi. 48.
Shakespeare has both verbs, and the senses run into one another so
that it is not always easy to distinguish between them in every case.
Perhaps a good instance is in the Merch. of Ven. iv. i. 302, ' the law
allows it," i. e. assigns it to you. 2. This verb is not in early use,
and Shakespeare is one of the earliest authorities for it. F. allouer,
formerly alouer, ' to let out to hire, to appoint or set down a propor-
tion for expence, or for any other employment;' Cot. Law Lat.
allocare, to admit a thing as proved, to place, to use, expend, con-
sume ; see Ducange. [Blount, in his Law Diet., gives allocation as
a term used in the exchequer to signify ' an allowance made upon an
account." See Allocate.] Der. allow-able, allow-able-ness, allow-
abl-y, allow-ance. Doublet, allocate.
ALLOW (2), to praise, highly approve of. (F., L.) Sometimes
confused with the preceding ; now nearly obsolete, though common
in early authors, and of much earlier use than the former. See
Luke, xi. 48. M. E. alouen. Chaucer rimes ' I aloue the ' = I praise
thee, with the sb. youthi, youth ; C. T. 10988. - O. F. alouer, later
allouer, ' to allow, advow [i. e. advocate] , to approve, like well of j '
Cot. Lat. aUaudare, adlaudare, to applaud. Lat. ad, to ; and lau-
dare, to praise. See Laud.
ALLOT, a due proportion in mixing metals. (F., L.) [The
verb to alloy is made from the substantive, which is frequently spelt
alay or allay, though wholly unconnected with the verb allay, to as-
suage.] M. E. sb. alay; Chaucer has the pi. alayes, C. T. 9043. The
sing, alay is in P. Plowman. B. xv. 342 ; the pp. alayed, alloyed, is in
P. Plowman, C. xviii. 79. O. F. a lot, a lei, according to law or rule.
Lat. ad legem, according to rule, a phrase used with reference to
the mixing of metals in coinage. ' Unusquisque denarius cudatur et
fiat ad legem undecim denariorum ; ' Ducange. See Law. 5F In
Spanish, the same word ley means both ' law ' and ' alloy ; ' o la ley
means ' neatly ; ' d toda ley means ' according to rule ; ' and alear is ' to
alloy.' [*]
ALLUDE, to hint at. (Lat.) Used by Sir T. More, Works, p.
86o.a. Lat. alludere, to laugh at, allude to. Lat. al- = ad; and
ludere, to play, pp. lusus. See Ludicrous. Der. attus-ion, allus-ive,
allus-ive-ly ; from pp. allusus.
ALLURE, to tempt by a bait. (Hybrid.) Sir T. More has
alewre, Works, p. 12760 [marked 1274]. From F. a leurre, to the
lure or bait ; a word of Germanic origin. See Lure. Der. allure-ment.
ALLUSION, ALLUSIVE. See Allude.
ALLUVIAL, washed down ; applied to soil. (Lat.) Not in
early use ; the sb. now used in connection with it is alluvium, prop,
the neuter of the adj. alluuius, alluvial. In older works the sb. is
alluvion, as in Blackstone, Comment, b. ii. c. 16, and in three
other quotations in Richardson. This sb. = Lat. alluuionem, ace. case
of alluvia, a washing up of earth, an alluvial formation. Lat. al-
ad, to, in addition ; and lucre, to wash.+ Gk. \oiifiv, to wash. ^LU,
to wash, cleanse, expiate; Fick, ii. 323. See Lave. From the
same root, lave, ab-lu-tion, di-luv-ial.
ALLY, to bind together. (F., - L.) M. E. alien, with one /.
' Alied to the emperor ; ' Rob. of Glouc. p. 65. [The sb. aliance, al-
liance, occurs at p. 89. It is spelt alliaunce in Gower, C. A.
i. 199.] O. F. alier, to bind to. O. F. a, to; and Her, to bind.
Lat. ad; and ligare, to bind. See Ligament. Der. ally, sb., one
bound, pi. allies ; alli-ance. From the same root, allig-ation, q. v.
ALMANAC, ALMANACK., a calendar. (F.,-Gk.) Spelt
almanac by Blackstone, Comment, b. iii. c. 22 ; almanack by Fuller,
Worthies of Northamptonshire. F. almanack, ' an almanack, or
prognostication ;' Cot. Low Lat. almanachus, cited by Brachet.
Gk. d\u(faxa, used in the 3rd century by Eusebius for ' an almanac ;'
see his De Praeparatione Evangelica, iii. 4. ed. Gaisford. ^[ This Gk.
V*
18
ALMIGHTY.
ALPHABET.
word looks like Arabic, but Dozy decides otherwise ; see his Glossaire T ALONE, quite by oneself. (E.) M. E. al one, written apart, and
desMots Espagnols derives de 1'Arabe, 2nd ed. p. 154. 1. Mr. Wedg-
wood cites a passage from Roger Bacon, OpusTertium, p. 36, shewing
that the name was given to a collection of tables shewing the move-
ments of the heavenly bodies; 'sed h:e tabulre vocantur Almanack
vel Tallignum, in quibus sunt omnes motus ccelorum certificati a
principio mundi usque in finem.' 2. In Webster's Dictionary it is
said that the Arabic word manalth occurs in Pedro de Alcala (it is not
expressly said in what sense, but apparently in that of almanac) ; and
it is connected with 'Arab, manaha, to give as a present, Heb. mdndh,
to assign, count ; Arab, manay, to define, determine, maud, measure,
time, fate ; maniyat, pi. mandyd, anything definite in time and man-
ner, fate.' This is not satisfactory, [f]
ALMIGHTY, all-powerful. (E.) In very early use. A. S. eal-
mihiig, Grein, i. 244 ; almihtig, id. 57. See Might. On the spelling
with one /, see All. Der. almighti-ness.
ALMOND, a kind of fruit. (F., - Gk.) 'As for almonds, they are
of the nature of nuts;' Holland's Pliny, bk. xv. c. 22. Wyclif has
almaundis, almonds, Gen. xliii. 1 1 ; almaunder, an almond-tree, Eccles.
xii. 5 (where the Vulgate has amygdalus). [The / is an inserted
letter, possibly owing to confusion with M. E. and F. forms involving
the sequence of letters -aim-, where the / was but slightly sounded.
It is remarkable that the excrescent / appears likewise in the Span.
almendra, an almond, almendro, an almond-tree.] French amande,
formerly also amende (Brachet) ; Cotgrave has 'Amande, an almond.'
Lat. amygdala, amygdalum, an almond ; whence (as traced by
Brachet) the forms amygd'la, amy'dla, amyndla (with excrescent n
before d), amynda ; and next O. F. amende, later amande. Cf. Prov.
amandola. Gk. d/ivy&iAij, d/urfSa\or, an almond. [#]
ALMONER, a distributer of alms. (F.,-L.,-Gk.) Spelt
almoyners by Sir T. More, Works, p. 235 h. O. F. almosnier, a dis-
tributer of alms ; a form in which the s was soon dropped, as in F.
aumone from O. F. almosne, alms. O. F. almosne, alms; with the
suffix -ier of the agent. Lat. eleemosyna ; see Alms.
ALMOST, nearly. (E.) Chaucer has almost, C. T. 9274. Also
M. E. almost, almest ; the latter is especially common. ' He is almest
dead ; ' Layamon, ii. 387 (later text). A. S. ealmast, altruist ; thus in
the A. S. Chron. an. 1091, we have ' seo scipfyrde . . . almdst earm-
lice forfor * = the fleet for the most part (or nearly all of it) miserably
perished. A. S. eal-, prefix, completely; and mast, the most, ^f The
sense is, accordingly, 'quite the greatest part,' or in other words
' nearly all.' Hence it came to mean ' nearly,' in a more general use
and sense. It is therefore a different sort of word from the G. aller-
meisi, which answers to A. S. ealra mast, most of all. For the spel-
ling with one /, see All.
ALMS, relief given to the poor. (Gk.) M. E. almesse, later almes.
Wyclif has almes, Luke, xi. 41. Rob. of Glouc. has almesse, p. 330.
Still earlier, we have the A. S. forms ttlmasse and almesse, a word of
three syllables. [Thus almas-se first became almes-se; and then,
dropping the final syllable (-), appeared as almes, in two syllables ;
still later, it became alms. The A. S. almaesse is a corruption of
eccles. Latin eleemosyna, borrowed from Greek ; the result being that
the word has been reduced from six syllables to one.] Gk. i\tT;po-
OVVTJ, compassion, and hence, alms. Gk. fKetjiuov, pitiful. Gk.
i\f tiv, to pity. Der. alms-house. From the same root, almoner, q. v.
fl' The word alms is properly singular ; hence the expression ' asked
an alms ; ' Acts, iii. 3.
ALMUG, the name of a tree ; see Algum.
ALOE, the name of a plant. (Gk.) 'Aloe is an hearbe which hath
the resemblance of the sea-onion,' &c. ; Holland's Pliny, bk. xxvii.
c. 4. Cotgrave has 'Aloes, the herb aloes, sea-houseleeke, sea-aigreen ;
also, the bitter juyce thereof congealed, and used in purgatives.' In
like manner we still speak of ' bitter aloes ; ' and Wyclif has aloes,
John, xix. 39, where the Vulgate has aloes, really the gen. case of
the Lat. aloe, used by Pliny, and borrowed from the Gk. 0X01;, the
name of the plant, used by Plutarch, and in John, xix. 39. ^f Der.
aloe-wood ; a name given to a totally different plant, the agallochum,
because one kind (the Aquilaria secundaria) yields a bitter secretion.
The word agallochum is of Eastern origin ; cf. Skt. aguru, aloe-wood ;
also Heb. masc. pi. akdlim, formed from a sing, a/.al, aloe-wood, or
wood of aloes, [t]
ALOFT, in the air. (Scand.) 1. For on lofte. In P. Plowman,
B. i. 90, we find ' agrounde and aloft ; ' but in the same poem,
A. i. 88, the reading is ' on grounde and on lofte.' 2. On lofte signifies
' in the air,' i.e. on high. The A. S. prep, on frequently means ' in ; '
and is here used to translate the Icel. a, which is really the same
word. 3. The phrase is, strictly, Scandinavian, viz. Icel. d lopt, aloft,
in the air (the Icel. -pt being sounded like the E. -ft, to which it
answers). The Icel. lopt- A. S. lyft, the air ; whence M. E. lift, the
air, still preserved in prov. E. and used by Bums in his Winter Night,
1. 4. Cf. G. luft, the air ; Gothic luftus, the air. See Loft, Lift.
even with a word intervening between them. Ex. ' al himself one '
himself alone; Will, of Paleme, 3316. [The al is also frequently
omitted. Ex. 'left was he one,' he was left alone, id. 211.] The
M. E. al is mod. E. all ; but the spelling with one / is correct. See
All and One. ^f The word one was formerly pronounced own,
riming with bone ; and was frequently spelt oon. The M. E. on was
dissyllabic (pron. own-y), the e representing A. S. -a in the word ana,
a secondary form from A. S. an, one ; see examples of ana in the sense
of 'alone' in Grein, i. 31, 32. The old pronunciation is retained in
al-one, al-one, on-ly. tiS" Alone is further connected with lonely and
lone ; see Lone.
ALONG, lengthwise of. (E.) [The prefix here is very unusual,
as the a- in this case arose from the A. S. and- ; see A-, prefix ; and
see Answer.] M. E. along, Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, B. 769 ;
earlier anlong, Layamon, i. 7. A.S. andlang, along, prep, governing
a genitive; 'andlang J>aes westenes ' = along the waste, Joshua, viii.
16. + O. Fries, ondlinga, prep, with gen. case ; as in ' ondlinga thes
reggis ' = along the back (Richtofen). + G. entlang, prep, with gen.
or dat. when preceding its substantive. A. S. prefix and-, cognate
with O. Fries, and-, O. H. G. ant- (G. ent-), Goth, and-, anda, Lat. ante,
Gk. dvrl, Skt. anti, over against, close to ; and A. S. adj. long, long.
The sense is ' over against in length.' See Long. ^f We may
also compare Icel. adj. endilangr, whence the adv. endelong, length-
wise, in Chaucer, C. T. 1993. [t]
ALOOF, away, at a distance. (Dutch.) 1. Spelt aloofe in Sur-
rey's Virgil, bk. iv; alotife in Sir T. More's Works, p. 759g. The
latter says ' But surely this anker lyeth too farre aloufe fro thys shyppe,
and hath neuer a cable to fasten her to it.' This suggests a nautical
origin for the phrase. 2. The diphthong o signifies the ou in soup,
and is pronounced like the Du. oe, so that louf at once suggests Du.
loef, and as many nautical terms are borrowed from that language,
we may the more readily accept this. Cf. E. sloop from Du. s/o/.
3. The prefix a- stands for on, by analogy with a large number of
other words, such as abed, afoot, asleep, aground ; so that aloof is for
on loof, and had originally the same sense as the equivalent Du.
phrase te loef, i. e. to windward. Compare also loef houden, to keep
the luff or weather-gage ; de loef afwinnen, to gain the luff, &c. So,
too, Danish holds linen, to keep the luff or the wind ; have luven, to
have the weather-gage ; tage luven fra en, to take the luff from one.
to get to windward of one. Our phrase ' to hold aloof ' is equivalent
to the Du. loef houden (Dan. holde luven), and signifies lit. ' to keep
to the windward.' ^f The tendency of the ship being to drift on
to the leeward vessel or object, the steersman can only hold aloof (i.e.
keep or remain so) by keeping the head of the ship away. Hence to
hold aloof came to signify, generally, to keep away from, or not
to approach. The quotation from Sir T. More furnishes a good
example. He is speaking of a ship which has drifted to leeward of
its anchorage, so that the said place of anchorage lies ' too farre
aloufe,' i. e. too much to windward ; so that the ship cannot easily
return to it. Similar phrases occur in Swedish ; so that the term
is of Scandinavian as well as of Dutch use ; but it came to us from
the Dutch more immediately. See further under Luff.
ALOUD, loudly. (E.) Chiefly in the phrase 'to cry aloud.' M.E.
' to crye aloude ; ' Chaucer, Troilus, ii. 401. By analogy with abed,
asleep, afoot, &c., the prefix must be on, from which it follows that
loud is a substantive, not an adjective. P. It stands, then, for E. E.
on lude, where lude is the dative case of a substantive signifying 'din,'
' loud sound ; ' cf. ' mid muchelen lude,' later text ' mid mochelere
loude,' i. e. with a great ' loud,' with a great din ; Layamon, 1.
2591. A.S. hlyd, sb. a din; closely related to adj. hi/id, loud. + Icel.
hlj6o, sb. a sound. + Dan. lyd, a sound. + Swed. ljud, a sound. +
Du. luid, a sound, the tenor of a thing. + G. laitt, a sound, tone,
^f Thus Eng. is the only one of these languages which no longer
uses loud as a substantive. See Loud.
ALP, a high mountain. (Lat.) Milton has alp, P. L. ii. 620;
Samson, 628. We generally say 'the Alps.' Milton merely bor-
rowed from Latin. Lat. Alpes, pi. the Alps; said to be of Celtic
origin. ' Gallorum lingua alti monies Alpes uocantur; ' Servius, ad.
Verg. Georg. iii. 474 ; cited by Curtius, i. 364. Cf. Gael, alp, a high
mountain ; Irish ailp, any gross lump or chaos ; alpa, the Alps
(O'Reilly). p. Even granting it to be Celtic, it may still be true that
Lat. Alpes and Gael, alp are connected with Lat. albus, white, spelt
alpus in the Sabine form, with reference to the snowy tops of such
mountains. See Curtius, i. 364; Fick, ii. 27. Der. alp-ine.
ALPACA, the Peruvian sheep. (Span., Peruvian.) Borrowed
by us from Span, alpaca, a Span, rendering of the Peruvian name.
See Prescott, Conquest of Peru, cap. v.
ALPHABET, the letters of a language. (Gk., - Heb.) Used by
Shak. Titus And. iii. 2. 44. Low Lat. alphabetum. G^.. a\<pa, fUjra,
the names of o and ft (a and 6), the first two letters of the Gk. al-
ALREADY.
phabet. Heb. dleph, an ox, also the name of the first letter of the'
Hebrew alphabet ; and beth, a house, also the name of the second
letter of the same. Der. alphabet-ic, alphabet-ic-al, -ly. [f]
ALREADY, quite ready ; hence, sooner than expected. (E. or
Scand.) Rich, shews that Udal (on Luke, c. i) uses 'alreadie looked
for ' in the modern sense ; but Gower, Prol. to C. A. i. 18, has at
redy [badly spelt all ready in Richardson] as separate words. Al as
an adverb, with the sense of ' quite,' is common in Mid. English ; and
Chaucer has the phrase 'al redy was his answer;' C. T. 6607. [So
al dene = quite entirely, wholly, Rob. of Glouc. p. 407 ; see
Matzner's Altengl. Worterbuch, p. 57.] The spelling with one I is
correct enough ; see All And see Ready, [f ]
ALSO, in like manner. (E.) Formerly frequently written al so,
separately ; where al is an adverb, meaning 'entirely; ' see Already,
and All A. S. eal swd, ealswd, just so, likewise. Matt. xxi. 30,
where the later Hatton MS. has allswa. See So. " ^ A s is a con-
tracted form of a/so ; see As.
ALTAR, a place for sacrifices. (F., L.) Frequently written
outer in Mid. Eng., from the O. French miter ; so spelt in Wyclif,
Acts, xvii. 23, Gen. viii. 20. Rob. of Brunne, p. 79, has the spelling
aliere, from the O. F. alter. And it occurs much earlier, in the
Ormulum, 1. 1060. Beyond doubt, the word was borrowed from the
French, not the Latin, but the spelling has been altered to make it
look more like the Latin. O. F. alter, outer (mod. F. autel). Lat.
altar e , an altar, a high place. Lat. altus, high. + Zend areta, ereta,
high(Fick, i. 21). ^AR, to raise, exalt; cf. Lat. or-iri, to rise up;
Fick, i. 19. See Altitude.
ALTER, to make otherwise. (Lat.) Altered occurs in Frith's
Works, Letter from Tyndall, p. 118. [Perhaps through the F.
alterer, given by Cotgrave, and explained by ' to alter, change, vary ; '
but with at least equal probability taken directly from the Low Latin.]
Low Lat. alterare, to make otherwise, to change ; Ducange. Lat.
alter, other. Lat. al-, of the same source with alias, another, and
Gk. aXXot, other; with suffix -ter (as in u-ler, neu-ter), an old com-
parative ending answering to E. -ther, Gk. -Tfpot, Skt. -tara. See
Alien. Der. alter-able, aiter-at-ion, alter-at-ive.
ALTERCATION, a dispute. (F..-L.) Used by Chaucer,
C. T. 9349. O. F. altercation, for which I can find no early authority;
but Roquefort gives altercas, alterque, alterquie, a dispute ; altercateur,
tlisputer, and the verb alterquer, to dispute, whilst the E. pres. part.
altercand occurs in Rob. of Brunne, p. 314; so that there is a high
probability that the sb. was in use in French at an early period. It
is, moreover, given by Cotgrave, and explained by ' altercation, brab-
ling, brawling,' &c. Lat. altercationetn, ace. of altercatio, a dispute.
Lat. altercari, to dispute. Lat. alter, another ; from the notion of
speaking alternately. See above, and see below, [t]
ALTERNATE, adj. by turns. (Lat.) Milton has alternate, P. L.
v. 657 ; and even coins altern, P. L. vii. 348. Lat. alternates, pp. of
alternare, to do by turns. Lat. alternus, alternate, reciprocal. Lat.
alter, another; with suffix -na (Schleicher, sect. 222). See Alter.
Der. alternat-ion, alternat-ive ; also the vb. to alternate (Levins).
ALTHOUGH, however. (E.) M. E. al thagh, al thah, al though ;
Mandeville's Travels, p. 266; Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, A. 877.
From al, adverb, in the sense of ' even ; ' and though. p. We even
find al used alone with the sense ' although,' as in 'Al telle I nat as
now his observances;' Chaucer, C. T. 2264. y. On the spelling
with one /, see All. And see Though.
ALTITUDE, height. (Lat.) It occurs frequently near the end of
Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe, to translate Lat. altitudo. Lat.
altiludo, height. Lat. altus, high. See Altar.
ALTOGETHER, completely. (E.) Used by Sir T. More,
Works, p. Qi4b. Formed by prefixing M. E. al, adv. 'wholly,' to
together. See All, and Together, [t]
ALUM, a mineral salt. (F., - L.) M. E. alum, Allit. Poems, ed.
Morris, B. 1 035 ; alom, Mandeville's Travels, p. 99 ; and used by
Chaucer, C.T. 12741. O. F. alum (mod. F. alun), alum ; Roquefort.
Lat. alumen, alum, used by Vitruvius and others; of unknown
origin. Der. alumin-a, alttmin-ous t alumin-ium ; all directly from Lat.
ahimin-, the stem of alnmen.
ALWAY, ALWAYS, for ever. (E.) Chaucer has alway, always,
Prol. 275; sometimes written al way. 1. In O. Eng. Misc., ed.
Morris, p. 148, we find alne way, where alne is an accus. case masc.,
A. S. ealne. The usual A. S. form is ealne weft, where both words are
in the ace. sing. ; Grein, ii. 655. This form became successively alne
way, al way, and alway. 2. In Hali Meidenhad, p. 27, we find alles
weis, where both words are in the gen. sing. This occasional use of
the gen. sing., and the common habit of using the gen. sing, suffix
-es as an adverbial suffix, have produced the second form always.
Both forms are thus accounted for. See All, and Way.
AM, the first pers. sing. pres. of the verb to be. (E.) O. Northum-
brian am, as distinct from A.S. eom, I am. The full form of the word
AMBASSADOR.
19
is shewn by the Skt. asm/, I am, compounded of the ^AS, to be, and
the pronoun ml, signifying me, i. e. /. The E. am thus retains the a
of the VAS, and the m of the first personal pronoun. It is remark-
able that the same form, am, is found in Old Irish, on which Schleicher
remarks that the form am stands for am-mi, formed from as-mi by
assimilation ; after which the final -mi was dropped. This is, strictly,
the correct view, but it is as well to divide the word as a-m, because
the m is, after all, due to the final -mi. Thus a-m = a(m)m(i) = ammi
= asmi. See further under Are.
AMAIN, with full power. (E.) Used by Turberville, To an
Absent Friend (R.) As in other words, such as abed, afoot, aground,
asleep, the prefix is the A. S. on, later an, latest a, signifying ' in ' or
'with,' prefixed to the dat. case of the sb. The usual A. S. phrase
is, however, not on mtegene, but ealle maegene, with all strength ;
Grein, ii. 217. See On, and Main, sb. strength.
AMATiGAM, a compound of mercury with another metal, a
mixture. (F., Gk.) [The restriction in sense to a mixture con-
taining mercury is perhaps unoriginal ; it is probable that the word
properly meant 'an emollient;' that afterwards it came to mean 'a
pasty mixture,' and at last 'a mixture of a metal with mercury.']
Chaucer has amalgaming, C.T. Group G, 771. F. amalgame, which
Cotgrave explains by ' a mixture, or incorporation of quicksilver with
other metals." p. Either a corruption or an alchemist's anagram
of Lat. malagma, a mollifying poultice or plaster. Gk. jioAa-y/ia, an
emollient; also a poultice, plaster, or any soft material. Gk. IM-
Kaaativ, to soften (put for uaXax-yeiv'). Gk. fta\ax6i, soft; cf. Gk.
u/iaAus, tender; Curtius, i. 405. ^MAR, to pound. Der. amalgam-
ate, amalgam-at-ion. [t]
AMANUENSIS, one who writes to dictation. (Lat.) In Burton's
Anat. of Melancholy; Dem. to the Reader; ed. 1827, i. 17. Bor-
rowed from Lat. amanuensis, a scribe who writes to dictation, used
by Suetonius. Lat. a maim, by hand ; with suffix -ensis, signifying
' belonging to,' as in castrensis, belonging to the camp, from castra, a
camp. See Manual.
AMARANTH, an everlasting flower. (L.,-Gk.) Milton has
amarant, P. L. iii. 352 ; and amarantine, P. L. xi. 78. The pi. amar-
aunz is in Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, B. 1470 ; in which case it is not
from the Gk. directly, but from Lat. amarantus. Gk. a/adpayTos,
unfading ; or, as sb., the unfading flower, amaranth. [Cf. Gk. afia.fo.v-
TIVOS, made of amaranth.] Gk. d-, privative ; and uapaivciv, to wither.
^MAR, to die; cf. Skt. mardmi, I die, Lat. morior. Curtius, i.
413 ; Fick, i. 172. Der. amaranth-ine. ^f There seems no good
reason for the modern spelling with final -th ; Milton's forms are
right, and taken directly from the Greek. From the root mar we
have a great many derivatives; such as murder, mortal, &c. See
Ambrosial, and Mar.
AMASS, to heap up. (F., - L, - Gk.) Used by Surrey, on Eccles.
c. 3. F. amasser, ' to pile, heap, gather ; ' Cot. F. a masse, to a
mass ; so that amasser is ' to put into a mass.' Lat. ad, to ; and
massam, ace. of massa, a mass. [Curtius remarks concerning this
word (ii. 326) that the Latin ss in the middle of a word answers to
Gk. .] Gk. pa.fa, fiafa, a barley-cake ; lit. a kneaded lump. Gk.
ftaaofiv, to knead. ^MAK, to knead ; Curtius, i. 404 ; Fick, i. 180.
Hence also Lat. macerare, whence E. macerate.
AMATORY, loving. (Lat.) Milton has amatorious, Answer to
Eikon Basilike ; amatory is used by Bp. Bramhall (died 1 663) in a
work against Hobbes (Todd). Lat. amalorius, loving. Lat. amator,
a lover (whence the F. amateur, now used in English). Lat. amare,
to love, with suffix -tor denoting the agent. Der. from pp. amatus
of the same Lat. verb, amat-ive, amat-ive-ness. Amatory is a doublet
of Amorous, q. v.
AMAZE, to astound. (E. and Scand.) Formerly written nmnse.
The word amased, meaning ' bewildered, infatuated,' occurs three
times in the Ancren Riwle, pp. 270, 284, 288. The prefix can here
hardly be other than the intensive A.S. d- = G. er- = Goth, us- ; thus to
amase is ' to confound utterly.' We also find the compound form
bimased, Ancren Riwle, p. 270. On the rest of the word, see Maze
^f The prefix is English, the latter syllable is probably Scandinavian.
Der. amaz-ed, amaz-ed-ness, amaz-ing, amaz-ing-ly, amaze-ment.
AMAZON, a female warrior. (Gk.) They were said to cut off
the right breast in order to use the bow more efficiently. Shak. has
Amazon, Mids. N. D. ii. I. 70; and Amazonian, Cor. ii. 2. 95. Gk.
aiM^uiv, pi. dfiafovft, one of a warlike nation of women in Scythi.i.
Gk. d-, privative ; and ftafut, the breast. ^MAD, to drip ; cf. Gk.
uaoativ, Lat. madere, to be wet ; also Gk. fmarot, the breast ; Fick,
ii. 182, 183. Der. Amazon-ian. ^[ Perhaps fabulous. [#]
AMBASSADOR, a messenger. (F.,-Low Lat.,-O. II. G.)
Udal, on Math. c. 28, has amba^admir. Also written tmbassatlor.
Chaucer has amkassatrye, an embassy, C.T. 4653. F. ambassadeiir,
1 ' embassadour ; ' Cot. F. ambassade, an embassy, a. Of this word
Brachet says: 'not found in French before the I4th century,
C2
20
AMBER.
and shewn to be foreign by its ending -ade (unknown in Fr.,
which has -ee for -ade). It comes from Span, ambaxada, a word
related to the Low Lat. ambaxiata. [Ducange only gives the forms
ambaxaia and ambassiata,~\ This word is derived from Low Lat.
ambaxiare, ambactiare [to relate, announce], formed from ambactia, a
very common term in the Salic Law, meaning ' a mission, embassy.'
This Lat. ambactia has given rise to E. embassy, q. v. Low Lat.
ambaclus, a servant, especially one who is sent on a message ; used once
by Caesar, de Bello Gallico, vi. 14. O.H.G. ambaht, ampaht, a servant.
+ Goth, andbahts, a servant. + A. S. ambeht, ombiht, a servant ; Grein,
i. 2. + Icel. ambdtt, a bondwoman, handmaid. f). The fullest form
appears in the Gothic, and shews that the word is compounded of
the Goth, prefix ana"-, anda-, and the sb. bahts, a servant. y. The
prefix answers to O. H. G. ant- (later enl-), Lat. ante, Gk. avri, Skt.
anft', over against, and appears also in Along, and Answer.
S. The sb. batits only appears in Gothic in composition, but it meant
4 devoted,' as is clear from the allied Skt. bhakta, attached, devoted,
with the derivative bhakli, worship, devotion, service. Bhakta is the
pp. of the verb bhaj, to divide; from the^BHAG, to divide. See
Benfey, p. 640; Fick, i. 154; iii. 16. ^f Thus this curious word
is fully accounted for, and resolved into the prefix which appears as
and- in A.S. and Gothic, and a derivative from ^BHAG. It may be
observed that the O. H. G. ambahti, service, is still preserved in G. in
the corrupted form amt. Der. ambassadr-ess. See Embassy, [t]
AMBER, a fossil resin ; ambergris. (Arabic.) The resin is named
from its resemblance to ambergris, which is really quite a different
substance, yet also called amber in early writers. 1. In Holland's
Pliny, b. xxxvii. c. 3, the word means the fossil amber. 2. When
Beaumont and Fletcher use the word amber 'd in the sense of ' scented'
(Custom of the Country, iii. 2. 6), they must refer to ambergris.
p. The word is Arabic, and seems to have been borrowed directly.
Ar. 'amber, ambergris, a perfume ; Palmer's Pers. Diet. col. 433.
^f Ambergris is the same word, with addition of F. gris, signifying
' g ra y-' 1 Milton, P. R. ii. 344, it is called gris amber. The F. gris
is a word of German origin, from O. H. G. gris, gray, used of the
hair ; cf. G. greis, hoary. [#]
AMBIDEXTROUS, using both hands. (Lat.) SirT. Browne,
Vulg. Errors, b. iv. c. 5, 10, has 'ambidexterous, or right-handed on
both sides.' He also uses ambidexters as a plural sb. Lat. ambidexter,
using both hands equally ; not used in classical Latin, and only given
by Ducange with a metaphorical sense, viz. as applied to one who is
equally ready to deal with spiritual and temporal business. Lat.
ambi-, generally shortened to amb- ; and dexter, the right hand. See
Dexterous. B. The prefix ambi- is cognate with Gk. a/upi, on
both sides, whence E. amptii- ; Skt. abhi (for ambhi), as used in the
comp. abhitas, on both sides ; O. H. G. umbi, mod. G. um, around ;
A. S. embe-, emb-, ymbe-, ymb-, around. It is clearly related to Lat.
ambi, Gk. apt.oi, both, and even to E. both. See Both.
AMBIENT, going about. (Lat.) Used by Milton, P. L. vi. 480.
Lat. ambient-, stem of Lat. ambiens, going about. Lat. amb-
(shortened form of ambi-), about ; and iens, going, pres. pt. of ire, to
go. 1. On the prefix, see Ambidextrous, above. 2. The
verb ire is from ^ I, to go ; cf. Skt. and Zend i, to go ; Fick, i. 506.
AMBIGUOUS, doubtful. (Lat.) Sir T. Elyot has ambiguous,
The Govemour, bk. iii. c. 4. The sb. ambiguite (printed anbiguite)
occurs in the Tale of Beryn, ed. Furaivall, 2577. [The adj. is formed
with the suffix -ous, which properly represents the F. -eux, and Lat.
-osus, but is also frequently used to express the Lat. -MS merely ; cf.
pious, sonorous. Sec., from Lat. pius, sonorus.'] Lat. ambiguus, doubt-
ful; lit. driving about. Lat. ambigere, to drive about, go round
about. Lat. amb- = ambi-, about; and agere,to drive. On the prefix,
see Ambidextrous. And see Agent. Der. ambiguous-ly ; also
ambigu-il-y, from Lat. ace. ambiguitalem, nom. ambiguitas, doubt.
AMBITION, seeking for preferment. (F.,-L.) Spelt ambition
by Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, b. iii. c. 1 5 ; ambicion by Lydgate,
Story of Thebes, pt. iii (R.) Ambicion also occurs in the Ayenbite
of Inwyt, pp. 17, 23. F. ambition, given by Cotgrave. Lat. am-
bitionem, ace. of ambitio, a going round ; esp. used of the canvassing
for votes at Rome. Lat. ambire, supine ambitum, to go round, solicit.
[Note that Lat. ambitio and ambitus retain the short i of the supine
ttum of the simple verb.] Lat. ambi-, amb-, prefix, about ; and ire,
to go. 1. On am&i-, see Ambidextrous. 2. The verb ire is
from .y' I, to go ; see Ambient. Der. ambiti-oits, ambiti-ous-ly.
AMBLE, to go at a pace between a walk and a trot. (F., L.)
We find ' fat palfray amblant,' i. e. ambling ; King Alisaunder, ed.
Weber, 1. 3461; and see Gower, C. A. i. 210. Chaucer has
wel ambling,' C. T. 8265 ; and'it goth annumUe'=it goes at an
easy pace, said of a horse, C. T. 1 38 1 5 ; and he calls a lady's horse
an ambler, Prol. to C. T. 471. O.F. ambler, to go at an easy
pace. Lat. ambulare, to walk. See Ambulation. Der, ambl-er,
pre-amble.
AMENABLE.
AMBROSIA, food of the gods. (Gk.) In Milton, P. L. v. 57 ;
he frequently uses the adj. ambrosial. Gk. apppoala, the food of the
gods ; fern, of adj. d/i/3/wffios. Gk. dp&poaios, a lengthened form (with
suffix -ya) of a/i/Jporos, immortal. Gk. dc-, negative prefix, cognate
with E. un- (which becomes ap- before following (3) ; and 0poT6t, a
mortal: but Curtius (i. 413) rather divides the word as a-ppporos,
where d- is the same negative prefix with loss of v, andufipoTos is the
full form of the word which was afterwards spelt 0por6s ; the word
'pPpoTus being a corruption of the oldest form ^oprds, signifying
mortal. ^MAR, to die; see Curtius, 1.413; pick, 1.172. ^f The
Gk. a/tfipoToi has its exact counterpart in Skt. armita, immortal, used
also to denote the beverage of the gods. Southey spells this word
amreeta ; see his Curse of Kehama, canto xxiv, and note 93 on ' the
amreeta, or drink of immortality." Der. ambrosi-al, ambrosi-an.
AMBRY, AUMBRY, a cupboard. (F.,-L.) o. Nares re-
marks that ambry is a corruption of almonry, but this remark only
applies to a particular street in Westminster so called. The word in
the sense of ' cupboard ' has a different origin. (3. The word is
now obsolete, except provincially ; it is spelt aumbrie by Tusser, Five
Hundred Points, ed. 1573, ii. 5 (Halliwell). Clearly a corruption of
O. F. armarie, a repository for, arms (Burguy), which easily passed
into arm'rie, a'm'rie, and thence into ambry, with the usual excrescent
6 after TO. The O. F. armarie became later armaire, armoire ; Cot-
grave gives both these forms, and explains them by ' a cupboord,
ambrie, little press ; any hole, box contrived in, or against, a wall,' &c.
Hence ambry is a doublet of armory ; and both are to be referred to
Low Lat. armaria, a chest or cupboard, esp. a bookcase. Another
form is armarium, esp. used to denote a repository for arms, which is
plainly the original sense. -Lat. arma, arms. See Arms. ^f It
is remarkable that, as the ambry in a church was sometimes used as
a place of deposit for alms, it was popularly connected with alms
instead of arms, and looked upon as convertible with almonry. Popular
etymology often effects connections of this sort, which come at last
to be believed in. [t]
AMBULATIpN, walking about. (Lat.) Used by Sir T. Browne,
Vulg. Errors, b. iii. c. I. 4 ; but uncommon. Of the adj. ambulatory
Rich, gives five examples, one from Bp. Taylor's Great Exemplar,
pt. iii. s. 1 3. Formed with F. suffix -tion, but really directly from
Latin. Lat. ace. ambulationem, from nom. ambulatio, a walking about.
Lat. ambulatvs, pp. ol ambulare, to walk about. p. Curtius (ii. 74)
seems right in taking ambulare as short for amb-bu-lare, where ami-
is the usual shortened form of ami/, around, and bu-lare contains the
root ba, to go, which is so conspicuous in Gk. in Pa-oa, a going,
fla-o'ifav, to walk, 0aiv-(iv, to go, aorist tffijv. 1. On the prefix
ambi-, see Ambidextrous. 2. On the y' BA, older form GA, see
Base, substantive. Der. ambulal-ory (from ambulatus, pp. of ambu-
lare). From the same root, amble, per-ambulate, pre-amble. See Amble.
Also F. ambul-ance, a movable hospital, now adopted into English.
AMBUSCADE, an ambush. (Span., -Low Lat.,- Scand.) At
first, spelt ambuscado ; see Ben Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, ed.
Wheatley, ii. 4. 16, and the note. Dryden has ambuscade, tr. of yEneid,
vi. 698 ; Richardson, by a misprint, attributes the word to Spenser.
Span, ambuscado, an ambuscade ; see ambush in Meadows, Eng.-Span
section ; but the commoner form is emboscada. Span, ambuscado,
placed in ambush, usually spelt emboscado, pp. of emboscar, to set in
ambush. Low Lat. imboscare; see Ambush.
AMBUSH, a hiding in a wood. (F., Low Lat., Scand.) In
Shakespeare, Meas. for Meas. i. 3.41. A corruption of an older embush
or enbush, which was originally a verb, signifying ' to set in ambush.'
The corruption from e to a was due to Spanish influence ; see above.
Rob. of Brunne, in his tr. of P. Langtoft, has enbussemtnt, p. 187,
bussement, p. 242 ; also the pp. enbttssed, set in ambush, p. 187, as well
as the simple form bussed on the same page. In all these cases, ss
stands for sh, as in Rob. of Gloucester. Gower has embtiisshed, em-
busshement, C. A. i. 260, iii. 208. O. F. embuscher, embuissier, to
set in ambush. Low Lat. imboscare, to set in ambush, lit. ' to set
in a bush,' still preserved in Ital. imboscare. Lat. in-, in (which
becomes im- before b) ; and Low Lat. boscus, a bush, wood, thicket,
whence O. F. bos, mod. F. bois. This word is really of Scandinavian
origin. See Bush. Der. ambush-menl ; and see above.
AMELIORATE, to better. (F.,-Lat.) Not in early use.
Formed with suffix -ate ; on which see Abbreviate. F. ameliorer,
to better, improve ; see Cotgrave. F. prefix a- = Lat. ad ; and me-
liorer, to make better, also given by Cotgrave. Lat. ad, to ; and Low
Lat. meliorare, to make better ; Ducange. Lat. ad ; and melior,
better. See Meliorate. Der. ameliorat-ion.
AMEN, so be it. (L.,-Gk.,-Heb.) Used in the Vulgate ver-
sion of Matt. vi. 13, &c. Gk. 0/1171', verily. Heb. amen, adv. verily,
so be it ; from adj. amen, firm, true, faithful ; from vb. aman, to sus-
tain, support, found, fix. [t]
AMENABLE, easy to lead. (F..-L.) Spelt amesnable by Spen-
AMEND.
ser, View of the State of Ireland (R.) ; but the s is superfluous ;
Erinted ameanable in the Globe edition, p. 622, col. 2, 1. I. Formed,
y the common F. suffix -able, from the F. verb. F. amener, ' to
bring or lead unto ; ' Cot. Burguy gives the O. F. spellings as
amener and amenier. F. a-, prefix (Lat. ad) ; and F. mener, to con-
duct, to drive. - Low. Lat. minare, to conduct, to lead from place to
place ; also, to expel, drive out, chase away ; Ducange. Lat. minari,
to threaten. Lat. mime, projections ; also, threats. Lat. minere, to
project. See Eminent and Menace. Der. amen-abl-y. From the
same root, de-mean, q. v.
AMEND, to free from faults. (F..-L.) M. E. amenden, to
better, repair; Chaucer, C. T. 10510; Ancren Riwle, p. 420. Hence
amendement, Gower, C. A. ii. 373. O. F. amender (mod. F. amender),
to amend, better. Lat. emendare, to free from fault, correct. [For
the unusual change from e to a, see Brachet's Hist. Grammar,
sect. 28.] Lat. e = ex, out out, away from ; and mendum, or
menda, a blemish, fault. 1. On the prefix ex, see Ex-. 2. The
Lat. menda has its counterpart in the Skt. minda, a personal defect ;
Curtius, i. 418 ; Fick, i. 711. The remoter origin is unknown ; but
it is prob. connected with Lat. minor, less, minuere, to diminish.
See Minor. Der. amend-able, amend-ment ; also amends, q. v. And
see Mend.
AMENDS, reparation. (F., L.) M. E. pi. amendes, amendis,
common in the phr. to malten amendes, to make amends ; Will, of
Palerne, 3919; Ayenbite of Inwyt, pp. 113, 148. O.F. amende, re-
paration, satisfaction, a penalty by way of recompense. See
Amend.
AM KNIT Y, pleasantness. (F..-L.) The adj. amen, pleasant,
occurs in Lancelot of the Laik, ed. Skeat, 1. 999 ; spelt amene in a
quotation from Lydgate in Halliwell. Sir T. Browne has amenity.
Vulg. Errors, b. vii. c. 6. 3. F. amenitt, ' amenity, pleasantness ; '
Cot. Lat. ace. amoenitatem, from nom. amoenitas, pleasantness.
Lat. amoenus, pleasant. The root appears in the Lat. amare, to love.
See Amorous.
AMERCE, to fine. (F., L.) M. E. amercien, amercen, to fine,
mulct. ' And thowgh ye mowe amercy hem, late [let] mercy be
taxour ; ' P. Plowman, B. vi. 40. 'Amercyn in a corte or lete, amercio ; '
Prompt. Parv. p. 1 1 . O. F. amercier, to fine ; Roquefort. a. The
Low Latin form is amerciare, to fine (Ducange) ; observe the cita-
tion of amercio above. p. The prefix is the O. F. a-, from Lat. ad,
and the Lat. word should rather have been spelt ammerciare with
double m, as ad- may become am- before a following m, and con-
stantly does so in Italian. O. F. mercier, sometimes ' to pay, acquit,"
according to Roquefort, but the usual sense is ' to thank,' i. e. to
pay in thanks ; cf. Low Lat. merciare, to fix a fine ; Ducange.
O. F. mercit, merchi (mod. F. merci), thanks, pity, compassion, pardon.
[The corresponding Low Lat. mercia means (i) traffic; (2) a fine;
(3) pity ; but is merely the F. merci Latinised, though it is used in
more senses.] The O. F. mercit corresponds to Ital. mercede, Span.
merced, thanks, reward, recompence. Lat. mercedem, ace. case of
merces, reward, hire, wages ; also used of reward in the sense of
punishment ; also of detriment, cost, trouble, pains ; and so easily
passing into the sense of ' fine.' In late times, it acquired also the
sense of ' mercy, pity,' as noted by Ducange, s. v. Merces. Even in
good Latin, it approaches the sense of ' fine,' ' mulct,' very nearly.
See, e. g. Virgil's use of ' mercede suorum,' at the expense of their
people, by the sacrifice of their people, Mn. vii. 316; and cf.
Cicero, Tuscul. 3. 6. 1 2 : ' nam istuc nihil dolere, non sine magna mer-
cede contingit, immanitatis in anima, stuporis in corpore." The only
other Lat. word with which mercia can be connected is merx, and
perhaps in sense (i) it is so connected ; but senses (2) and (3) must go
together. See further under Mercy, [t] ^[ The etymology has
been confused by Blount, in his Law Dictionary, s. v. Amerciament,
and by other writers, who have supposed the F. merci to be connected
with Lat. misericordia (with which it has no connection whatever),
and who have strained their definitions and explanations accordingly.
Der. amerce-ment, amercia-ment ; the latter being a Latinised form.
AMETHYST, a precious stone. (Gk.) 'As for the amethyst, as
well the herb as the stone of that name, they that think that both
the one and the other is (sic) so called because they withstand drunken-
ness, miscount themselves, and are deceived ; ' Holland, tr. of Plu-
tarch's Morals, p. 560. Boyle, Works, vol. i. p. 513, uses the adj.
amethystine. Lat. amethystits, used by Pliny, 37. 9. [Note : directly
from the Latin, the F. form being ametiste in Cotgrave. However, the
form amatiste, from the Old French, is found in the I3th century;
Old. Eng. Miscellany, ed. Morris, p. 98, -1. 171.] Gk. d/iieua*, sb.
a remedy against drunkenness; an amethyst, from its supposed virtue
in that way. Gk. aniBva-ros, adj. not drunken. Gk. d-, privative;
and ntBvuv, to be drunken. Gk. \ii6v, strong drink, wine ; cognate
with E. mead. See Mead. Der. ametlsyst-ine.
AMIABLE, friendly ; worthy of love. (F., L.) ' She was so
AMMUNITION.
21
aimiable and fre ; ' Rom. Rose, 1226. ' The amiable tonge is the tree
of life;' Chaucer, Pers. Tale, De Ira.-O. F. aimiable, friendly; also
loveable, by confusion with aimable (Lat. amabilis). Lat. amicabilis,
friendly, amicable. Lat. arnica-re, to make friendly; with suffix
-bills, used in forming adjectives from verbs. Lat. amicus, a friend ;
prop, an adj., friendly, loving. Lat. ama-re, to love ; with suffix -ka,
Schleicher, Comp. sect. 231. See Amorous. Der. amiable-ness,
amiabl-y; amiabil-i-ty, formed by analogy with amicability, Sec. Amic-
ability and amiability are doublets.
AMICABLE, friendly. (Lat.) In Levins, ed. 1570. Used by
Bp. Taylor, Peacemaker (R.) ; he uses amicableness in the same work.
[Formed with suffix -ble as if from French, but really taken directly
from Latin.] Lat. amicabilis, friendly ; whence the O.F. aimiable. Thus
amicable and amiable are doublets. See Amiable. Der. amicabl-y,
amicable-ness.
AMICE, a robe for pilgrims, &c. (F., L.) 'Came forth, with
pilgrim steps, in amice gray;' Milton, P. R. iv. 427. F. amict, 'an
amid, or amice ; part of a massing priest's habit ; ' Cot. The O. F.
also has the forms amicte and amis (Burguy) ; the latter of which
comes nearest to the English. -Lat. amictus, a garment thrown about
one. Lat. amictus, pp. ofamicire, to throw round one, wrap about.
Lat. am-, short for amb-, ambi-, around ; and iacere, to cast. [Cf.
eiicere, to cast out, from e, out, and iacere.'] For the prefix ambi-, see
Ambidextrous ; for the Lat. iacere, see Jet.
AMID, AMIDST, in the middle of. (E.) Amidst is common
in Milton, P. L. i. 791 ; &c. He also uses amid. Shak. also has
both forms, a. A midst is not found in earlier English, and the final
t is merely excrescent (as often after s), as in whilst, amongst, from
the older forms whiles, amonges. ft. The M. E. forms are amiddes,
P. Plowman, B. xiii. 82 ; in middes, Pricke of Conscience, 2938 ;
amidde, Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 143 ; on midden, O. Eng. Homilies, i. 87.
y. Of these, the correct type is the earliest, viz. on midden ; whence
on-midde, a-midde were formed by the usual loss of final n, and the
change of on to a, as in abed, afoot, asleep. 8. The form amiddes
was produced by adding the adverbial suffix -s, properly the sign of
a gen. case, but commonly used to form adverbs. A. S. on middan, in
the middle ; see examples in Grein, ii. 349, s. v. midde. Here on is
the prep. (mod. E. on), used, as often elsewhere, with the sense of
' in ; ' and middan is the dat. case of midde, sb. the middle ; formed
from the adj. mid, middle, cognate with Lat. medins. See Middle.
AMISS, adv. wrongly. (E. and Scand.) o. In later authors awk-
wardly used as a sb. ; thus 'urge not ray amiss;' Shak. Sonn. 151.
But properly an adverb, as in ' That he ne doth or saith somtym
amis;' Chaucer, C. T. 11092. The error was due to the fact that
misse, without a-, meant ' an error ' in early times, as will appear.
P. Amiss stands for M. E. on misse, lit. in error, where on (from A. S.
on) has the usual sense of ' in,' and passes into the form a-, as in so
many other cases ; cf. abed, afoot, asleep. y. Also misse is the dat.
case from nom. misse, a dissyllabic word, not used as or sb. in A. S.,
but borrowed from the Icel. missa, a loss ; also used with the notion
of 'error' in composition, as in Icel. mis-taka, to take in error, whence
E. mistake. The M. E. misse hence acquired the sense of ' guilt,'
' offence,' as in ' to mende my misse,' to repair my error ; Will, of
Paleme, 532. See Miss.
AMITY, friendship. (F..-L.) Udal, Pref. to St. Marke, has
amitie (R.) F. amitie, explained by Cotgrave to mean ' amity, friend-
ship,' &c. O. F. amiste, amisted, amistied ; = Span, amistad, Ital. amista
(for amistate). Low Lat. amicitatem, ace. of amicitas, friendship, a
vulgar form, not recorded by Ducange, but formed by analogy with
mendicitas from mendicus, antiquitas from antiquns; see Brachet. Lat.
amicus, friendly. Lat. ama-re, to love, with suffix -Ha. See Amiable,
Amorous. ^f It is of course impossible to derive the old Ro-
mance forms from Lat. amicitia, friendship, the classical form, [t]
AMMONIA, an alkali. (Gk.) A modem word, adopted as a
contraction of sal ammoniac, Lat. sal ammoniacitm, rock-salt ; common
in old chemical treatises, and still more so in treatises on alchemy.
[Chaucer speaks of sal armoniac, C. T. Group G, 798, 824; and in
the Theatrum Chemicum we often meet with sal armeniacum, i. e.
Armenian salt. This, however, would seem to be due to corruption
or confusion.] Gk. anfiaviaicov, sal ammoniac, rock-salt ; Diosco-
rides. Gk. d/^euwds, Libyan. Gk.'A/^oii'.theLibyan Zeus-Ammon;
said to be an Egyptian word ; Herodotus, ii. 42. It is said that sal
ammoniac was first obtained near the temple of Jupiter Ammon. [t]
AMMONITE, a kind of fossil shell. (Gk.) Modern. Formed
by adding the suffix -i'.e to the name.4mmon. The fossil is some-
times called by the Lat. name of cornu Ammonis, the hom of Ammon,
because it much resembles a closely twisted ram's horn, and was fan-
cifully likened to the horns of Jupiter Ammon, who was represented
as a man with the horns of a ram. See above.
AMMUNITION, store for defence. (Lat.) Used by Bacon.
Advice to Sir G. Villiers (R.) [Formed with F. suffix -lion, but bor-
22
AMNESTY.
rowed from late Latin.] Low Lat. admunitionem, ace. of admunitio
defence, fortification. [The change of adm- to amm- in Latin words
is not uncommon, and is the rule in Italian.] Lat. ad-, to ; and mit-
nilio, defence. Lat. namire, to fortify, esp. to defend with a wall ;
originally spelt moenire, and connected with Lat. moenia, walls, forti-
fications, ^f Curtius connects this with Gk. dfivveiv, to keep off,
and suggests y'MU, possibly meaning ' to bind ; ' i. 403. Otherwise
Fick, i. 724. [*]
AMNESTY, a pardon of offenders j lit. a forgetting of offences.
(F., Gk.) Used in the Lat. form amnestia by Howell, b. iii. letter 6.
Barrow has amnesty, vol. iii. serm. 41. F. amnestic, which Cotgrave
explains by ' forgetfulness of things past.' Lat. amnestia, merely a
Latinised form of the Gk. word. [Ducange gives amnescia, but this
form is probably due to the fact that / is constantly mistaken for c in
MSS., and is frequently so printed.] Gk. d/wi/orta, a forgetfulness,
esp. of wrong; hence, an amnesty. Gk. a.\un\<nos, forgotten, unre-
membered. Gk. a-, privative; and uvdo/mt, I remember; from a
stem mad, which is a secondary form from an older MAN ; cf.
Lat. me-min-i, I remember. y'MAN, to think; cf. Skt. man, to
o. The form amongst,
like amidst, is not very old, and has assumed an additional final /,
such as is often added after s; cf. whilst, amidst, from the older
forms whiles, amiddes. Amongist occurs in Torrent of Portugal, 1.
2 1 26 ; but I suppose it does not occur earlier than near the end of
the fourteenth century. p. The usual form is amonges, as in P.
Plowman, B. v. 1 29 ; amonge is also common, id. v. 169. Earlier, the
commonest form is among, Ancren Riwle, p. 158. y. Amonges is
formed by adding the usual adverbial suffix -es, properly a genitive
form, and amonge by adding the adverbial suffix -e, also common,
properly a dative form. A. S. onmang, prep, among, Levit. xxiv. 10 ;
the forms on gemang (John, iv. 31) and gemang (Mark, iii. 3) also
occur, the last of the three being commonest. B. Thus the prefix
is A. S. on, and the full form onmang, used as a preposition. Like
most prepositions, it originated with a substantive, viz. A. S. (ge)mang,
a crowd, assembly, lit. a mixture ; so that on mang(e) or on gemang(e)
meant 'in a crowd;' cf. A. S. mengan, mcengan, to mix ; Grein, ii. 331.
See Mingle.
AMOROUS, full of love. (F..-L.)
think. See Mean, v.
AMONG, AMONGST, amidst. (E.)
Gower has amorous, C.
A. i. 89 ; it also occurs in the Romaunt of the Rose, 83. O. F.
amoros, mod. F. amoureux. Low Lat. amorosus, full of love ; Du-
cange. Formed with the common Lat. suffix -ostis from the stem
amor-. Lat. amor-, stem of amor, love. Lat. amare, to love,
^f There seems little doubt that this Lat. word has lost an original
initial k, and that Lat. am-are stands for cam-are ; cf. Lat. carus, dear,
which stands for camrus, cognate with Skt. kamra, beautiful, charm-
ing ; Benfey, p. 158. Thus Lat. am-are is cognate with Skt. kam, to
love ; and Lat. amor with Skt. kdma, love (also the god of love, like
Amor 'in Latin). ^KAM, to love ; Fick, i. 296. 4w A similar
loss of initial It has taken place in the English word ape, q. v. Der.
amorous-ly, amorous-ness. Also F. amour, love (now used in Eng.),
from Lat. amorem, ace. case of amor, love.
AMORPHOUS, formless. (Gk.) Modern. Formed from Gk.
a-, privative; and Gk. no/xpfi, shape, form. Possibly from the
^MAPn, to grasp, in iMfwrtiv ; Curtius, ii. 62.
AMOUNT, to mount up to. (F., L.) M. E. amounten, to mount
up to, come up to, esp. in reckoning. Chaucer, C. T. 3899, 4989,
10422 ; Rob. of Glouc. 497. We find amuntet, ascends, in Old Eng.
Miscellany, ed. Morris, p. 28. O. F. amonter, to amount to. O. F.
a mant, towards or to a mountain, to a large heap. [The adv. amont
is also common, in the sense of ' uphill,' ' upward,' and is formed by
joining a with mont.'] Lat. ad montem, lit. to a mountain ; where
montem is the ace. case of mons, a mountain. See Mount,
Mountain. Der. amount, sb.
AMPHI-, prefix. (Gk.) The strict sense is ' on both sides.' -
Gk. diufii, on both sides ; also, around. + Lat. ambi-, amb-, on both
sides, around ; see Ambidextrous, where other cognate forms are
given. Der. amphi-bious, amphi-brach, amphi-theatre.
AMPHIBIOUS, living both on land and in water. (Gk.) In
Sir T. Browne's Vulg. Errors, bk. iii. c. 13. 8. Gk. d/upifiios, living a
double life, i. e. both on land and water. Gk. diupi, here used in the
sense of ' double ; ' and plot, life, from the same root as the Lat.
uiuidus ; see Vivid. On the prefix Amphi-, see above.
AMPHIBRACH, a foot in prosody. (Gk.) A name given, in
prosody, to a foot composed of a short syllable on each side of a long
one (o-<j). Gk. d^i<l>lfipaxvs, the same. Gk. d/uj>t, on both sides;
and fipaxvs, short ; cognate with Lat. breuis, short, whence E. brief.
See Amphi-, and Brief.
AMPHITHEATRE, an oval theatre. (Gk.) From Gk. d^,-
Otarpov, a theatre with seats all round the arena. [Properly neuter
Irom dpitfiSiarpos, i.e. seeing all round.] -Gk. afitfu, on both sides;
ANAGRAM.
and Biarpov, a theatre, place for seeing shows. Gk. Otaojuu, I see.
*/ <S>kf, to look, stare at ; Curtius, i. 314.
AMPLE, full, large. (F.,-L.) Used by Hall, Hen. VIII, an. 31.
Fox and Udal use the obsolete derivative ampliate, and Buraet has
ampliation ; from Lat. ampliare, to augment. F. ample, which Cot-
grave explains by ' full, ample, wide, large,' &c. Lat. ampins, large,
spacious. ^f Explained by Corssen (i. 368, ii. 575) as ~ ambi-pultis,
i.e. full on both sides; where pulus=para, full; see Amphi- and
Full. Der. ampli-tude ; ampli-fy (F. amplifier, from Lat. amplificare) ;
ampli-fic-at-ion ; see 'amplifier and amplification in Cotgrave. Also
ampl-y, ample-ness.
AMPUTATE, to cut off round about, prune. (Lat.) Sir T.
Browne has amputation, Vulg. Errors, b. iv. c. 5. J. On the suffix -ate,
see Abbreviate. Lat. amputare, to cut off round about, pp. amput-
attis. Lat. am-, short for amb-, ambi-, round about (on which see
Ambidextrous) ; and Lat. putare, to cleanse, also to lop or prune
trees. Lat. pufus, pure, clean ; from the same root as Pure, q. v.
See Curtius, i. 349. Der. amputat-ion.
AMULET, a charm against evil. (F., L., Arabic.) Used by
SirT. Browne, Vulg. Errors, b. ii. c. 5, part 3. F. amulette, ' a counter-
charm ; ' Cot. Lat. amuletum, a talisman, esp. one hung round the
neck (Pliny). Of Arabic origin ; cf. Arab, himdyil, a sword-belt ;
a small Koran suspended round the neck as an amulet ; Palmer's
Pers. Diet. col. 204 ; Richardson explains it as ' a shoulder sword-
belt, an amulet, charm, preservative,' Pers. and Arab. Diet., ed. 1806,
p. 382. The literal sense is 'a thing carried.' Arab, liamala, he
carried ; cf. Arab, hammdl, a porter, hand, a burthen ; Palmer's Pers.
Diet. coll. 203, 204. And see Pihan, Glossaire des Mots Franjais
tire's de 1'Arabe, p. 38.
AMUSE, to engage, divert. (F.) Milton has amus'd, P. L. vi.
581, 623 ; it also occurs in Holland's Plutarch, p. 345. F. amuser,
' to amuse, to make to muse or think of; wonder or gaze at ; to put
into a dump ; to stay, hold, or delay from going forward by discourse,
questions, or any other amusements ; ' Cot. F. a-, prefix (Lat. ad),
at ; and O. F. muser, to stare, gaze fixedly, like a simpleton, whence
E. muse, verb, used by Chaucer, C. T. Group B, 1033. See Muse, v.
Der. amus-ing, amus-ing-ly, amuse-ment ; also amus-ive, used in Thom-
son's Seasons, Spring, 216.
AN, A, the indef. article. (E.) The final is occasionally pre-
served before a consonant in Layamon's Brut, which begins with the
words 'An preost wes on leoden,' where the later text has 'A prest
was in londe.' This shews that the loss of before a consonant was
taking place about A.D. 1200. A. S. an, often used as the indef.
article ; see examples in Grein, i. 30 ; but properly having the sense
of ' one,' being the very word from which mod. E. one is derived.
See One.
AN-, A-, negative prefix. (Gk.) Gk. dv-, d-, negative prefix, of which
the full form is dva- ; see Curtius, i. 381. Cognate with the Skt. an-,
a-, Zend ana-, an-, a-, Lat. in-, G. and E. un-, O. Irish an-, all negative
prefixes. See Un-. The form an- occurs in several words in English,
e. g. an-archy, an-ecdote, an-eroid, an-odyne, an-omaly, an-onymous. The
form a- is still commoner ; e. g. a-byss, a-chromatic, a-maranth, a-sym-
plote, a-tom, a-sylum.
AN, if. (Scand.) See And.
ANA-, AN-, prefix. (Gk.) It appears as an- in an-eurism, a
kind of tumour. The usual form is ana-, as in ana-logy, ana-baptist.
From Gk. dva, upon, on, often up ; also back, again ; it has the same
form ana in Gothic, and is cognate with E. on. See On.
ANABAPTIST, one who baptises again. (Gk.) Used by
Hooker, Eccl. Polity, v. 62. Formed by prefixing the Gk. dva,
again, to baptist. See above, and Baptist. So also ana-baptism.
ANACHRONISM, an error in chronology. (Gk.) Used by
Walpole ; Anecd. of Painting, vol. i. c. 2. From Gk. dvaxpovtopus,
an anachronism. Gk. dvaxpovifnv, to refer to a wrong time. Gk.
dva, up, sometimes used in composition in the sense of ' back-
wards ; ' and xpf> vos t time. See Ana- and Chronic.
ANAESTHETIC, a substance used to render persons insensible
to pain. (Gk.) Modem. Formed by prefixing the Gk. dv-, cognate
with E. un-, a negative prefix, to Gk. alaOTjTinijs, perceptive, full of
perception. See ./Esthetics.
ANAGRAM, a change in a word due to transposition of letters.
(F., Gk.) Ben Jonson, in his Masque of Hymen, speaks of ' 1UNO,
whose great name Is UNIO in the anagram.' F. anagramme (Cot-
grave). Lat. anagramma, borrowed from Gk. Gk. dvaypaf^na, an
anagram. Gk. dva, up, which is also used in a diftribntive sense ; and
ypanna, a written character,-letter. Gk. -fpcufxtv, to write, originally
to cut, scratch marks ; allied to E. grave. See Grave. Der. ana-
gramm-at-ic-al, anagramm-at-ic-al-ly, atiagramm-at-ist. ^f Examples
of anagrams. Gk. 'Apaivorj, Arsinoe, transposed to lov "Upas, Hera's
violet. Lat. Galenas, Galen, transposed to angelus, an angel. E. Jof.n
Btmyan, who transposed his name to Nit hony in a B I [-f]
ANALOGY
ANALOGY, proportion, correspondence. (F., Gk.) Tyndal
has analogic, Works, p. 473. F. analogic; Cot. Lat. analogia.
Gk. ava\o-/ia, equality of ratios, correspondence, analogy. Gk. ova,
up, upon, throughout ; and a form \ayla, made by adding the suffix
-ya ( = Gk. in) to the stem of \6y-os, a word, a statement, account,
proportion. Gk. \iyttv, to speak. See Logic. Der. analog-ic-al,
analog-ic-al-ly, analog-ise, analog-ism, analog-ist, analog-ous ; also ana-
logue (F. analogue, prop, an adj. signifying analogous, from Gk. adj.
dva\oyos, proportionate, conformable), [t]
ANALYSE, to resolve into parts. (Gk.) Sir T. Browne, Hy-
driotaphia, c. 3, says ' what the sun compoundeth, fire analyseth, not
transmuteth.' Ben Jonson has analytic. Poetaster, A. v. sc. i. Cot-
grave gives no related word in French, and perhaps the F. analyser is
comparatively modem. Most likely the word analytic was borrowed
directly from the Gk. dva\vrix6s, and the verb to analyse may easily
have been formed directly from the sb. analysis, i. e. Gk. ava\vatt, a
loosening, resolving. Gk. ava^utiv, to loosen, undo, resolve. Gk.
dva, back ; and \iitv, to loosen. See Loosen. Der. analys-t ; the
words analysis and analytic are directly from the Gk. ; from the last
are formed analytic-al, analytic-al-ly.
ANAPEST, ANAP-ffiST, the name of a foot in prosody.
(Gk.) Only used in reference to prosody. Lat. anapastus, Gk.
dvdirataTos, struck back, rebounding; because the foot is the reverse of a
dactyl. Gk. dvairaifiv, to strike back or again. Gk. dva ; and Traiav,
to strike.-./ PAW, to strike; cf. Lat. pauire, to strike, beat; Skt.
pavi, the thunderbolt of Indra. Curtius, i. 333. Fick gives ^ PU, to
strike ; i. 146. ^ There are, strictly, no anapests in English, our
metre being regulated by accent, not by quantity. An anapest is
marked ^ v -, the reverse of the dactyl, or - v u.
ANARCHY, want of government in a state. (F., - Gk.) Milton
has anarch, P. L. ii. 988 ; and anarchy, P. L. ii. 896. F. anarchic,
' an anarchy, a commonwealth without a head or govemour ; ' Cot.
Gk. dvapxia, a being avapxos. Gk. dvapxot, without head or chief.
Gk. dv- (E. -) ; and dp\6s, a ruler. Gk. apxcv, to rule, to be
the first ; cognate, according to Curtius (i. 233), with Skt. arh, to be
worthy. Der. anarch-ic, anarch-ic-al, anarch-ism, anarch-ist.
ANATHEMA, a curse. (L.,-Gk.) Bacon, Essay on Good-
ness, refers to anathema as used by St. Paul. Lat. anathema, in the
Vulgate version of Rom. ix. 3. Gk. dvaOina, lit. a thing devoted ;
hence, a thing devoted to evil, accursed. Gk. dvariffrifu, I devote.
Gk. dva, up; and Tiffrjfii, I lay, place, put. ^DHA, to put, set;
see Doom. Der. anathemat-ise (from stem dvaSffMT- of sb. dvaO(fM)
in Sir T. Herbert's Travels, ed. 1665, p. 348.
ANATOMY, the art of dissection. (F., - Gk.) Anatomy, in old
writers, commonly means ' a skeleton,' as being a thing on which
anatomy has been performed ; see Shak. Com. Errors, v. 238. Gas-
coigne has a poem on The Anatomye of a Lover. F. anatomic, ' ana-
tomy; a section of, and looking into, all parts of the body;
also, an anatomy, or carkass cut up ; ' Cot. Lat. anatomia. Gk. dra-
ro/ua, of which a more classical form is avarop.-^, dissection. Gk.
uvaripvuv, to cut up, cut open. Gk. dva ; and rip.vfiv, to cut. See
Tome. Der. anatom-ic-al, anatom-ise, anatom-ist. [1"]
ANCESTOR, a predecessor, forefather. (F..-L.) 1. M. E. an-
cessour, ancestre, auncestre. Chaucer has auncestre, C. T. 6713, 6741.
A ncestre, Rob. of Brunne's tr. of Langtoft, p. 9 ; ancessour, id. p.
177. P. Ancestor is formed from ancessour by the insertion of excres-
cent /, not uncommon after s ; as in whilst, amongst, from the older
whiles, amonges. O. F. ancessour, a predecessor. Lat. antece*sorem,
ace. case of antecessor, a fore-goer. Lat. ante, before ; and cedere, pp.
cesftis, to go. See Cede. Der. anceslr-al, ancestr-y, ancestr-ess.
ANCHOR, a hooked iron instrument to hold a ship in its place.
(F., L., Gk.) M.E. anker, Havelok, 521. [The word was ori-
ginally from the French, but the spelling has been modified to make
it look more like the Latin.] O. F. ancre (mod. F. ancre), an anchor.
Lat. ancora, sometimes spelt anchora, which is not so good a form.
Gk. a-ficvpa, an anchor; Max Mu'ller, Lectures, i. 108, note; 8th
ed. [Curtius, i. 160, cites a Lat. form ancns, having a crooked arm ;
which is, of course, closely related to Lat. uncus, a hook, Gk. 07*05,
a bend, Gk. dyicwv, a bend; also to Skt. anch, to bend.] ^AK,
ANK, to bend, curve; Fick, i. 6. See Angle, a hook. Der.
anchor, verb, anchor-age.
ANCHORET, ANCHORITE, a recluse, hermit. (F.,-Gk.)
The former is the better spelling. 1. The M. E. has the form ancre,
which is rather common, and used by Wyclif, Langland, and others ;
esp. in the phrase Ancren Riwle, i.e. the rule of (female) anchorets,
the title of a work written early in the I3th century. Shak. has an-
chor, Hamlet, iii. t. 229. This M. E. word is modified from the A. S.
ancra, or ancer, a hermit.- 2. The A. S. ancer-lif, i.e. 'hermit-life'
is used to translate the Lat. uita anachoretica in Beda's Eccl. Hist. iv.
28 ; and the word ancer is no native word, but a mere corruption of
the Low Lat. anachoreta, a hermit, recluse. 3. The more modern
ANDIRON.
23
form anchoret, which occurs in Burton's Anat. of Melan. p. 125 (ed.
1827), is from the French. F. anachorete, 'the hermit called an
ankrosse [corruption of anltress, a female anker or anchoret] or an-
chorite ; ' Cot. Low Lat. anachoreta, a recluse. Gk. draxiu/n/Tijj, a
recluse, lit. one who has retired from the world. Gk. dvax<op( iv, to
retire. Gk. dvd, back ; and x^/x'"", X""?""! t withdraw, make
room. Gk. xGipot, space, room ; related to x""/" 8 ' asunder, apart ;
also to Skt. hd, to abandon, leave, forsake ; Curtius, i. 247. ^ GHA,
to abandon, leave ; Fick, i. 78. [t]
ANCHOVY, a small fish. (Span.) Formerly written anchove.
Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, speaks of 'sausages, anchoves,
tobacco, caveare; ' p. 106, ed. 1827. Span, (and Portug.) anchova.
^f Remoter origin uncertain. Mahn (in Webster) says ' a word of
Iberian origin, lit. a dried or pickled fish, from Biscayan antzua, an-
chua, anchuva, dry.' I find the Basque forms anchda, dnchua, anchova,
signifying 'anchovy,' in the Diet. Francis-Basque by M.-H.-L.
Fabre. Again, in the Diccionaria Trilingue del padre Manuel de
Larramendi, in Spanish, Basque, and Latin, I find : ' Seco, aplicado
a los pechos de la muger, antzua, antzutua, Lat. siccus,' i. e. dry,
applied to a woman's breasts, Basque antzua, anlzutua, Lat. siccus.
Perhaps Mahn's suggestion is correct.
ANCIENT (i), old. (F., - L.) Skelton has auncyently, Works, ed.
Dyce, i. 7. The M. E. form is auncien, Mandeville, p. 93 ; thus the
final / is excrescent, as in tyrant. O. F. ancien (mod. F. ancien), old ;
cognate with Ital. anziano, Span, anciano. Low Lat. atitianus, old,
Ducange. Formed by Lat. suffix -anus from Lat. ante. Lat. ante,
before. See Ante-. Der. ancient-ly, ancient-ness.
ANCIENT (2), a banner, standard-bearer. (F..-L.) In Shak.
I Hen. IV, iv. 2. 34 ; cf. Oth. i. I. 33. Here (as above) the t is ex-
crescent, and ancient stands for ancien, prob. a corruption of O. F.
enseigne, 'an ensigne, auncient, standard-bearer;' Cot. See Ensign.
AND, copulative conjunction. (E.) Common from the earliest
times. A. S. and, also written oBrf.+ O. Sax. ende, and. +O. Fries.
ande, and, an, end, en. + Du. B.+ Icel. enda, if, even if, moreover
(rather differently used, but the same word).+ O. H. G. anti, enti,
IB/I, unli ; mod. G. und. ^f 1. The remoter origin does not seem
to have been satisfactorily traced, but it can hardly be separated from
the A. S. prefix and- (occurring in along and answer), and the Gothic
prefix and-, which are clearly related to the Lat. ante, before, Gk.
dini, over against, Skt. anti, a Vedic form, equivalent to Gk. &VTI,
over against ; (see antita, vicinity, in Benfey's Skt. Diet. p. 28.) This
sense of ' over against ' is fairly well preserved in G. entgegen, and in
the A. S. andswarian, E. an-s-wer ; and from this sense to its use as a
copulative conjunction is an easy step. See Answer. 2. The
Icelandic use of enda in the sense not only of ' moreover,' but of ' if,'
is the obvious origin of the use of the M. E. and in the sense of ' if.'
Thus we have in Havelok, a poem with marked Scandinavianisms,
the sentence, 'And thou wile my conseil tro, Ful wel shal ich with
the do ; ' i. e. if you will trust my counsel, I will do very well by
you ; 1. 2861. 3. In order to differentiate the senses, i.e. to mark
off the two meanings of and more readily, it became at last usual to
drop the final d when the word was used in the sense of ' if ; ' a use
very common in Shakespeare. Thus Shakespeare's an is nothing but
a Scandinavian use of the common word and. When the force of an
grew misty, it was reduplicated by the addition of ' if ; ' so that an if,
really meaning ' if-if,' is of common occurrence. Neither is there
anything remarkable in the use of and if as another spelling of an
if; and it has been preserved in this form in a well-known passage in
the Bible : ' But and if,' Matt. xxiv. 48. 4. There is, perhaps, an
etymological connection with end. See End.
ANDANTE, slow, slowly. (Ital.) A musical term. Borrowed
from Ital. andante, adj. going ; sb. a moderate movement. It is pro-
perly the pres. part, of the verb andare, to go. Probably from the
same root as E. alley. See Alley.
ANDIRON, a kitchen fire-dog. (F.) The M. E. forms are nu-
merous, as anderne, aunderne, anndirne, aundire, awndyern, &c. In the
Prompt. Parv. p. 19, we have 'Awnderne, awndyryn, awndyrn, andena,
ipoporgium.' In Wright's Vocabularies, p. 171, we have 'Aundyrnes,
les chenes;' and at p. 176, 'A aundyre, andena.' [It is clear that
the ending -iVon is a corruption, upon English soil, in order to give
the word some sort of sense in English ; such corruptions are not
uncommon.] The form aundyre comes very near to the original
French. O. F. andier(mod. F.landier, i. e. fandier, the article being
prefixed as in lierre, ivy, from Lat. hedera), a fire-dog. ^[ The
remoter origin is obscure ; but it may be noted that the Low Lat.
forms are numerous, viz. andasium, a fire-dog, prop for supporting
the logs, and, with the same sense, andedus, andena (quoted above in
the extract from the Prompt. Parv.), anderia, anderius. The F. form
corresponds with the two last of these. The form andasium closely
corresponds with Span, andas, a frame or bier on which to carry a
person ; cf. Portuguese andas, ' a bier, or rather, the two poles belonging
24
ANECDOTE.
to it,' Vieyra ; also Port, andor, ' a bier to carry images in a proces-
sion, a sort of sedan ; ' id. The various forms so persistently retain
the stem and- as to point to the Span, and Port, andar, Ital. aridare,
O. F. aner, to go, walk, step, move, be carried about, as the source.
See Alley. 2. No certain origin of this word has been given. We
may, however, easily see that the E. iron formed, originally, no part
of it. We can tell, at the same time, how it came to be added, viz.
by confusion with the A. S. brand-ism, lit. a ' brand-iron,' which had
the same meaning, and became, at a later time, not only brondiron
but brondyre. The confusion was inevitable, owing to the similarity
of form and identity of use. See references in Koch, Eng. Gram. iii.
161 ; but he fails to give a full account of the word, [f]
ANECDOTE, a story in private life. (F.,-Gk.) Used by
Steme, Serm. 5. Not in early use. F. anecdote, not in Cotgrave.
Gk. dvfKooros, unpublished ; so that our word means properly ' an un-
published story,' ' a piece of gossip among friends.' Gk. av- (E.
KH-) ; and (KOOTOS, given out. Gk. in, out, and StSai/u, I give ; from
the same root as E. Donation, q. v. Der. anecdot-al, anecdot-ic-al.
ANEMONE, the name of a flower. (Gk.) It means the 'wind-
flower ; ' in Greek dvffiwvri, the accent in E. being now wrongly
placed on e instead of o. Gk. ovf/tos, the wind. From the same root
as Animate, q. v.
ANENT, regarding, near to, beside. (E.) Nearly obsolete, ex-
cept in Northern English. M. E. anent, anende, anendes, anentis, &c.
[The forms anendes, anentis, were made by adding the suffix -es, -is,
orig. the sign of a gen. case, but frequently used as an adverbial
suffix.] Anent is a contraction of anefent, or onefent, which occurs in
the Ancren Riwle, p. 164, as another reading for anonde. In this
form, the t is excrescent, as commonly after n (cf. tyrant, ancient), and
the true form is one/en or onefen. A. S. on-efen, prep, near ; some-
times written on-emn, by contraction ; Grein, i. 218, 225. A. S. on,
prep, in, and efen, even, equal ; so that on-efen meant originally ' on
an equality with,' or ' even with.' See Even. ^f The cognate G.
neben, beside, is similarly derived from G. in, in, and eben, even ; and,
to complete the analogy, was sometimes spelt nebent. See Matzner,
Worterbuch ; Stratmann, Old Eng. Diet., s. v. anefen, and esp. Koch,
Engl. Gramm. v. ii. p. 389.
ANEROID, dry ; without liquid mercury ; applied to a barome-
ter. (Gk.) M odem. Gk. d-, privative ; vrjpo-f, wet ; and d5-os, form.
Gk. v&ftv, to flow. + Skt. snu, to flow. ^SNU, to flow; allied to
^ SNA. to wash, bathe, swim. See Curtius, i. 396 ; Fick, i. 250.
ANEURISM, a tumour produced by the dilatation of the coats of
an artery. (Gk.) Formed as if from aneurisma, put for aneurysma,
a Latinised form of Gk. dvfvpvana, a widening. Gk. dva, up ; and
(vpvvfiv, to widen. Gk. (iipvf, wide. + Skt. uru, large, wide. (Fick
gives the Aryan form as varu, wide ; i. 2 1 3.) ^ WAR, to cover ; cf.
Skt. mi, to cover, to surround.
ANEW, newly. (E.) A corruption of M. E. of-newe, used by
Chaucer, C. T. Group E, 938. Cf. adown for A. S. ofdune. Here o/is
the A. S. of, prep., and new is our mod. E. new ; the final -e being an
adverbial suffix, as usual.
ANGEL, a divine messenger. (L., Gk.) In very early use.
A. S. angel, engel, an angel; Grein, i. 227; borrowed from Lat. an-
geltis. Gk. ayyfXos, lit. a messenger ; hence, an angel. Cf. ayyapos,
a mounted courier, which is an old Persian word. Fick, ii. 13, cites
a Skt. form anjiras, a messenger from the gods to men, an angel.
Der. angel-ic, angel-ic-al, angel-ic-al-ly.
ANGER., excitement due to a sense of injury. (Scand.) In Mid.
Eng. the word is more passive in its use, and denotes ' affliction,'
'trouble,' 'sore vexation.' ' If he here thole anger and wa' = if he
suffer here affliction and woe; Hampole's Pricke of Conscience, 3517.
Icel. angr, grief, sorrow. + Dan. anger, compunction, regret. +
Swed. Anger, compunction, regret. + Lat. angor, a strangling, bodily
torture ; also mental torture, anguish ; from angere, to strangle. Cf.
A. S. ange, oppressed, sad ; Gk. ayxfv, to strangle ; Skt. anihas, pain,
Benfey, p. i, closely related to Skt. aglia, sin. v'AGH, and (nasal-
ised) ^ANGH, to choke, oppress. See Curtius, i. 234; Fick, i. 9.
Der. angr-y, angr-i-ly; from the same root, anguish, anxious, awe,
ugly ; also quinsy, q. v. ; and Lat. angina.
ANGINA, severe suffering. (Lat.) Borrowed from Lat. angina,
lit. ' a choking,' from angere, to strangle. See above.
ANGLE(i), abend, a comer. (F..-L.) Chaucer has angles, C. T.
Group F. 230 ; also angle, as a term of astrology (Lat. angulus), id.
263. O.F. angle (mod. F. angle), an angle. Lat. angulus, an angle.
+ Gk. a-ficvKoi, crooked. From the same root as the next word.
Der. angul-ar, angul-ar-ly, angul-ar-i-ty; all from the Lat. angul-aris,
which from angulus.
ANGLE (2), a fishing-hook. (E.) In very early use. A. S. angel,
Mat. xvii. 27. + Dan. angel, a fishing-hook. + G. angel, the same.
Cf. Lat. uncus, a hook, Gk. 6-y/cos, aytcuv, a bend ; Skt. anch, to bend.
- V AK, ANK, to bend, curve ; Fick, i. 6. From the same root
ANNEAL.
comes the word above ; also Anchor, q. v. Der. angle, vb., angl-er,
angl-ing.
ANGRY, i. e. anger-y ; Chaucer, C. T. 1 2893. See Anger.
ANGUISH, oppression; great pain. (F., L.) M. E. anguis,
anguise, angoise, &c. Spelt anguys in Pricke of Conscience, 2240;
anguysse, Rob. of Glouc. p. 177; anguise, Ancren Riwle, p. 178.
O.F. anguisse, angoisse, mod. F. angoisse, anguish. Lat. angustia,
narrowness, poverty, perplexity. Lat. angustus, narrow. Lat. angere,
to stifle, choke, strangle. + Gk. ayxttv, to strangle. VANGH,
nasalised form of VAGH, to choke. See Anger, which is from
the same root. <|f From the same root we have also anxious, the
Lat. angina, awe, ugly, and even quinsy ; see Max Miiller, Lectures, i.
435, 8th edit.
ANILE, old-woman-like. (Lat.) Used by Walpole, Catalogue of
Engravers; Steme, Serm. 21, has anility. Not in early use. -Lat.
anilis, like an old woman. Lat. anus, an old woman. See Fick, i. 6.
ANIMADVERT, to criticise, censure. (Lat.) Lit. 'to turn
the mind to.' Lat. animaduertere, to turn the mind to, pp. anim-
aduersus. Lat. anim-us, the mind ; ad, to ; and uertere, to turn. For
roots, see Animate and Verse. Der. animadvers-ion, in Ben Jon-
son's Discoveries, sect, headed Notse domini Sti. Albani, &c.
ANIMAL, a living creature. (L.) In Hamlet, ii. 2. 320. Lat.
animal, a breathing creature. Lat. anima, breath. See below. Der.
animal-ism, animnl-cule.
ANIMATE , to endue with life. (Lat.) Used by Hall, Edw. IV.
an. 8. Lat. animatits, pp. of animare, to give life to. Lat. anima.
breath, life. ^ AN, to breathe; which appears not only in the Skt.
an, to breathe, blow, live ; but also in Goth, us-anan, to breathe out,
expire, Mark xv. 37, 39 ; and in Icel. anda, to breathe, and, breath,
whence Lowland Scotch aynd, breath. Der. animat-ed, animal-ion.
ANIMOSITY, vehemence of passion, prejudice. (F..-L.) Bp.
Hall, Letter of Apology, has the pi. animosities. F. animosite, ' ani-
mosity, stoutness ; ' Cot. Lat. ace. animositatem, from nom. animo-
sitas, ardour, vehemence. Lat. animosus, full of spirit. Lat. animus,
mind, courage. + Gk. dvcpot, breath, wind. ^ AN, to breathe. See
Animate. ^[ The Lat. animus is now used as an Eng. word.
ANISE, a medicinal herb. (F.,-L.,-Gk.) In Matt, xxiii. 2 3, the
Wycliffite versions have both anese and anete. In Wright's Lyric
Poetry, p. 26, we find anys ; and in Wright's Vocabularies, i. 227, is :
' Hoc anisium, anys.' F. ants, anise ; see Cotgrave. Lat. anisum (or
anisium), usually spelt anethum (whence Wyclif 's anete). Gk. aviaov.
avqaov, usually spelt av^6ov, anise, dill. Perhaps the word is of
Oriental origin ; on the other hand, the word ankun, given in Richard-
son's Arabic and Pers. Diet., is marked as being a Greek word.
ANKER, a liquid measure of 8 to 10 gallons. (Dutch.) Mentioned
in Bailey's Diet., vol. ii. ed. 1731, as in use at Amsterdam. Du.
anker, the same. + Swed. ankare. + G. anker. There is also a Low
Lat. anceria, a keg, a small vat, which is plainly the same word.
Probably the root is the same as that of anchor, viz. ANK, the
nasalised form of ^ AK, to bend, curve, Fick, i. 6 ; and the vessel
has its name from its rounded shape. Both in Du. and Ger. the word
anker signifies both ' anker ' and 'anchor; ' so too Swed. ankare. Cf.
Gk. dyxa\n, meaning (i) the bent arm, (2) anything closely enfolding.
ANKLE, the joint between leg and foot. (E.) M. E. ancle,
Chaucer, C. T. 1661. Also anclowe, Ellis's Specimens, i. 279. A. S.
ancleow, ankle, ^Elfric's Gloss, ed. Somner, p. 71, col. 2. + O. Fries.
onklef, anltel, the ankle. + Dan. and Swed. ankel. + Icel. okkla (for
bnkla), bkli. -f- Du. enklaauw, enkel. + O. H. G. anchala, anchla, enchila,
the ankle ; mod. G. enkel. [The Du. klaauw means ' claw,' and the A. S.
cleow seems to point to the same word, but these endings are probably
mere adaptations in the respective languages, to give the words a more
obvious etymology.] (3. The word is clearly a diminutive, formed
with suffix -el from a stem anlt-. Indeed, the O. H. G. has the
shorter form encha, meaning leg, ankle. The root is the same as
that of Gk. dyitv\r], the bent arm, and liymbv, a bend, viz. ^ ANK, a
nasalised form of y' AK, to bend, curve ; cf. Skt. anch, to bend. See
Angle, which is from the same root. The ankle is at the ' bend '
of the foot. Der. ankle-joint, ankl-et (ornament for the ancle).
ANNALS, a relation of events year by year. (F., L.) Grafton
speaks of ' short notes in manner of annales ; ' Ep. to Sir W. Cecil.
F. annales, s. pi. fern. ' annales. annual chronicles ; ' Cot. Lat. annales,
pi. adj., put for libri annales, yearly books or chronicles ; from nom.
sing, ann-alis, yearly. Lat. annus, a year, lit. the ' circuit ' of a year ;
orig. a circle ; supposed by Corssen to be a weakening of amnus, from
Lat. pref. am- (for ambi-), around, cognate with Gk. d/upi, around.
See Curtius, i. 365. Der. annal-ist.
ANNEAL," to temper by heat, ((i) E. ; (2) F.,-L.) Two dis-
tinct words have here been confused. 1. The word was originally
applied to metals, in which case it was English, and denoted rather
the heating of metals than the tempering process by gradual cooling.
This is the M. E. anelen, to inflame, kindle, heat, melt, burn. Gower,
I
ANNEX.
C. A. iii. 96, speaks of a meteoric stone, which the fire ' hath aneled
[melted] Lich unto slyme, which is congeled." Wyclif, Isaiah,
xvi. 7 has ' anelid tyil ' as a translation of Lat. cacti lateris. Earlier,
the word means simply 'to bum" or 'inflame.' Thus, in O. Eng.
Homilies, ed. Morris, p. 219, the word seraphim is explained to mean
'birninde other anhelend' [better spelt anelend~\ = burning or kind-
ling ; and again, at p. 97, it is said that the Holy Ghost ' onealde
eorthlicen monnan heortan ' = inflamed earthly men's hearts. A.S.
onaelan, to burn, kindle, Grein, ii. 339 ; a compound verb. A. S. on,
prefix (answering to mod. E. prep, on) ; and alan, to bum, Grein, i.
55. Cf. Icel. eldr, Swed. eld, Dan. ild, fire ; corresponding to A. S.
<fled, fire, a derivative of aelan, to burn. ^AL, to bum ; Fick, i. 500,
who ingeniously compares Skt. ar-una, tawny, ar-usha, tawny ; with
the suggestion that these words may have meant originally ' fiery."
Z. But in the fifteenth century, a very similar word was introduced
from the French, having particular reference to the fixing of colours
upon glass by means of heat. This is the M. E. anelen, to enamel
glass. Thus Palsgrave has ' I aneel a potte of erthe or suche lyke
with a coloure, je plomme.' The word was also applied to the
enamelling of metal, and is probably meant in the entry in the
Prompt. Parv. at p. II ; ' Anelyn or enelyn metalle, or other lyke.'
The initial a- is either the French prefix a- (Lat. ad), or may have
been merely due to the influence of the very similar native word.
O. F. neeler, nieler, to enamel ; orig. to paint in black upon gold or
silver. Low Lat. nigellare, to blacken. Lat. nigellus, blackish;
dimin. of niger, black. Probably connected with Aryan nak, night ;
Fick, i. 123. ^f There is yet a third word not unlike these two,
which appears in ' unaneled,' i. e. not having received extreme unc-
tion; Hamlet, i. 5. 77. This is from A.S. onelan, to put oil upon;
from A. S. on, prefix, and ele, oil ; see Oil.
ANNEX, to fasten or unite to. (F., L.) The pp. annexed occurs
in the Romaunt of the Rose, 481 1. F. annexer, ' to annex, knit, linke,
join ; ' Cot. Lat. annexus, pp. of annectere, to knit or bind to. Lat.
ad-, to ( = an- before n); andnectere, tobind. Perhaps from y'NAGH,
to bind, Fick, i. 645 ; cf. Skt. tmh, to bind. Der. onnex-ol-ion.
ANNIHILATE, to reduce to nothing. (Lat.) Hall, Edw. IV,
an. i, has odnihilate; Bacon, Nat. Hist. sect. 100, has annihilated.
Formed with suffix -ate, on which see Abbreviate. Lat. annihilatus,
pp. of annihilare, to reduce to nothing. Lat. ad, to ( = an- before n) ;
and nihil, nihilum, nothing, which is contracted from ne (or nee) hilum,
not a whit, or more literally, not a thread ; since hilum is, doubtless,
a corruption oljilum, a thread. See Max Miiller, Lectures, ii. 379,
380 ; 8th ed. ; and see File. Der. annihilat-icm.
ANNIVERSARY, the annual commemoration of an event. (Lat.)
Fabyan, an. 1369, speaks of ' an annyuersarye yerely to be kept.' The
pi. anniuersaries occurs in the Ancren Riwle, p. 22. It is properly an
adjective, and so used by Bp. Hall, On the Obser. of Christ's Nativity,
where he speaks of an ' anniversary memorial." Lat. anniversarius,
returning yearly. Lat. anni-, for anno-, stem of annus, a year ; and
uertere, to turn. pp. versus. See Annals, and Verse.
ANNOTATE, to make notes upon. (Lat.) Richardson remarks
that the verb is very rare; Foxe uses annotations in his Life of
Tyndal, in Tyndal's Works, fol. B i, last line. Formed by the suffix
ale, on which see Abbreviate. Lat. annotatus, pp. of annotare, to
make notes. Lat. ad, to ( = an- before n) ; and notare, to mark. Lat.
nota, a mark. See Note. Der. annotat-or, annotat-ion.
ANNOUNCE, to make known to. (F..-L.) Milton has an-
nounc'd, P. R. iv. 504. [Chaucer has annunciat, C. T. 15501, but this
is directly from Lat. pp. annunciatus.~\ F. annoncer, to announce ;
Cot. Lat. annunciare, annuntiare, to announce ; pp. annunciatus.
Lat. ad ( = an- before n) ; and nunciare, mintiarc, to report, give a
message. Lat. nuncius, nuntius, a messenger. ^ The earlier form
seems to be nuntius ; Peile, Gk. and Lat. Etym. 2nd ed. p. 246 ; which
probably stands, according to Corssen. for nonentius, a bringer of
news, from nouere *, a nominal verb formed from nottos (MONKS), new ;
id. p. 378. See New. Der. announce-ment ; and, directly from the
Latin, annunciate, annunciat-ion.
ANNOY, to hurt, vex, trouble. (F., L.) M. E. anoien, anuien
(with one n, correctly), to vex, trouble. See Alisaunder, ed. Weber,
11. 876, 1287, 4158; Havelok, 1734; Chaucer's Boethius, pp. 22, 41.
[The sb. anoi, anoy was also in very common use ; see Romaunt of
the Rose. 4404 ; Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 267, &c. ; but is now obsolete,
and its place to some extent supplied by annoyance and the F. ennui.]
O. F. anoier, anuier, enuier, verb, to annoy, trouble ; formed from
the O, F. sb. anoi, anui, enui (mod. F. ennui), annoyance, vexation,
chagrin ; cognate with Span, enojo. Old Venetian inodio. Lat. in odio,
lit. in hatred, which was used in the phrase in odio habui, lit. I had in
hatred, i. e. I was sick and tired of, occurring in the Glosses of
Cassel, temp. Charles the Great ; see Brachet and Diez. Other
phrases were the Lat. in odio etse and in odio venire, both meaning to
incur hatred, and used by Cicero; see Alt. ii. 21. 2. ^f The account in
ANOTHER.
25
Diez is quite satisfactory, and generally accepted. It proves that the
0. F. sb. anoi arose from the use of Lat. in odio in certain common
idiomatic phrases, and that the O. F. verb anoier was formed from
the sb. See Odium and Noisome. Der. annoy-ance ; from O. F.
anoiance, a derivative of vb. anoier.
ANNUAL, yearly. (F., L.) M. E. annuel, an anniversary mass
for the dead, is a special use of the word ; see P. Plowman's Crede,
1. 818 ; Chaucer, C. T. Group G, 1012, on which see my note, or that
to Tyrwhitt's Chaucer, C. T. 12940. F. annuel, annual, yearly; Cot.
Lat. annualis, yearly ; formed with suffix -alls from stem annu-.
Lat. annus, a year. See Armal. IT It will be observed that the
spelling was changed from annuel to annual to bring it nearer to the
Latin ; but the word really came to us through French. Der. an-
nual-ly. From the same source is annu-i-ty, apparently a coined word,
used by Hall, Hen. VIII, an. 17 ; and the more modem annu-it-ant.
ANNUL, to nullify, abolish. (Lat.) Richardson quotes a passage
containing annulled from The Testament of Love, bk. iii, a treatise of
Chaucer's age; see Chaucer's Works, ed. 1561, fol. cccviii, back,
col. i . Either from F. annuller, given by Cotgrave, or direct from
Lat. annullare, to annul. Lat. ad ( = an- before ) ; and Lat. nullus,
none, a contraction from ne ullus, not any. Ullus is a contraction
for unttlus, dimin. of unus, one, formed by help of the dimin. suffix
-K/-. The Lat. vnus is cognate with E. one. See Fick, ii. 30. And
see One. Der. annul-ment.
ANNULAR, like a ring. (Lat.) Ray, On the Creation, p. 2, has
both annular and annulary (R.) Lat. annularis, like a ring ; formed
by suffix -aris from stem annul- (for annulo-). Lat. ammlus, a ring ;
diminutive of annus. a year, orig. ' a circuit ; ' perhaps formed from the
prefix am- (for ambi-), round about, cognate with Gk. afupi, around.
See Annals. From the same source (Lat. annulus) we have annul-
at-ed, anniil-et.
ANNUNCIATION, ANNUNCIATE ; see Announce.
ANODYNE, a drug to allay pain. (L.,-Gk.) Used by Bp.
Taylor, Epistle Dedicatory to Serm. to the Irish Parl., 1661 (R.)
Cotgrave gives ' remedes anodins, medicines which, by procuring sleep,
take from a patient all sence of pain.' But the spelling anodyne is
Latin. Low Lat. anodynus, a drug relieving pain ; Ducange. Gk.
avwowoi, adj. free from pain ; whence tpa.ppa.Kov avtiidvvov, a drug to
relieve pain. Gk. ova-, negative prefix; and ooun;, pain. [Curtius, i.
381, shews that ova-, corresponding to Zend ana-, and cognate with
E. un-, is the full form of the prefix ; and this explains the long o (<u),
produced by the coalescence of a and o.] Curtius, i. 300, refers 08-
\nrri to the verb lo-nv, to eat, as if it were ' a gnawing ; ' rightly, as it
seems to me. See Eat.
ANOINT, to smear with ointment. (F., L.) Wyclif has anoya-
tidist, Acts, iv. 27, from M. E. verb anointen or anoynten; see Prompt.
Parv. p. ii. Chaucer has anoint as a past participle, Prol. 191. It
is clear that anoint was orig. a past-participial form, but was after-
wards lengthened into anointed, thus suggesting the infin. anointen.
Both forms, anoynt and anoynted, occur in the Wycliffite Bible, Gen.
1. 3 ; Numb. vi. 3. All the forms are also written with initial e, viz.
enoinl, enointed, enointen ; and the true starting-point in Eng. is the pp.
enoint, anointed. O. F. enoint, anointed, pp. of enoindre, to anoint.
O. F. en- (Lat. in-, upon, on) ; and oindre, to smear, anoint. Lat.
ungere, to smear, pp. uncius. See Ointment, Unction.
ANOMALY, deviation from rule. (Gk.) Used by Sir T. Browne,
Vulg. Errors, b. iii. c. 15. 5. Cotgrave's French Diet, gives only the
adj. anomal, inequal ; so that the sb. was probably taken from Lat.
anomalia, or directly from the Gk. Gk. dvoi/zaXia, irregularity, un-
evenness. Gk. dvu/ia^os, uneven. Gk. ova-, full form of the negative
prefix (see Curtius). and o^aAoj, even ; the ai resulting from coalescence
of a and o. The Gk. upaKos is formed by suffix -aX- from 6/1-, stem
of oiios, one and the same, joint, common ; closely related to E. same.
See Same. Der. anomal-ous.
ANON, immediately. (E.) In early use. M. E. anon, anoon, onan,
anan. Rob. of Glouc. has anon, p. 6. The earliest M.E. forms are anon,
Ancren Riwle, p. 14 ; and anan, Ormulum, 104. The a is convertible
with o in either syllable. A. S. on fin, lit. in one moment (answering
to M. H. G. in ein), but in A. S. generally signifying ' once for all ; '
see examples in Grein, i. 31, sect. 8. A.S. on (mod E. on), often
used with the sense of ' in ; ' and A. S. an, old form of ' one.' See
On, and One.
ANONYMOUS, nameless. (Gk.) Not in early use. Used by
Pope, Dunciad, Testimonies of Authors (R.) Formed directly from
the Gk., by substituting -ous for the Gk. suffix -01, just as it is often
substituted for the Lat. suffix -us. Gk. dxa>!<i//io, nameless. Gk.
ava-, full form of the neg. prefix (see Curtius) ; and ovofm, ^Eolic
ovvpa, a name, cognate with E. name ; so that the 01 is due to coales-
cence of a and o. See Name. Der. anonymously.
ANOTHER, i. e. one other. (E.) Merely the words an and other
written together. In Mid. Eng. they were written apart. 'Hauelok
26
ANSERINE.
thouthe al an other,' Havelok thought quite another thing ; Havelok,
1395. .See An and Other.
ANSERINE, goose-like. (Lat.) Not in early use. Lat. anserin-
us, belonging to a goose. Lat. anser, a goose, cognate with E.
goose. See Goose.
ANSWER, to reply to. (E.) The lit. sense is ' to swear in op-
position to,' orig. used, no doubt, in trials by law. M. E. andswerien,
Layamon, ii. 518. A. S. andswarian, andswerian, to reply to, lit. to
swear in opposition to ; Grein, i. 6. A. S. and-, in opposition to,
cognate with Gk. dvri (see Anti-) ; and suierian, to swear ; see
Swear. Der. answer-able, answer-abl-y. ^[ The prefix ant- in G.
antworten, to answer, is cognate with the A .S. prefix and- in the E. word.
ANT, a small insect ; the emmet. (E.) Ant is a contraction from
A. S. <emete (Lai. formica), an emmet; ./Elf. Gloss., Nomina Insecto-
rum ; so that ant and emmet are doublets. The form ccmette became,
by the ordinary phonetic changes in English, amette, amet, amt, ant.
^f Examples of the change of m to n before I occur in Hants as a
shortened form of Hamptonshire (see Matzner, Engl. Gram. i. 123);
also in E. aunt from Lat. amita. See Emmet. Der. ant-hill, [f]
ANTAGONIST, an opponent. (Gk.) Ben Jonson has antagon-
istic, Magnetic Lady, iii. 4 ; Milton has antagonist, P. L. ii. 509.
They seem to have borrowed directly from the Gk. G^.dvra-foiviarfji,
an adversary, opponent. Gk. dvraytoi'ifotuu, I struggle against.
Gk. O.VT-, short for dirt, against ; and dfaiyi^oftai, I struggle. Gk.
dywv, a struggle. See Agony. Der. antagonist-ic, antagonist-ic-al-ly ;
also antagonism, borrowed from Gk. dvraywviffiiia, a struggle with
another.
ANTARCTIC, southern ; opposite to the arctic. (L. - Gk.) Mar-
lowe, Faustus, i. 3. 3 ; Milton, P. L. ix. 79. [Wyatt spells the word
anlartike; see Richardson. The latter is French. Cotgrave has
' Antartique, the circle in the sphere called the South, or Antartick
pole.'] Lat. antarcticus, southern. Gk. avrapicrmoi, southern. Gk.
dvr- = dvri, against ; and dpxTix6i, arctic, northern. See Arctic.
ANTE-, prefix, before. (Lat.) Occurs in words taken from Latin,
e. g. ante-cedent, ante-date, ante-diluvian, &c. Lat. ante, before ; of
which an older form seems to have been anted, since Livy uses antid-ea
for ant-ea ; xxii. 20. 6. Anted is to be considered as an ablative form
(Curtius, i. 254), and as connected with Skt. anta, end, border, bound-
ary, cognate with E. end, q. v. Thus anted would seem to mean
' from the boundary,' and hence ' before.' The prefix anti- is closely
allied ; see Anti-, prefix.
ANTECEDENT, going before. (Lat.) Used by Sir T. More,
Works, p. 1115, last line. [The suffix -ent is formed by analogy with
prudent, innocent, &c. and is rather to be considered as F.] Lat. ante-
cedentem, ace. case of antecedens, going before. Lat. ante, before ; and
cedens, going, pres. pt. of cedere, to go ; see Cede. Der. antecedent-ly ;
also antecedence (with F. suffix -ence). And see Ancestor.
ANTEDATE, to date before. (Lat.) Used by Massinger in the
sense of ' anticipate ; ' Duke of Milan, i. 3. Formed by prefixing Lat.
ante, before, to E. date, q. v.
ANTEDILUVIAN, before the flood. (Lat.) Used by Sir T.
Browne, Vulg. Errors, bk. vii. c. 3. 2. A coined word, made by pre-
fixing Lat. ante, before, to Lat. diluui-um, a deluge, and adding the
adj. suffix -an. See Deluge.
ANTELOPE, an animal. (Gk.) Used by Spenser, F. Q. i. 6. 26.
Said to be corrupted from Gk. dv6a\oir-, the stem of dv6d\<aifi (gen.
dv6a\owos), used by Eustathius (flor. circa 1160), Hexaem., p. 36
(W r ebster's Diet.). ' The word Dorcas, the Gk. and Roman name of
the gazelle, is derived from the verb Stpxofuu, to see. The common
English word an/elope is a corrupt form of the name avf)o\o<j/ (sic),
employed by Eustathius to designate an animal of this genus, and
literally signifying bright eyes ' [rather, bright-eyed"] ; Eng. Cyclop,
art. Antilopece. If this be right, the derivation is from Gk. dvSfiv, to
sprout, blossom, also to shine (cf. dreo0d<f>at, a dyer in bright colours);
and wf/, gen. unros, the eye, which from ^ On, to see, Aryan ^AK,
to see ; Fick, i. 4. See Anther, [t]
ANTENNAE, the feelers of insects. (Lat.) Modem and scientific.
Borrowed from Lat. antenna:, pi. of antenna, properly ' the yard of a
sail.' Remoter origin uncertain.
ANTEPENTTLTIMA, the last syllable but two. (Lat.) Used
in prosody; sometimes shortened to antepenult. Lat. antepenidtima,
also spelt antepcetmltima, fern. adj. (with syllaba understood), the last
syllable but two. Lat. ante, before; and pcenultima, fem. adj., the
last syllable but one. Lat. pane, almost; and ultimus, last. See
Ultimate. Der. antepenultim-ate.
ANTERIOR, before, more in front. (Lat.) Sir T. Browne, Vulg.
Errors, b. iii. c. 15. 3, has anteriour; but this is ill spelt, and due
to confusion between the suffixes -our and -or. The word is borrowed
directly from Lat. anterior, more in front, compar. adj. from Lat.
ante, before. See Ante-.
ANTHEM, a piece of sacred music. (L., Gk.) In very early i Ducange. Origin unknown.
ANTIMONY.
use. M. E. antym; cf. ' antym, antiphona;' Prompt. Parv. p. 12.
Chaucer has antem, C. T. Group B, 1850. Antem is a contraction
from an older form antefn ; ' biginneth these antefne ' begin this
anthem, Ancren Riwle, p. 34. A. S. antefn, an anthem ; Alfred's tr.
of Beda, Eccl. Hist. i. 25. This A. S. form is a mere corruption from
the Latin. Late Lat. antiphona, an anthem ; see Ducange. This is
an ill-formed word, as the same word in Gk. is a plural. Gk. dvri-
<p<uva, pi. of dvriipQji'ov, an anthem ; properly neut. of adj. dvr'upojvos,
sounding in response to ; the anthem being named from its being sung
by choristers alternately, half the choir on one side responding to the
half on the other side. Gk. dvri, over against ; and tpavri, voice.
Anthem is a doublet of Antiphon, q. v.
ANTHER, the summit of a stamen in a flower. (Gk.) Modern
and scientific. Borrowed from Gk. avSijpot, adj. flowery, blooming.
Gk. dvffeiv, to bloom ; avSos, a young bud or sprout. The Gk.
av9o3 is cognate with Skt. aadhas, herb, sacrificial food. See Fick, i.
15 ; Curtius, i. 310.
ANTHOLOGY, a collection of choice poems. (Gk.) Several Gk.
collections of poems were so called ; hence the extension of the name.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Errors, b. iv. c. 9. 2, refers to ' the Greek Antho-
logy.' Gk. dv6o\oyia, a flower-gathering, a collection of choice
poems. Gk. dvio\6*/ot, adj. flower-gathering. Gk. avffo-, stem of
avSos, a flower ; and \ty(iv, to collect. See Anther and Legend.
ANTHRACITE, a kind of hard coal. (Gk.) Modem. Sug-
gested by Gk. dvBpcucirrii, adj. resembling coals ; formed by suffix
-ITIJS, expressing resemblance, from avBpaK-, the stem of Gk. ca>0pa(,
coal, charcoal, also a carbuncle, precious stone. ^f Apparently
formed from Gk. dvSfiv, to sprout, also to shine, be bright ; the latter
sense would seem to explain avBpaf in both its uses. However Cur-
tius, ii. 132, says ' no etymology ofavOpaf, at all probable, has indeed
as yet been found.'
ANTHROPOLOGY, the natural history of man. (Gk.) Modem
and scientific. Formed by the ending -logy (Gk. \<ryia, discourse,
from Ktfdv, to speak) from Gk. avSpwnos, a man. P. This word
is to be divided avSp-anros, see Curtius, i. 382. Here av6p- is for
avof-, a strengthened form of the stem dvtp-, of which the nom. is
dvrjp, a man ; and -omos is from Gk. cfy, gen. wnos, the face ; so that
avOpaiiros means ' having a human face,' a human being.
ANTHROPOPHAGI, cannibals. (Gk.) Used by Shak. Oth.
i. 3. 144. Lit. ' men-eaters.' A Latinised plural of Gk. dvSpanro-
<fdyot, adj. man-eating. Gk. dvSpairos, a man; and tpayffv, to eat.
On avBptairos, see above ; <payfii> is from ^ BHAG, to eat ; cf. Skt.
bhaksh, to eat, devour. Der. anthropofhag-y.
ANTI-, ANT-, prefix, against. (Gk.) Occurs in words taken
from Gk., as antidote, antipathy, &c. In anticipate, the prefix is really
the Lat. ante. In ant-agonist, ant-arctic, it is shortened to ant-.
Gk. airri, against, over against. + Skt. anti, over against ; a Vedic
form, and to be considered as a locative from the Skt. anta, end,
boundary, also proximity, cognate with E. end, q. v. Cf. Skt. antika,
vicinity, with the abl. antilidt, used to mean ' near,' ' from,' ' close to,'
' in presence of; ' Benfey, p. 28. ^ This Gk. prefix is cognate with
the A. S. and-, appearing in mod. E. along and answer, q. v. Also
with Goth, and- ; and with G. ant-, as seen in antworten, to answer.
ANTIC, fanciful, odd ; as sb., a trick. (F., - L.) Orig. an adject-
ive, and a mere doublet of antique. Hall, Henry VIII, an. 1 2, speaks
of a fountain ' ingrayled with anticke workes ; ' and similarly Spenser,
F. Q. iii. II. 51, speaks of gold ' Wrought with wilde antickes, which
their follies played In the rich metall as they living were.' F. antique,
old. Cotgrave gives, s. v. Antique, ' taille a antiques, cut with anticks,
or with anft'ci-works.' Lat. antiques, old ; also spelt anticus, which
form is imitated in the English. See Antique.
ANTICHRIST, the great opponent of Christ. (Gk.) Gk. <W-
X/Mffros; I John, ii. 18. From Gk. &vri, against ; and Xpi<rn5s, Christ.
See Anti- and Christ. Der. antichrist-ion, [f]
ANTICIPATE, to take before the time, forestall. (Lat.) Used
by Hall, Henry VI, an. 38. Formed by suffix -ate (on which see
Abbreviate), from Lat. anticipare, to take beforehand, prevent;
pp. anticipatus. Lat. anti-, old form of ante, beforehand ; and capere,
to take. See Ante- and Capable. Der. anticipal-ion, anticipal-ory.
ANTICLIMAX, the opposite of a climax. (Gk.) Compounded
of Anti-, against ; and Climax.
ANTIDOTE, a medicine given as a remedy. (F.-L.-Gk.) Used
by Shak. Macb. v. 3. 43. F. antidote, given by Cotgrave. Lat.
antidotum, neut. and antidotus, fern., an antidote, remedy. Gk. dvri-
SOTOS, adj. given as a remedy ; hence, as sb. AvriSorov, neuter, an anti-
dote, and di/riSoros, feminine, the same (Liddcll and Scott). Gk.
avrl, against ; and Soros, given, formed from Sioai^u, I give. See
Anti-, and Donation. Der. antidot-al, antidot-ic-al.
ANTIMONY, the name of a metal. (?) In Sir T. Herbert's
Travels, cd. 1665, p. 317. Englished from Low Lat. antimonium;
Der. autimoti-ial.
ANTINOMIAN.
a
ANTINOMIAN, one who denies the obligation of moral law. ;
(Gk.) Tillotson, vol. ii. ser. 50, speaks of ' the Antinomian doctrine.' 1
Milton, Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, b. ii. c. 3, uses the sb. ,
antinomic. The suffix -an is adjectival, from Lat. -anus. The word ;
is not from Gk. dvnvofua, an ambiguity in the law, but is simply
coined from Gk. avri, against, and vAfios, law, which is from the verb
vlfiftv, to deal out. also to pasture. See Anti-, and Nomad.
ANTIPATHY, a feeling against another. (Gk.) Used by Bacon,
Nat. Hist. sect. 479. Fuller has antipathetical. Worthies of Lincoln-
shire. Either from F. antipathic, explained as ' antipathy ' by Cot-
grave ; or formed directly from Gk. dvTnrdGtia, an antipathy, lit. ' a
suffering against.' Gk. avri, against; and iraStlv, to suffer. See
Anti-, and Pathos. Der. antipath-et-ic, antipath-et-ic-al.
ANTIPHON, an anthem. (L.,-Gk.) Milton has the pi. anti-
phonies, Areopagitica, ed. Hales, p. 12. The book containing the
antiphons was called an antiphoner, a word used by Chaucer, C. T.
Group B, 1 709. Low Lat. antiphona, an ill- formed word, as it repre-
sents a Gk. pi. rather than a sing. form. Gk. dvritpojva, pi. of dvri-
tftwov, an anthem ; properly neut. of adj. avr'ujxavoi, sounding in re-
sponse to ; the one half-choir answering the other in alternate verses.
Gk. avri, contrary, over against (see Anti-) ; and tyavi\, voice.
Gk. <fiiu, I speak, say ; which from ^BHA, to speak ; Curtius, i.
369. Antiphon is a doublet of anthem, q. v.
ANTIPHRASIS, the use of words in a sense opposed to their
meaning. (Gk.) Borrowed directly from Gk. avritjtpaaii, lit. a con-
tradiction ; also the use of words in a sense opposed to their literal
meaning. Gk. dvn<t>pd(iv, to express by negation. Gk. avri, against,
contrary ; and Qpafav, to speak. See Anti- and Phrase. Der.
antiphras-t-ic-al.
ANTIPODES, men whose feet are opposite to ours. (Gk.)
Shak. Mid. Nt. Dr. iii. 2. 55 ; Holland's tr. of Pliny, b. ii. c. 65.-
Lat. antipodes ; a borrowed word. Gk. dvrlirooa, pi., men with feet
opposite to us; from nom. sing, avriirovt. Gk. avri, opposite to,
against ; and irovs, a foot, cognate with E. foot. See Anti- and
foot. Der. antipod-al.
ANTIQUE, old. (F.,-L.) Shak. has ' the antique world ; ' As
You Like It, ii. 3. 57. F. antique; Cot. Lat. antiqms, old; also
spelt anticus, and formed with suffix -icus from ante-, before, just as
Lat. posticus, behind, is formed from post, after. See Ante-. Der.
antiqu-it-y, antiqu-ate, antiqu-at-ed, antiqu-ar-y, antiqu-ar-i-an, antiqu-ar-i-
an-ism. ^f Antique is a doublet of antic, which follows the spelling
of the Lat. anticus. See Antic.
ANTISEPTIC, counteracting putrefaction. (Gk.) Modem.
Formed from Gk. avri, against ; and (TIJJTT-OS, decayed, rotten, verbal
adj. from a-if-irfiv, to make rotten. Probably connected with Lat. succus
or sums, juice, and E. sap ; Curtius, ii. 63. See Sap.
ANTISTROPHE, a kind of stanza. (Gk.) Borrowed directly
from Gk. avnarpo^, a return of a chorus, answering to a preceding
arpotprj, or strophe. Gk. avri, over against ; and trrpotpTj, a verse or
stanza, lit. ' a turning ; ' from the verb arpttytir, to turn. See Anti-
and Strophe.
ANTITHESIS, a contrast, opposition. (Gk.) Used by Bp.
Taylor, Dissuasive from Popery, bk. i. pt. ii. s. I (R.) Gk. avriitaa,
an opposition, a setting opposite. Gk. avri, over against ; and Oiati, I
a setting, placing. - Gk. riftj/u, I place. See Anti-, and Thesis.
Der. antithet-ic, antitket-ic-al, antithet-ic-al-ly; from Gk. di>Ti0ertx6i, adj.
ANTITYPE, that which answers to the type. (Gk.) Bp. Taylor,
Of the Real Presence, s. 12. 28, speaks of 'type and antitype.' The
word is due to the occurrence of the Gk. avrirvnov (A. V. ' figure ')
in I Pet. iii. 21, and the pi. dvrirvira (A. V. 'figures') in Heb. ix. 24.
This sb. dvrtrvTTov is the neut. of adj. dvrirviros, formed according to
a model. Gk. avri, over against ; and TI/JTOS, a blow, also a model,
pattern, type, from the base of rvirrftv, to strike. See Anti-, and
Type. Der. antityp-ie-al.
ANTLER, the branch of a stag's horn. (F..-O. Low G.) Like
most terms of the chase, this is of F. origin. The oldest E.form teaunte-
lere, occurring in Twety's treatise on Hunting, pr. in Reliquiae Anti-
quse, i. 151. The / stands for d, as in other words ; cf. clot for clod,
srirt for gird, and several other examples given by Matzner, i. 129.
Thus anntelere stands for aundelere. F. andouiller, or endouiller, both
of which forms are given by Cotgrave, who explains the latter as ' the i
brow ankler [by corruption of anller], or lowest branch of a deer's
head.' 1. The remoter origin of the word is, admittedly, a diffi-
culty. I cannot explain the ending -ouiiler, but we need not be at a
loss for the source of the more material part of the word. It is
plainly the (so-called) O. H. G. andi, M. H. G. ende, einde, the fore-
head, a word which belongs rather to O. Low German, though occur-
ring in O. H. G. writings. This is suggested by the fact of the occur- ;
rence of the word in all the Scandinavian dialects. In the Danish j
dialects it occurs as and, the forehead ; Molbech's Dansk Dialekt-
lexicon, cited by Rietz. The Swed. is tenne, the forehead, by assimi-
APARTMENT.
27
lation for ande. The Icel. is ami, by assimilation for endi ; and all
point to an original form which Fick renders by anthja or andja, the
forehead ; iii. 1 7. [Fick further cites the Lat. fem. pi. antics, with the
sense of ' hair on the forehead.'] 2. And further, we may confi-
dently connect all these words with the Low G. prefix and-, cognate
with Gk. dvr'i, over against, Lat. ante, before, Skt. anti, over against,
before ; see Curtius. i. 253. 3. We may also observe that the
double spelling andi and ende in O. German accounts for the double
spelling in F. as andouiller and endouiller ; and that the Teutonic
prefix and- is remarkably represented in A. S. andwlita, mod. G. antlitz,
the face, countenance. [#]
ANUS, the lower orifice of the bowels. (Lat.) In Kersey's Diet.
Borrowed from Lat. anus. Both Fick (i. 504) and Curtius (i. 472)
give the derivation from the ^AS, to sit, which would account for the
long a by the loss of s. Cf. Skt. as, to sit ; Gk. fa-rat, he sits.
ANVIL, an iron block on which smiths hammer their work into
shape. (E.) Anvil is for anvild or anvilt, a final d or t having dropped
off. In Wright's Vocabularies, i. 180, is the entry 'an/eld, incus.' In
Chaucer's Book of the Duchess, 1163, we find anvelt. A. S. anfilte,
explained by Lat. incus, JElf. Glos. ed. Somner, p. 65 ; also spelt onfilt
(Lye). A. S. on-, prefix, often written an-, answering to mod. E. on ;
andfyllan, to fell, strike down, the causal of fall. 5T The manner
in which the sense arose is clearly preserved in Icelandic. The Icel.
folia means (i) to fall, (2) to fall together, to fit, suit, a sense to some
extent preserved in the M. E. fallen, to fall out fitly. The causal verb,
viz. Icel. fella (mod. E. /(?//) means (i) to fell, (2) to make to fit ; and
was especially used as a workman's term. Used by joiners, it means
' to tongue and groove ' work together ; by masons, * to fit a stone
into a crevice ; ' and by blacksmiths, fella jdrn is ' to work iron into
bars; ' see Cleasby and Vigfusson's Icel. Diet. 151, col. i. This ac-
counts, too, for the variation in the second vowel. The A. S. onfilt is
from A..S.fyllan, the M. E. anvelt answers to Icel. fella. The same
change took place in the word/eW itself, if we compare it with A. S.
fyllan. Thus an anvil is ' that upon which iron is worked into bars,'
or ' that on which iron is hammered out.' B. 1. Similarly, the
Dutch aanbeeld, an anvil, is from Du. aan, on, upon ; and beelden, to
form, fashion. 2. The O. H. G. aneualz, an anvil (Graff, iii. 519) is
(probably) from O. H. G. one, on, upon ; and O. H. G. valdan, to fold,
fold up, hence, to fit. 3. The mod. G. amboss, an anvil, is from G.
an, upon ; and M. H. G. bozen, to beat, cognate with E. beat. 4.
The Lat. incut, an anvil, is from Lat. in, upon ; and cudere, to beat,
hammer. ^f The Du. aanbeeld and O. H.G. aneualz are sometimes
carelessly given as cognate words with E. anvil, but it is plain that,
though the prefix is the same in all three cases, the roots are dif-
ferent. For the root of anvil, see Pall. [*]
ANXIOUS, distressed, oppressed, much troubled. (Lat.) In
Milton, P. L. viii. 185. Sir T. More, Works, p. 1976, has anxyete.
[The sb. was probably taken from F. anxiete, given by Cotgrave, and
explained by ' anxietie ; ' but the adj. must have been taken directly
from Latin, with the change of -us into -ous as in other cases, e. g.
pious, amphibious, barbarous.] Lat. anxius, anxious, distressed. Lat.
angere, to choke, strangle. + Gk. dyx t "'< t strangle. y'ANGH,
nasalised form of^AGH, to choke, oppress; Curtius, i. ^34; Fick,
i. 9. Der. anxious-ly, anxious-ness ; also anxi-e-ty, from F. anxiete,
Lat. ace. anxietatem. From the same root we have anger, anguish,
Lat. angina, awe, ugly, and even quinsy ; see these words.
ATM y , indef. pronoun ; some one. (E.) The indefinite form of one.
The Mid. Eng. forms are numerous, -as <eni), aini, ani, oni, eni, &c. ;
<KW'J is in O. Eng. Homilies, i. 219. A. S. cenig, formed by suffix -ig
(cf. greed-y from A.S. grctd-ig, March, A. S. Grammar, sect. 228) from
the numeral an, one. + Du. eenig, any ; from een, one. + G. einiger,
any one ; from ein, one. See One. Der. any-thing, any-wise.
AORTA, the great artery rising up from the left ventricle of the
heart. (Gk.) In Burton, Anat. of Melancholy, ed. 1827, p. 26. Bor-
rowed directly from Gk. doprij, the aorta. Gk. dtlftiv, to raise up ; pass.
dtlptaOai, to rise up. See this verb discussed in Curtius, i. 441, 442.
APACE, at a great pace. (Hybrid ; E. and F.) Marlow has 'gallop
apace;' Edw. II, A. iv. sc. 3. 1. At an earlier period the word was
written as two words, a pas, as in Chaucer, C. T. Group F, 388 : ' And
forth she walketh esily a pas.' 2. It is also to be remarked that the
phrase has widely changed its meaning. In Chaucer, both here and
in other passages, it means ' a foot-pace,' and was originally used of
horses when proceeding slowly, or at a walk. The phrase is composed
of the E. indef. article a, and the M. E. fas, mod. E. pace, a word of
F. origin. See Pace.
APART, aside. (F..-L.) Rich, quotes from the Testament of
Love, bk. iii, last sect., a passage concerning the ' five sundrie wittes,
euerich aparte to his own doing.' The phrase is borrowed from the F.
a part, which Cotgrave gives, and explains by ' apart, alone, singly,'
&c. Lat. ad, to ; and partem, ace. case of pars, a part. See Part.
APARTMENT, a separate room. (F., - Ital., - L.) In Dryden.
28
APATHY.
tr. of Virgil, JEn. ii. 675. F. appartement. ltal. oppartomento, a
separation ; Florio. Ital. appartare, to withdraw apart, id. ; also
spelt apartare. Ital. a parte, apart. See above.
APATHY, want of feeling. (Gk.) In Holland's Plutarch, p. 62,
we have the pi. apathies; he seems to use it as if it were a new word
in English. Drawn, apparently, directly from the Gk., with the usual
suffix -y. Gk. dirdfltia, apathy, insensibility. Gk. d-, neg. prefix ; and
*a6iiv, to suffer. See Pathos. Der. apath-et-ic.
APE, a kind of monkey. (E.) M. E. ape, Alisaunder, ed. Weber,
4344; Ancren Riwle, p. 248. A.S. apa, JE[f. Glos.,NominaFerarum.
-f- Du. aap.+ Icel.a/>i'.+ Swed. apa. + Irish and Gael, ap, apa.+ G. affe.
-j- Gk. /rijiros. + Skt. kapi, a monkey. ^f The loss of the initial It is
not remarkable in a word which must have had far to travel ; it is com-
monly supposed that the same loss has taken place in the case of Skt.
tarn, to love, as compared with Lat. amare. Max Miiller notes that
the Heb. Itoph, an ape (i Kings, x. 22), is not a Semitic word, but
borrowed from Skt. ; Lectures, i. 233, 8th ed. The Skt. kapi stands
for kampi, from Skt. tamp, to tremble, vibrate, move rapidly to and fro.
V KAP, to vibrate ; Fick, i. 295. Der. ap-ish, ap-ish-ly, ap-ish-ness.
APERIENT, a purgative. (Lat.) The word signifies, literally,
' opening.' Used by Bacon, Nat. Hist. sect. 96 1 . Lat. aperient-, stem of
aperiens, pres. pt. of aperire, to open. Referred by Corssen to ^PAR,
to complete; see Curtius, ii. 170; with prefix a = 06. From same
source, aperture, Lat. apertura, from aperlurus, fut. part, of aperire.
APEX, the summit, top. (Lat.) Used by Ben Jonson, King
James's Entertainment; description of a Flamen. Mere Latin. Lat.
apex, summit. Origin uncertain.
APH-, prefix. See Apo-, prefix.
APH.53RESIS, the taking away of a letter or syllable from the
beginning of a word. (Gk.) Borrowed directly from Gk. dxpaipfau,
a taking away. Gk. dipcuptw, to take away. Gk. OTTO, from (dip- be-
fore an aspirate); and tufiiv, to take. Root uncertain.
APHELION, the point in a planet's orbit furthest from the sun.
(Gk.) Scientific. The word is to be divided ap-helion. Gk. dir-,
short for dm!, from ; and <jAio, the sun. Curtius discusses jj\io, and
derives it from ^US, to bum, shine; cf. Lat. urere, to bum, Skt. ttsh,
to burn ; see Curtius, i. 497. ^f Since diro ought to become dip- before
the following aspirate, the E. spelling is incorrect, and should have
been aphhelion. But this was not adopted, because we object to
double h ; cf. eighth, a misspelling for eight-th, in order to avoid tth.
APHORISM, a definition, brief saying. (Gk.) Aphorismes is in
Burton, Anat. of Melancholy, ed. 1827, p. 85. [Perhaps mediately,
through the French. Cf. ' Aphorisme, an aphorisme or generall rule
in physick ; ' Cot.] Gk. dipoptapis, a definition, a short pithy sen-
tence. Gk. dipoptfeiy, to define, mark off. Gk. diro, from, off (dip-
before an aspirate) ; and bpifav, to divide, mark out a boundary.
Gk. Spot, a boundary. See Horizon. Der. aphoris-t-ic, aphoris-t-
ic-al, aphoris-t-ic-al-ly.
APIARY, a place for keeping bees. (Lat.) Used by Swift (R.)
Formed, by suffix -y for -turn, from Lat. apiarium, a place for bees,
neut. of apiarius, of or belonging to bees. The masc. apiarius means
'a keeper of bees.' Lat. apis, a bee.+ Gk. eniris, a gnat.+ O. H.G.
imbi, a bee. See Curtius, i. 328. ^f The suggestion that Lat. apis is
cognate with E. bee is hardly tenable ; the (old) Skt. word for bee is
bha ; see Bothlingk and Roth's Skt. Diet.
APIECE, in a separate share. (Hybrid ; E. and F.) Often
written a-piece; Shak. Merry Wives, i. I. 160. Here a- is the com-
mon E. prefix, short for an, the M. E. form of on, which in former
times was often used with the sense of ' in.' Cf. a-bed, a-sleep, a-fool.
Sic. Thus a-piece stands for on piece. See Piece.
APO-, prefix, off. (Gk.) Gk. dw6, off, from. + Lat. ab, abs, from.
+ Skt. apa, away, forth; as prep, with abl., away from. + Zend apa,
with abl., from. + Gothic af, from. + A. S. of; whence E. of, prep.,
and off, adv., which are merely different spellings, for convenience, of
the same word. + G. ab, from. Thus the Gk. diro is cognate with E.
of and of, and in composition with verbs, answers to the latter. See
Of, Off. Der. apo-calypse, &c. ; see below. ^f Since OTTO becomes
dip- before an aspirate, it appears also in aph-teresis, ap(h)-helion, and
aph-orism.
APOCALYPSE, a revelation. (Gk.) A name given to the last
book of the Bible. M. E. apocalips, used by Wyclif. Lat. apoca-
lypsis. Rev. i. I (Vulgate version). Gk. dnwniAu^ii, Rev. i. i; lit.
' an uncovering.' Gk. diroaAt!irrK, to uncover. Gk. diro, off (cog-
nate with E. of) ; and /taXvirritv, to cover. Cf. Gk. aXu/3?j, a hut,
cabin, cell, cover ; which is perhaps allied to Lat. clupeus, clypeus,
a shield ; Fick, ii. 72. Der. apocalyp-t-ic, apocalyp-t-ic-al. [f]
APOCOPE, a cutting off of a letter or syllable at the end of a
word. (Gk.) A grammatical term; Lat. apocope, borrowed from Gk.
diroKojTTj, a cutting off. Gk. diro, off (see Apo-) ; and Kowrtiv, to
hew, cut. y'SKAP, to cut, hew; Curtius, i. 187; Fick, i. 807. ,
Capon, q. v., is from the same root, [t]
*
APOTHECARY.
APOCRYPHA, certain books of the Old Testament. (Gk.)
' The other [bookes] folowing, which are called apocripha (because
they were wont to be reade, not openly and in common, but as it
were in secrete and aparte) are neyther founde in the Hebrue nor in
theChalde;' Bible, 1539; Pref. to Apocrypha. The word means
' things hidden." Gk. dir6npv<pa, things hidden, neut. pi. of dw6xpv<pos,
hidden. Gk. duoxpinrrnv, to hide away. Gk. diro, off, away (see
Apo-) ; and apvirrtiv, to hide. See Crypt. Der. apocryph-al.
APOGEE, the point in the moon's orbit furthest from the earth.
(Gk.) Scientific. Made up from Gk. dw6 (see Apo-); and Gk.
yfj, the earth, which appears also in geography, geology, and
geometry, q.v.
APOLOGUE, a fable, story. (F.,-Gk.) Used by Bp. Taylor,
vol. i. ser. 35. F. apologue, which Cotgrave explains by ' a pretty or
significant fable or tale, wherein bruit beasts, or dumb things, are
fained to speak.' Gk. diroAoyos, a story, tale, fable. Gk. diro ; and
\t-/ftv, to speak. See Apo- and Logic.
APOLOGY, a defence, excuse. (Gk.) Sir T. More.Works, p. 93 2 a,
speaks of ' the booke that is called mine apology.' [He probably
Englished it from the Lat. apologia, used by St. Jerome, rather than
from the Gk. immediately.] Gk. diro\oyla, a speech made in one's
defence. Gk. dir6 (see Apo-) ; and \iyav, to speak ; see Logic.
Der. apolog-ise, apolog-ist ; apolog-et-ic (Gk. dno\oyi]TiKot, fit for a
defence), apologet-ic-al, apohg-et-ic-al-ly. And see above.
APOPHTHEGM, APOTHEGM, a terse saying. (Gk.) Bacon
wrote a collection of apophthegms, so entitled. The word is sometimes
shortened to apothegm. Gk. dir6<p8cffui, a thing uttered ; also, a terse
saying, apophthegm. Gk. dirotpSff^o^uu , I speak out my mind plainly.
Gk. djro (see Apo-) ; and <p0tYfo^<", I cry out, cry aloud, utter.
Referred by Fick to */ SPANG or y' SPAG, to make a clear and
loud sound ; he compares Lith. spengiu, to make a loud clear
sound.
APOPLEXY, a sudden deprivation of motion by a shock to the
system. (Low L., Gk.) Chaucer, near the beginning of The Nun's
Priest's Tale, has the form poplexye ; like his potecarie for apothecary.
Low Lat. apoplexia, also spelt poplexia ; see the latter in Ducange.
Gk. diroirAijfi'o, stupor, apoplexy. Gk. diroirAijfffftii', to cripple by
a stroke. Gk. diro, off (see Apo-) ; and ir\fiaanv, to strike. See
Plague. Der. apoplec-t-ic.
APOSTASY, APOSTACY, a desertion of one's principles or
line of conduct. (F., Gk.) In rather early use. M. E. apostate,
WycliPs Works, ii. 51. F. apostasie, 'an apostasie;' Cot. Low
Lat. apostasia ; Ducange. Gk. dirooraoia, a later form of QTTO-
araan, a defection, revolt, lit. ' a standing away from.' Gk. diro, off,
from (see Apo-) ; and ardats, a standing. Gk. tarrrv, I placed my-
self, larijiu, I place, set ; words from the same root as E. stand ; see
Stand. And see below.
APOSTATE, one who renounces his belief. (F., - Gk.) The sb.
apostate occurs in the Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 19, and is often spelt
apostata (the Low Lat. form), as in P. Plowman, B. i. 104, and indeed
very much later, viz. in Massinger's Virgin Martyr, A. iv. sc. 3.
O. F. apostate, later apostat, as given by Cotgrave, and explained
'an apostata.' Low Lat. apostata (also a common form in English).
Gk. diroordTiji, a deserter, apostate. Gk. diro ; and fffTTjv, I placed
myself, tarr/pi, I place, set ; see above. Der. apostat-ise. ^f The
Lat. form apostata occurs even in A.S.; see Sweet's A.S. Reader,
p. 109, 1. 154.
APOSTLE, one sent to preach the gospel ; especially applied to
the earliest disciples of Christ. (L., Gk.) Wyclif has apostle,
Rom. xi. 3. The initial a was often dropped in M. E., as in posteles,
P. Plowman, B. vi. 151. The earlier writers use apostel, as in O. Eng.
Homilies, i. 117. The A.S. form was apostol, Matt. x. 2. Lat.
apostolus. Gk. diroVroAoj, an apostle; Matt. x. 2, &c. Lit. 'one
who is sent away.' Gk. diro<TTi\\(iv, to send away. Gk. dir<! (see
(Apo-) ; and are M.iv, to send. ^ STAL, to set, appoint, despatch,
send ; connected with E. stall; Fick, i. 821 ; Curtius, i. 261. See
Stall. Der. apostle-ship ; also apostol-ic, apostol-ic-al, apostol-ic-al-ly,
apostol-ale; from Lat. apostolus.
APOSTROPHE, a mark showing that a word is contracted ;
also an address to the dead or absent. (L., Gk.) Ben Jonson, Engl.
Gram. b. ii. c. I, calls the mark an apostrophus; Shak. aposlrop/ia,
L. L. L. iv. 2. 123. These are Latinised forms; the usual Lat. form
is apostrophe. Gk. diroor/Kxpi;, a turning away; diroffrpotpos, the mark
called an apostrophe. 'Airoarpotpri also signifies a figure in rhetoric,
in which the orator turns away from the rest to address one only, or
from all present to address the absent. Gk. diro, away (see Apo-) ;
and arpeipfiv, to turn. See Strophe. Der. aposlroph-ise.
APOTHECARY, a seller of drugs. (Low Lat., - Gk.) Lit. ' the
keeper of a store-house or repository.' M. E. apotecarie, Chaucer,
C. T. Prol. 427; sometimes shortened to pothecarie or potecarie, id.,
Group C, 852. Low Lat. apothecarius, apotecarhn; Wright's Voca-
APOTHEGM.
bularies, i. 129. Lat. apotheca, a storehouse. Gk. a-roOf/mi, a store-
house, in which anything is laid up or put away. Gk. into, away
(see Apo-) ; and ri'-flij/u, I place, put. See Thesis.
APOTHEGM. See Apophthegm.
APOTHEOSIS, deification. (Gk.) Quotations (without refer-
ences) from South and Garth occur in Todd's Johnson. Modem. Gk.
amBfaiais, deification. Gk. anoBtua, I deify ; lit. ' set aside as a God.'
Gk. dm (see Apo-) ; and flcds, a god, on which difficult word see
Curtius, ii. 122-130.
APPAL, to terrify. (Hybrid ; Lat. and Celtic.) Lit. ' to deprive
of vital energy ,' to ' weaken.' Formed from E. pall, a word of Celtic
origin, with the prefix ap-, the usual spelling of Lat. ad- before p.
a. This odd formation was probably suggested by a confusion with the
O. F. apalir, to become pallid, a word in which the radical idea may
easily have seemed, in popular etymology, to be somewhat the same.
However, apalir is neuter (see Roquefort), whilst M. E. appallen is
transitive, and signifies ' to weaken, enfeeble,' rather than to ' make
pale.' P. See the examples in Chaucer : ' an old appalled wight ' =
an old enfeebled creature, Shopman's Tale ; ' whan his name appalled is
for age,' Knight's Tale, 2195. And Gower, C. A. ii. 107, says: 'whan
it is night, min hede appallelh,' where he uses it, however, in a neuter
sense. y. The distinction between pall and pallid will best appear
by consulting the etymologies of those words. Cf. Welsh pall, loss
of energy, failure ; Cornish palch, weak, sickly. [&.]
APPANAGE, provision for a dependent ; esp. used of lands set
apart as a provision for younger sons. (F., L.) A French law term.
Cotgrave gives 'Appanage, Appennage, the portion of a younger
brother in France ; the lands, dukedomes, counties, or countries as-
signed by the king unto his younger sons, or brethren, for their
entertainment ; also, any portion of land or money delivered unto a
sonne, daughter, or kinsman, in lieu of his future succession to the
whole, which he renounces upon the receit thereof; or, the lands and
lordships given by a father unto his younger sonne, and to his heires
for ever, a child's part.' [Mod. F. apanage, which in feudal law
meant any pension or alimentation ; Brachet. The Low Lat. forms
apanagium, appanagium are merely Latinised from the French.] p.
Formed with F. suffix -age (Lat. -aticus, -aticum), from O. F. apaner,
to nourish, lit. to supply with bread, written apanare in Low Latin ;
Ducange. O. F. a-, prefix (Lat. ad, to) ; and pain, bread. Lat.
panem. ace. of panis, bread. See Pantry.
APPARATUS, preparation, provision, gear. (La*-) Used by
Hale, Origin of Mankind, p. 366. Borrowed from Lat. apparatus,
preparation. Lat. apparatus, pp. of apparare, to prepare. Lat. ad
( = ap- before p) ; and parare, to make ready. See Prepare.
APPAREL, to clothe, dress. (F..-L.) The verb aparailen, to
make ready, occurs in An Old Eng. Miscellany, ed. Morris, p. 26.
[The sb. is M.E. apparel, appareil ; Wyclif, I Mace. ix. 35, 52:2 Mace,
xii. 14. = O. F. aparail, apareil, aparel, apparel, dress.] O. F. aparail-
ler, to dress, to apparel. O.F. a, prefix (Lat. ad); and pareiller, parail-
ler, to assort, to put like things together with like. O.F. pareil, parail,
like, similar ; mod. F. pareil. Low Lat. portcullis, like, similar, found
in old medieval documents : ' hoc sunt pariailas cosas,' Lex Salica ;
Brachet. Lat. par, equal ; with suffixes -ic- and -al-, both diminutive.
See Par, Pair, Peer. Der. apparel, sb.
APPARENT, APPARITION ; see Appear.
APPEAL, to call upon, have recourse to. (F..-L.) M.E.
appelen, apelen. Gower, C. A. iii. 192, has appele both as verb and
sb. The sb. apel, appeal, occurs in Rob. of Glouc., p. 473. O. F.
apeler, to invoke, call upon, accuse ; spelt with one p because the
prefix was regarded as a, the O. F. form of Lat. ad. Lat. appellare,
to address, call upon ; also spelt adpellare ; a secondary or intensive
form of Lat. appellere, adpellere, to drive to, bring to, incline towards.
Lat. ad, to; and pellere, to drive. Cf. Gk. irdXXi, to shake,
brandish. See Impel. Der. appeal, sb., appeal-able; and (from
Lat. appellare) ap pell-ant, appell-ate, appell-at-ion, appell-at-ive.
APPEAR, to become visible, come forth visibly. (F., L.) M.E.
apperen, aperen; spelt appiere, P. Plowman, B. iii. 113; apere, Cov.
Myst. p. 291. O. F. apparoir, aparoir, to appear. Lat. apparere, to
appear. Lat. ad, to (which becomes ap- before p) ; and parere, to
appear, come in sight ; a secondary form of parere, to produce. Cf.
Gk. Ivopov, I gave, brought. ^f E. part is probably from the
same root, viz. ^ PAR, to apportion, bring, produce ; Fick, iii. 664 ;
Curtius, i. 350. Der. appear-ance ; and (from Lat. apparere) appar-ent,
appar-ent-ly , appar-enl-ne*s t appar-it-ion, appar-it-or. The phrase heir
apparaunt = heir apparent, is in Gower, C. A. i. 203.
APPEASE, to pacify, quiet. (F., L.) M. E. apaisen, apesen,
appesen. ' Kacus apaised the wraththes of Euander; ' Chaucer, tr. of
Boethius, b. iv. met. 7, p. 148. Gower has appesed, C. A. i. 341. O.F.
apaisier, mod. F. apaiser, to pacify, bring to a peace. O. F. a pais,
to a peace. Lat. ad pacem, to a peace. Lat. ad, to ; and pacem, ace.
of pax, peace. See Peace, and Pacify. Der. appeas-able.
APPOSITE.
29
APPELLANT, &c. ; see Appeal.
APPEND, to add afterwards. (F., - L.) Often now used in the
sense ' to hang one thing on to another ; ' but the verb is properly
intransitive, and is lit. ' to hang on to something else," to depend
upon, belong to. The M. E. appenden, apenden always has this in-
transitive sense. ' Telle me to whom, madam, that tresore appendelh,'
i.e. belongs; P. Plowman, B. i. 45. O.F. apendre, to depend on,
belong to, be attached to, lit. ' hang on to.' F. a (Lat. ad), to ; and
pendre, to hang. Lat. pendere, to hang. See Pendant. Der. ap-
pend-age (F.), append-ix (Lat.).
APPERTAIN, to belong to. (F..-L.) M. E. appertemen, aper-
teaen ; Chaucer, C. T. Group G, 785 ; tr. of Boethius, b. iii. pr. 4, p. 73.
O. F. apartenir (mod. F. appartenir), to pertain to. O. F. a, prefix
(Lat. ad) ; and O. F. partenir, to pertain. Lat. pertinere, to pertain.
Lat. per, through, thoroughly ; and tenere, to hold. See Pertain.
Der. appurten-ance (O. F. apurtenaunse, apartenance), appurten-ant.
APPETITE, strong natural desire for a thing. (F.. - L.) M. E.
appetyt, appetit ; Chaucer, C. T. Group B, 3390 ; Mandeville's Travels,
p. 157. O.F. appetit, appetite. Lat. appetitus, an appetite, lit. 'a
flying upon,' or ' assault upon.' Lat. appetere, to fly to, to attack.
Lat. ad-, to ( = ap- before p) ; and petere, to fly, rush swiftly, seek
swiftly. -</ PAT, to fall, fly. Cf. Gk. irt'r-o/jai, I fly; Skt. pat, to
fly, fall upon ; and E. find. From the same root we have feather and
pen. See Find. Der. appet-ise ; Milton has appet-ence, desire, P. L.
xi. 619.
APPLAUD, to praise by clapping hands. (Lat.) Shak. Macb.
v. 3. 53. Either from F. applaudir, given by Cotgrave, or directly
from Lat. applaudere, pp. applattsus. The latter is more likely, as
Shak. has also the sb. applause, evidently from Lat. applansus, not
from F. applaudissement. The Lat. applaudere means 'to clap the
hands together.' Lat. ad, to, together (= ap- before p); and plaudere,
to strike, clap, also spelt plodere (whence E. ex-plode). See Explode.
Der. applause, applaus-ive, from Lat. pp. applausus.
APPLE, the fruit of the apple-tree. (E.) The apple of the eye
(Deut. xxxii. 10) is the eye-ball, from its round shape. M. E. appel,
appil; spelt appell in the Ormulum, 8116. A. S. tfpl, appel; Grein,
i. 58. + O. Fries, appel. + Du. appel, apple, ball, eye-ball. + Icel.
epli. + Swed. dple, apple. + Dan. able. + O. H.G. aphol,aphul; G.
apfel. + Irish abhal, Gael, vbhall. + W. a/a/, Bret. aval. Cf. also
Russian iabloko, Lithuanian obolys, &c. ; see Fick, i. 491, who arranges
all under the European form ABALA. p. It is evident that the end-
ing -ala is no more than a suffix, apparently much the same as the
Lat. -ul-, E. -el, gen. used as a diminutive. We should expect the sense
to be ' a little ball,' and that European 06- meant a ball. This Fick
connects with Lat. umbo, a boss, with the orig. sense of ' swelling ; '
and strives to connect it further with Lat. amnis, a river, I suppose
with the orig. sense of ' flood.' Cf. Skt. ambhas, ambu, water ; W.
a/on, a river (E. Avon, obviously a very old Celtic word). y. Others
have attempted a connection between apple and Avon, but it has not
been fairly made out. 8. Grimm observed the resemblance between
apple and A. S. ofet, ofcet, fruit of trees, O. H. G. opaz, mod. G. obst,
fruit of trees ; and the consideration of these words suggests that,
after all, ' fruit ' is the radical sense of Europ. ab-. The true origin
remains unknown.
APPLY, to fix the mind on ; to prefer a request to. (F., L.)
M. E. applyen. 'Applyyn, applico, oppono ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 13. It
occurs in the Wycl. Bible, Numb. xvi. 5, &c. O. F. aplier, Roquefort.
Lat. applicare, to join to, attach ; turn or direct towards, apply to,
pp. applicants. l^a.1. ad, to (, ap- before p) ; and plicare, to fold or
lay together, twine together. Cf. Gk. irXinuv, to plait ; perhaps E.
fold. VPLAK, to plait, twine together. Curtius, i. 202; Fick, i.
681. Der. appli-able, appli-ance; and (from Lat. applicare), applica-
ble, applic-ant, applic-at-ion.
APPOINT, to fix, settle, equip. (F..-L.) M.E. appointen, a-
pointen ; ' apointed in the newe mone ; ' Gower. C. A. ii. 265. O. F.
apointer, to prepare, arrange, settle, fix. Low Lat. appunclare, to re-
pair, appoint, settle a dispute ; Ducange. Lat. ao"-, to ( = ap- before
p) ; and Low Lat. pane/are, to mark by a prick. Low Lat. puncta, a
prick (F.poinle). Lat. pimctus, pp. ofpungere, to prick, pt. t.pupugi ; the
orig. Lat. root pug- being preserved in the reduplicated perfect tense.
See Point. Der. appoint-ment ; Merry Wives, ii. 2. 272.
APPORTION, to portion out. (F..-L.) Used by Bp. Taylor,
Of Repentance, c. 3. s. 6 (R.) F. appor/ioner, ' to apportion, to give
a portion, or child's part ; ' Cot. Formed by prefixing F. a- (which
in later times was written ap- before p, in imitation of the Lat. prefix
ap-, the form taken by ao"- before p) to the F. verb portionner, ' to
apportion, part, share, deal ; ' Cot. F. portion, a portion. Lat.
portionem, ace. of portio, a portion, share. See Portion. Der. ap-
portion-rnerit.
APPOSITE, suitable. (Lat.) The M. E. verb apposen was used
I in the special sense of ' to put questions to,' ' to examine by questions ; '
<S
30
APPRAISE.
it is not obsolete, being preserved in the mutilated form pose. Bacon
speaks of ' ready and apposite answers ; ' Life of Henry VII, ed.
Lumby, p. 1 1 1, 1. 2 2. Lat. appositus, adj. suitable. Lat. appositus, pp.
of apponere, to place or put to, join, annex to. Lat. ad, to ( = ap-
before p) ; and ponere, to place, put ; gen. regarded as a contraction
ofposinere, on which see Curtius, i. 355. See Pose. Der. apposite-
ly, apposite-nefS, apposit-ion.
APPRAISE, to set a price on, to value. (F., L.) Sometimes
spelt apprize, as in Bp. Hall's Account of Himself, quoted by Richard-
son. The M. E. forms (with one p) apreisen, apraisen, aprisen signify
to value, to esteem highly, as in 'Hur enparel was apraysyt with
princes of myjte ' = her apparel was highly prized by mighty princes ;
Anturs of Arthur, St. 29. In P. Plowman, B. v. 334, the simple verb
preised occurs with the sense of ' appraised.' O. F. apreiser, to value
(no doubt the best form, though Roquefort only gives apretier, apris-
ier). O.F. a, prefix (Lat. ad); and preiser, preisier, prisier, to ap-
preciate, value, set a price on. O. F. preis, a price, value. Lat.
pretium, a price. See Price. ^J The E. words price and praise
being doublets, the words apprize, in the sense of to ' value,' and
appraise are also doublets. To apprize in the sense ' to inform ' is a
different word. Der. apprais-er, appraise-ment. And see below.
APPRECIATE, to set a just value on. (Lat.) Richardson gives
a quotation from Bp. Hall containing the sb. appreciation. Gibbon
uses appreciate, Rom. Empire, c. 44. Formed by suffix -ate (see
Abbreviate) from Lat. appretiatus, pp. of appretiare, to value at a
price. [The spelling with c instead of / is due to the fact that the sb.
appreciation seems to have been in earlier use than the verb, and was
borrowed directly from F. appreciation, which Cotgrave explains by
' a praising or prizing ; a rating, valuation, or estimation of.'] The
Lat. appretiare is a made up word, from Lat. ad (becoming ap- before
p) and pretium, a price. See Price ; and see Appraise above.
Der. appreciat-ion ', apprecia-ble, apprecia-bly.
APPREHEND, to lay hold of, to understand ; to fear. (Lat.)
Hall, Henry IV, an. I, has apprehended in the sense of attached, taken
prisoner. Lat. apprehendere, to lay hold of, seize. Lat. ad, to (be-
coming ap- before p) ; and prehendere, to seize, pp. prehensus. p. In
the Lat. prehendere, the syllable pre is a prefix (cf. Lat. prce, before) ;
and the Lat. root is hend-, which again is for hed-, the n being an
insertion ; and this is cognate with Goth, gitan, E. get. So too, the
Gk. form xav&avfiv has for its real root the form x<>8-, as in the aorist
t-X&o-ov. See Fick, i. 576; Curtius, i. 242. .y^GHAD, to grasp,
seize. See G-et. Der. apprehens-ion, apprehens-ible, apprehens-ive, ap-
prehens-ive-ness ; from Lat. pp. apprehensus. And see below.
APPRENTICE, a learner of a trade. (F..-L.) 'Apparailled
hym as apprentice;' P. Plowman, B. ii. 214, in MS. W. ; see the
footnote ; other MSS. read a prentice in this passage. The forms ap-
prentice and prentice were used indifferently in M. E., and can be so
used still. It is remarkable that the proper O. F. word was apprentif
(see Brachet), whence mod. F. apprenti by loss of final /. Thus
the English word must have been derived from a dialectal F. word,
most likely from the Rouchi or Walloon form apprentiche, easily in-
troduced into England from the Low Countries; cf. Proven9al ap-
prentiz, Span, and Port, aprendiz. Low Lat. apprentices, a learner of
a trade, novice; Ducange. Lat. apprendere, the contracted form
of apprehendere, to lay hold of, which in late times also meant
' to learn,' like mod. F. apprendre. See Apprehend. Der. appren-
tice-ship.
APPRIZE, to inform, teach. (F., L.) Richardson rightly re-
marks that this verb is of late formation, and founded on the M. E.
apprise, a substantive denoting 'information,' ' teaching." The sb. is
now obsolete, but frequently occurs in Gower, C. A. i. 44, 51, 372.
O. F. apprise, apprenticeship, instruction. O. F. appris, apris, pp. of
aprendre, to learn. Low Lat. apprendere, to learn ; contr. form of ap-
prehendere, to apprehend, lay hold of. See Apprehend.
APPROACH, to draw near to. (F..-L.) M.E. approchen,
aprochen ; Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, B. 7 ; Chaucer, tr. of Boethius,
b. i. pr. i, p. 6. O. F. aprochier, to approach, draw near to. Lat.
appropiare, to draw near to ; in Sulpicius Severus and St. Jerome
(Brachet). Lat. ad, to (becoming ap- before p) ; and prope, near,
which appears again in E. prop-inquity. Der. approach-able.
APPROBATION ; see Approve.
APPROPRIATE, adj. fit, suitable ; v. to take to oneself as one's
own. (Lat.) (The sb. appropriation is in Gower, C. A. i. 240). The
pp. appropriated'^ in the Bible of 1539, 3rd Esdras, c. 6 (Richardson).
Tyndal, Works, p. 66, col. I, has appropriate as an adjective, adopted
from Lat. pp. appropriate. [This is how most of our verbs in -ate were
formed ; first came the pp. form in -ate, used as an adj., from Lat. pp.
in -atus ; this gradually acquired a final d, becoming -ated, and at once
suggested a verb in -ale.']'- Lat. appropriate, pp. of appropriare, to
make one's own. Lat. ad, to (becoming ap- before p) ; and prnprius,
one's own ; whence E. Proper, q. v. % It will be observed that the
APSE.
vb. appropriate arose from the adj. appropriate, which afterwards took
the meaning of * fit.' Der. appropriate-ly, appropriate-ness, appro-
priaf~ion.
APPROVE, to commend ; sometimes, to prove. (F., - L.) M. E.
approuen, appreiien (with u for v). Chaucer has ' approved in coun-
seilling;' C. T. Group B, 2345. O.F. approver, to approve of,
mod. F. approuver. [Burguy omits the word, but gives prover, and
several compounds.] Lat. approbare, to commend ; pp. approbatus.
Lat. ad, to (becoming ap- before p); and probare, to test, try; to ap-
prove, esteem as good. Lat. probus, good. See Prove. Der.approv-
ing-ly, approv-able, approv-al', also approbation (Gower, C. A. ii. 86),
from Lat. approbatio.
APPROXIMATE, adj. near to ; v. to bring or come near to.
(Lat.) Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Errors, b. iii. c. 21. 5 9, has approximate
as an adjective; hence was formed the verb; see note on Appropri-
ate. Lat. approximates, pp. of approximare, to draw near to. Lat.
ad, to (becoming ap- before p) ; and proximus, very near, superlative
formed from prope, near. See Approach. Der. approximate-ly,
approximat-ion.
APPURTENANCE, in P. Plowman, B. ii. 103 ; see Apper-
tain.
APRICOT, a kind of plum. (F., -Port.,- Arab., -Gk.,- Lat.)
[Formerly spelt apricocli, Shak. Mids. Nt. Dr. iii. I. 169; Rich. II, iii.
4. 29 ; from the Port, albricoque, an apricot.] Cotgrave has abricot, of
which apricot is a corruption. F. abricot, which Cotgrave explains by
' the abricot, or apricock plum.' Port, albricoque, an apricot ; the F.
word having been introduced from Portuguese ; see Brachet. Cf. Span.
albaricoqne, Ital. albercocca, B. These words are traced, in Webster
and Littre, back to the Arabic al-barquq (Rich. Diet. p. 263), where al
is the Arabic def. article, and the word barquq is no true Arabic word,
but a corruption of the Mid. Gk. V/XUKOKIOV, Dioscorides, i. 165 (see
Sophocles' Lexicon) ; pi. irpaucoiua ; borrowed from the Lat. priecoqua,
apricots, neut. pi. of praicoqims, another form ofpr&cox, lit. precocious,
early-ripe. They were also called prcecocia, which is likewise formed
from the Lat. pracox. They were considered as a kind of peach
(peaches were called persica in Latin) which ripened sooner than other
peaches ; and hence the name. ' Maturescunt sestate prcecocia intra
triginta annos reperta et primo denariis singulis uenundata ; ' Pliny,
Nat. Hist. xv. II. ' Uilia maternis fueramus/riccoywa ramis Nunc in
adoptiuis persica cara sumus;' Martial, 13. 46. The Lat. prcecox,
early-ripe, is from prte, beforehand, and coqnere, to ripen, to cook.
See Precocious and Cook. C. The word thus came to us in a very
round-about way, viz. from Lat. to Gk. ; then to Arab. ; then to Port. ;
then to French, whence we borrowed apricot, having previously bor-
rowed the older form apricock from the Portuguese directly. I see no
reason to doubt this account, and phonetic considerations confirm it.
We require the Greek form, as intermediate to Lat. and Arabic ; and
the Arabic form, because it is otherwise wholly impossible to account
either for the initial al- in Portuguese, or for the initial a- in English.
D. The supposition that the Lat. word was an adaptation of the
Arabic or Persian one (supposed in that case to the original) is the
only alternative ; but barquq is not an original Pers. word ; see Vullers'
Lexicon Persico-Latinum.
APRIL, the name of the fourth month. (F..-L.) M.E. Aprille,
April ; Chaucer, C. T. Prol. I ; also Aueril [AvtrU], Rob. of Glouc.
p. 506. This older form is French ; the word was afterwards con-
formed to Latin spelling. O. F. Avril. Lat. Aprilis, April; so
called because it is the month when the earth opens to produce new
fruits. Lat. aperire, to open. See Aperient.
APRON", a cloth worn in front to protect the dress. (F., L.) In
the Bible of 1539, Gen. iii. 7. Formerly spelt napron or naprun, so
that an initial n has been lost. ' Naprun or barm-clothe, limas ; '
Prompt. Parv. p. 351. ' Hir napron feir and white i-wassh ; ' Prol.
to Tale of Beryn, 1. 33. O.F. naperon, a large cloth; Roquefort.
Termed with suffix -er- (appearing in O. F. nap-er-ie, a place for
keeping cloths), and augmentative suffix -on (answering to Ital. -one),
from O. F. nape, a cloth; mod. F. nappe, a cloth, table-cloth. Low
Lat. napa, a cloth; explained ' mappa ' by Ducange, of which word it
is a corruption ; cf. F. natte, a mat, from Lat. matta. Lat. mappa, a
cloth. The Lat. mappa is said in Quinctilian, i. 5. 57, to have been
originally a Punic word. ^f On the loss of n in napron, see remarks
prefixed to the letter N.
APROPOS, to the purpose. (F..-L.) Mere French ; viz. a pro-
pas, to the purpose, lit. with reference to what is proposed. Lat. ad
propositum, to the purpose. Lat. ad, to ; and proposition, a thing pro-
posed, neut. of propositus, proposed, pp. of proponere, to propose. See
Propose and Purpose.
APSE, an arched recess at the E. end of a church. (L., Gk.)
Modern and architectural ; a corruption of apsis, which has been
longer in use in astronomy, in which it is applied to the turning-
points of a planet's orbit, when it is nearest to or farthest from the
APT.
sun. The astronomical term is also now often written apse. Lat.
apsis, gen. spelt absis, a bow, turn ; pi. apsides. Gk. 0^1'*, a tying,
fastening, hoop of a wheel ; hence, a wheel, curve, bow, arch, vault.
Gk. airrtiv, to fasten, bind. ^AP, to seize, fasten, bind; whence
also Lat. aptus and E. apt, ad-apt, ad-ept, ad-opt. See Curtius, ii. 119;
Fick, ii. 17. See Apt.
APT, fit, liable, ready. (F., - L.) ' Flowring today, tomorrow apt
to faile;' Lord Surrey, Frailtee of Beautie. F. apte, explained by
Cotgrave as 'apt, fit,' &c. Lat. aptus, fit, fitted; properly pp. of
obsolete verb apere, to fasten, join together, but used in Lat. as the
pp. of apisci, to reach, seize. Apere is cognate with Gk. awrtiv, to
fasten. Cf. Skt. dpta, fit; derived from the verbal root dp, to reach,
attain, obtain. The Lat. ap-ere, Gk. air-Ttir, Skt. dp, are all from a
common y'AP, to reach, attain, fasten, bind. See Fick, ii. 17; Cur-
tius, ii. i IQ. Der. apt-ly, apt-ness, apt-i-lude; also ad-apt, q. v.
AQUATIC, pertaining to water. (Lat.) Used by Ray, On the
Creation. Holland has aquaticall, Plutarch, p. 692. Ray also uses
aqueous (Todd's Johnson). Addison has aqueduct (id.). Lat. aqua-
ticus, pertaining to water. Lat. aqua, water. + Goth, ahwa, water.
+ O. H. G. aha, M. H. G. ahe, water (obsolete). See Fick, i. 473.
From Lat. aqua are also derived aqua-fnrtis, i. e. strong water, by the
addition of/orris, strong; aqua-rium, Aqva-ritts, aque-ous, aqtie-duct.
AQUILINE, pertaining to or like an eagle. (F., L.) 'His nose
was aquiline ; ' Dryden, Palamon and Arcite, 1. 1350. Perhaps from
Lat. direct ; but Cotgrave gives F. aquilin, of an eagle, like an eagle,
with the example ' nez aquilin, a hawkenose, a nose like an eagle.'
Lat. aquilinus, belonging to an eagle. Lat. aquila, an eagle ; sup-
posed to be the fern, of the Lat. adj. aquilus, dark-coloured, swarthy,
brown ; whence perhaps also Aquilo, the ' stormy ' wind. Fick com-
pares Lith. oWa, blind, &c.; i. 474.
ARABESQUE, Arabic, applied to designs (F.,-It.,-Ar.) In
Swinburne's Travels through Spain, lett. 31, qu. in Todd's Johnson,
we find 'interwoven with the arabesque foliages.' F. Arabesque, which
Cotgrave explains by ' Arabian-like ; also rebesk-vtorke, a small and
curious flourishing ; ' where rebesk is a corruption of the very word in
question. Ital. Arabesco, Arabian. The ending -esco in Italian an-
swers to E. -ish. Der. From the name of the same country we have
also Arab, Arab-tan, Arab-ic. ['!*]
ARABLE, fit for tillage. (F..-L.) North speaks of ' arable
land ; ' Plutarch, p. 189. F. arable, explained by Cotgrave as 'ear-
able, ploughable, tillable.' Lat. arabilis, that can be ploughed. Lat.
arare, to plough. + Lithuanian arm, to plough. + Gk. apuciv, to
plough. + Goth, arjan. + A. S. eriaa. + O. H. G. eren, M. H. G. eren,
era, to plough (given by Wackemagel under the form ern). + Irish
araim, I plough. This widely spread verb, known to most European
languages, is represented in Eng. by the obsolete ear, retained in our
Bibles in Deut. xxi. 4, I Sam. viii. 12 ; Is. xxx. 24. Ear is a native
word (A. S. erian), not derived from, but only cognate with arare.
ARBITER, an umpire, judge of a dispute. (Lat.) In Milton,
P. L. ii. 909. Some derivatives, borrowed from the French, are in
much earlier use, viz. the fern, form arbitres (i. e. arbitress), Ayenbite
of Inwyt, p. 154; arbitrour, Wyclif, 3 Esdras, viii. 26 ; arbitre, arbi-
tree (Lat. arbitrium, choice), Chaucer, tr. of Boethius, b. v. pr. 6, 1. 5201.
nrbitracion, Chaucer's Tale of Melibeus ; arbitratour, Hall, Henry VI,
an. 4 ; arbilrement, Shak. Tw. Nt. iii. 4. 286. Lat. arbiter, a witness,
judge, umpire ; lit. ' one who comes to look on.' p. This curious
word is compounded of ar- and biter. Here ar- is a variation of
Lat. ad, to, as in ar-cessere (Corssen, Ausspr. i. 2. 239) ; and biter
means ' a comer,' from the old verb betere (also written b&tere and
bilere), to come, used by Pacuvius and Plautus. The root of betere is
be-, which is cognate with the Gk. root 0a-, whence Paivuv, to
come, and with the Goth. Itiva(m), whence Itwiman, to come, allied
to A. S. cumnn and E. come. See Curtius, i. 74, who discusses these
words carefully. ^ GA, nasalised as ^ GAM, to come. See Come.
Der. arbilr-ess ; see also below.
ARBITRARY, depending on the will; despotic. (Lat.) In Mil-
ton, P. L. ii. 334. Lat. arbitrarius, arbitrary, uncertain ; lit. ' what
is done by arbitration,' with reference to the possible caprice of the
umpire. Lat. arbitrare, to act as umpire. Lat. arbitro-, crude form
of arbiter, an umpire. See further under Arbiter. Der. arbitrari-ly,
arbitrari-ness ; and see below.
ARBITRATE, to act as umpire. (Lat.) Shak. Macb. v. 2. 40.
He also has arbitrator, Troilus, iv. 5. 225; which appears as arbi-
tratour (F. arbitrateur, Cotgrave) in Hall. Henry VI, an. 4 ; Chaucer
has arbitracion (F. arbitration), Tale of Melibeus, C. T. Group B, 2943.
Formed by suffix -ate (see Appropriate) from Lat. arbitrare, to act
as arbiter, to be umpire. Lat. arbiter, an umpire. ^ GA, to go ;
see the explanation under Arbiter. Der. arbilrat-or, arbilrat-ion ;
also arbilra-ment (F., from Lat. arbitrare). And see above.
ARBOREOUS, belonging to trees. (Lat.) Used by SirT. Browne,
Vulg. Errors, b. ii. c. 6, 20. Milton has arborets, i. e. groves (Lat. ar-
ARCHAIC. 31
boretum, a place planted with trees), P. L. ix. 437 ; and the same word
occurs in Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 1 2 ; but we now use the Lat. arboretum
in full. Lat. arboreus, of or belonging to trees, by the change of -us
into -ous, as in pious, strenuous ; a change due to F. influence. Lat.
orior, a tree. Root undetermined. Der. (from the same source) ar-
bor-et, arbor-etum, arbor-escent ; also arbori-culture, arbori-cultur-ist.
ARBOUR, a bower made of branches of trees. (Corruption of
harbour; E.) Milton has arbour, P. L. v. 378, ix. 216; arbours, iv. 626.
Shak. describes an arbour as being within an orchard ; 2 Hen. IV, v.
3. i. In Sidney's Arcadia, bk. i, is described ' a fine close arbor,
[made] of trees whose branches were lovingly interbraced one with
the other.' In SirT. More's Works, p. 1770, we read of ' sitting in an
arber,' which was in ' the gardine." a. There is no doubt that this
word is, however, a corruption of harbour, a shelter, place of shelter,
which lost its initial h through confusion with the M. E. herbere, a
garden of herbs or flowers, O. F. herbier, Lat. herbarium. P.' This
latter word, being of F. origin, had the initial h weak, and sometimes
silent, so that it was also spelt erbare, as in the Prompt. Parv.
p. 140, where we find 'Erbare, herbarium, viridarium, viridare."
y. This occasioned a loss of h in harbour, and at the same time sug-
gested a connection with Lat. arbor, a tree ; the result being further
forced on by the fact that the M. E. herbere was used not only to
signify ' a garden of herbs,' but also ' a garden of fruit-trees ' or
orchard, [f] ^f See this explained in the Romance of Thomas of
Erceldoune, ed. J. A. H. Murray, note to 1. 1 77, who adds that E.
orchard is now used of trees, though originally a wort-yard. Mr. Way,
in his note to the Prompt. Parv., p. 140, is equally clear as to the
certainty of arbour being a corruption of harbour. See Harbour.
ARC, a segment of a circle. (F., L.) Chaucer has ark, Man of
Law's Prologue, 1. 2 ; and frequently in his Treatise on the Astrolabe.
In the latter, pt. ii. sect. 9, 1. 2, it is also spelt arch, by the common
change of k into ch in English ; cf. ditch for dyke. O. F. arc, an arc.
Lat. arms, an arc, a bow. Cf. A. S. earh, an arrow, dart ; Grein, i.
248. Der. arc-ode, q. v. ; and see Arch, Archer.
ARCADE, a walk arched over. (F.,- Ital., -Lat.) Pope has
arcades. Moral Essays, Ep. iv. 35. F. arcade, which Cotgrave ex-
plains by 'an arch, a half circle.' Ital. arcata, lit. arched; fern, of
pp. of arcare, to bend, arch. Ital. area, a bow. Lat. areas, a bow.
See Arc. (See Brachet, Etym. Diet. pref. 201.)
ARCANA; see Ark.
ARCH (i), a construction of stone or wood, &c. in a curved or
vaulted form. (F., L.) ' Arch in a wall, arcus ; ' Prompt. Parv. p.
14. 'An arche of marbel ; ' Trevisa, i. 215. A modification of O. F.
arc, a bow ; so also we have ditch for dyke, crutch for crook, much as
compared with mickle, &c. See Arc. Der. arch-ing, arch-ed.
ARCH (2), roguish, waggish, sly. (E.) ' Dogget . . . spoke his
request with so arch a leer ; ' Taller, no. 193. A corruption of M. E.
argh, arh, an [i.e. argh~\, arwe, feeble, fearful, timid, cowardly;
whence the meaning afterwards passed into that of ' knavish,' ' roguish.'
' If Elenus be argh, and owrnes for ferde ' = if Helenus be a coward,
and shrinks for fear; Allit. Destruction of Troy, ed. Panton, 1. 2540.
This word was pronounced as ar- followed by a gutlural somewhal
like the G. ch ; this guttural is commonly represented by gh in writ-
ing, but in pronunciation has passed into various forms ; cf. through,
cough, and Scot. loch. This is, perhaps, the sole instance in which it
has become ch ; but it was necessary to preserve it in some form, to
distinguish it from are, and to retain its strength. A. S. earg, earh,
timid, slothful ; Grein, i. 248. + Icel. argr, effeminate ; a wretch,
craven, coward. + M. H. G. arc, arch, bad, niggardly ; mod. G. arg,
mischievous, arrant, deceitful. See Fick, iii. 24. <|[ But see anolhei
suggeslion in Krrata. [f] Der. arcA-ly, arch-ness.
ARCH-, chief; almost solely used as a prefix. (L.,-Gk.) Shak.
has ' my worthy arch and patron,' Lear, ii. I. 61 ; but the word is
harshly used, and better kept as a mere prefix. In arch-bishop, we
have a word in very early use ; A. S. erce-bisceop, arce-bisceop (Bos-
worth), p. Thus arch- is to be rightly regarded as descended from
A. S. arce-, which was borrowed from Lat. archi- (in archi-episcopus),
and this again from Gk. <ipx'-m dpx'fv'""'oms, an archbishop. Gk.
d>x*. to be first ; cf. Gk. apxri, beginning. Cf. Skt. arh, to be
worthy ; Curtius, i. 233. The form of the prefix being once fixed, it
was used for other words. Der. arch-bishop, arch-deacon, arch-duke,
arch-duchy. Sec. tf In the word arch-angel, the prefix is taken
directly from the Greek ; see Archi-.
ARCHEOLOGY, the science of antiquities. (Gk.) Modem.
Made up from Gk. dpxcuot, ancient, and suffix -logy (Gk. -\o^ia), from
Gk. \6yot, discourse, which from \iytif, to speak. See Archaic
Der. archaolog-ist.
ARCHAIC, old, antique, primitive. (Gk.) From Gk. apxatito*
primitive, antique. Gk. dpxatot, old, ancient, lit. ' from the begin-
ning.' Gk. dpx^, beginning. Cf. Skt. arh, to be worthy; Curtius,
i. 233. See below.
32
ARCHAISM.
ARCHAISM, an antiquated phrase. (Gk.) From Gk.
an archaism. Gk. apxaifyw, to speak antiquatedly. Gk. dpxaios,
old. Gk. dpxh, beginning. See above.
ARCHER, a bowman. (F.,-L.) In early use. Used by Rob. of
Glouc., p. 199 ; and still earlier, in King Alisaunder, ed. Weber, 1. 6344.
O. F. archier, an archer. Low Lat. arcarius. Formed with Lat.
suffix -arius from Lat. arcus, a bow. See Arc. Der. arch-er-y.
ARCHETYPE, the original type. (F.,-L.,-Gk.) UsedbyBp.
Hall, The Peacemaker, s. 23. F. archetype, ' a principall type, figure,
form ; the chief pattern, mould, modell, example, or sample, whereby
a thing is framed ; ' Cot. Lat. archetypum, the original pattern.
Gk. upxfTvirov, a pattern, model ; neut. of dpxTviro, stamped as a
model. Gk. apx e ~- another form of <fy>x'-, prefix (see Archi-) ; and
Tvirrdv, to beat, stamp. See Type. Der. archetyp-al.
ARCHI-, chief; used as a prefix. (L., Gk.) The older form is
arch-, which (as explained under Arch-) was a modification of A.S.
arce-, from Lat. archi-. The form archi- is of later use, but borrowed
from the Lat. directly. Gk. ".pyi-, prefix. See Arch-. Der. archi-epis-
copal, archi-episcopy, archi-diaconal. 1\ In the word arch-angel, the
final i of the prefix is dropped before the vowel following. In the
word arche-type, the prefix takes the form arche- ; see Archetype.
The same prefix also forms part of the words archi-pelago, archi-tect,
archi-trave, which see below.
ARCHIPELAGO, chief sea, i. e. yEgean Sea. (Ital.,-Gk.)
Ital. arcipelago, modified to archipelago by the substitution of the
more familiar Gk. prefix archi- (see Archi-) for the Ital. form arci-.
Gk. dpx'-, prefix, signifying ' chief; ' and irtXa-yoj, a sea. Curtius
(i. 345) conjectures iriXa-yef to be from a root ir\ay-, to beat, whence
also irXriffi, a blow, irK^aadv, to strike, irXaffii', to strike, drive off;
this would make Tre\ayos to mean ' the beating ' or ' tossing.' This
root appears in E. plague, q. v.
ARCHITECT, a designer of buildings. (F., - L., - Gk.) Lit. ' a
chief builder.' Used by Milton, P. L. i. 732. F. architecte, an archi-
tect ; Cotgrave. Lat. architects, a form in use as well as architecton,
which is the older and more correct one, and borrowed from Gk.
Gk. apxiTfKTca/, a chief builder or chief artificer. Gk. <if>X'"> chief
(see Archi-) ; and TCKTW, a builder, closely allied to Tex 1 ' 1 ?, art, and
TixTdv, to generate, produce. ^/TAK, to hew, work at, make ; cf.
Skt. taltsh, to hew, hew out, prepare ; Lat. texere, to weave, whence E.
texture. See Technical, Texture. Der. architect-are, architect-ur-al.
ARCHITRAVE, the part of an entablature resting immediately
on the column. (F., Ital., hybrid of Gk. and Lat.) Used by
Milton, P. L. i. 715. Evelyn, On Architecture, remarks : 'the Greeks
named that epistttium which we from a mungril compound of two lan-
guages (apxfarabs, or rather from arcus and trabs") called architrave.'
His second derivation is wrong ; the first is nearly right. His obser-
vation that it is ' a mungril compound ' is just. Lit. it means ' chief
beam.' F. architrave, ' the architrave (of pillars, or stonework) ; the
reeson-peece or master-beam (in buildings of timber) ; ' Cotgrave.
Ital. architrave. Gk. cipx'-, prefix, chief, adopted into Lat. in the
form archi- ; and Lat. ace. trabem, a beam, from the nom. trabs, a
beam. Cf. Gk. Tpdirrjf, rpa<pTj(, a beam. The connection of the
latter with Gk. rplirtiv, to turn, suggested in Liddell and Scott, is a
little doubtful, but may be right.
ARCHIVES, s. pi. (i) the place where public records are kept ;
(2) the public records. (F., L., Gk.) The former is the true sense.
The sing, is rare, but Holland has ' archive or register ; ' Plutarch,
p. 116. F. archives, archifs, 'a place wherein all the records, &c.
[are] kept in chests and boxes ; ' Cot. Lat. archiuum (archi-
vum), also archium, the archives. Gk. dpxfiov, a public building,
residence of the magistrates. Gk. apx*!, a beginning, a magistracy,
and even a magistrate. Cf. Skt. ark, to be worthy.
ARCTIC, northern. (F.,-L.,-Gk.) In Marlowe's Edw. II,
A. i. sc. i, 1. 1 6. Milton has arctick, P. L. ii. 710. F. arctique, north-
em, northerly ; Cot. Lat. arclicus, northern. Gk. apxriKos, near
' the bear,' northern. Gk. apxros, a bear ; esp. the Great Bear,
a constellation situate not far from the northern pole of the heavens.
+ Lat. ursus, a bear. + Irish art, a bear ; O'Reilly, p. 39. + Skt.
riltsha (for arisa), a bear. ^f Root uncertain ; see Curtius, i. 163.
However, Max Mu'ller shews that the Skt. liksha originally meant
' shining ; ' Lect. ii. 394 ; see Skt. arch, to beam, to shine ; Benfey, p. 48.
y'ARK, to beam; Fick, i. 22. The word is connected, as seen
above, with ursine. Der. ant-arctic, q. v.
ARDENT, burning, fiery. (F., - L.) Chaucer has ' the most
ardaunt love of his wyf ; ' tr. of Boethius, b. iii. met. 1 2. The spelling
has, at a later time, been conformed to Latin. O. F. ardant, burning,
pres. pt. of order, ardoir, to bum. Lat. ardere, to bum. Root un-
certain. Der. ardent-ly, ardenc-y ; ardour, Tempest, iv. 56 (O. F.
ardnr, Lat. ace. ardorem, from nom. ardor, a burning).
ARDUOUS, difficult to perform. (Lat.) In Pope, Essay on
Criticism, 1. 95. Not in early use. Formed by change of Lat. -us
ARGENT.
T into -ous, by analogy with pious, &c. Lat. ardtius, steep, diffi-
1 cult, high. + Irish, Gaelic, Cornish, and Manx arci, high, lofty. The
connection suggested by Bopp with Skt. riUh, to flourish, is not quite
clear; see Curtius, i. 310. Der. arduom-ly, arduous-ness.
ARE, the pres. pi. of the verb substantive. (Northern E.) The
whole of the present tense of the verb substantive is from the same
root, viz. AS, to be. I here discuss each person separately. The sin-
gular is I am, thou art, he is ; pi. we, ye, they are.
AM is found in the Northumbrian glosses of the Gospels, Luke, xxii.
33, and frequently elsewhere. It is an older form than the Wessex
com. It stands for as-m, the s having been assimilated to m, and
then dropped. Here as is the root, and -m is short for -mi or
-ma, and signifies the first personal pronoun, viz. me. The Northum-
brian retains this -m in other instances, as in geseo-m, I see, Mark, viii.
24 ; doa-m, I do, Mk. xi. 33 ; beo-m, I be, Mk. ix. 19. p. The original
form of the I p. sing, in the Aryan languages was as-ma, from which
all other forms are variously corrupted, viz. Skt. as-tni, Zend ah-mi,
Gk. (l-fu, Lat. s-u-m (for os-(a)-nu'), Lithuan. es-mi, Goth, i-m, Icel.
e-m, Swed. <er (for as, dropping the pronoun), Dan. er, O. Northum-
brian a-m, A. S. (Wessex) eo-m, Old Irish a-m. It is the only word
in English in which the old suffix -ma appears. The O. H. G. and
mod. G. use the verb to be (y'BHU) for the present tense sing, of the
verb substantive, except in the third person.
ART. We find O. Northumbrian arS (Luke, iv. 34) ; but art
answers to A. S. (Wessex) eart. Hence the final -t stands for
an older -S, the contraction of Su, thou. The Icel. form is er-t ; and
E. and Icel. are the only languages which employ this form of the
2nd personal pronoun. The ar- stands for as-, so that ar-t stands for
as-ftu. p. The general Aryan formula is os-si (si meaning thou).
whence Skt. as-i, Zend a-hi, Doric Gk. ia-ai (Attic i), Lat. <s (pron.
dropped), Lithuan. es-si, Goth, i-s (or is), Swed. <er. Dan. er.
IS. This is the same in Northumbrian and Wessex, viz. is, as at
present. p. The gen. Aryan formula is os-/a, meaning 'is he ; '
whence Skt. as-ri, Zend ash-ti, Gk. ia-ri, Lat. es-t, Lith. es-ti, Goth,
is-/, Icel. er, Swed. <er, Dan. er. Germ. is-t. The English form has
lost the pronoun, preserving only is, as a weakened form of ^AS.
ARE. This is the O. Northumbrian aroa (Matt. v. 14) as distin-
guished from A. S. (Wessex) sindon ; but the forms sindon and sin/
are also found in Northumbrian. All three persons are alike in Old
English ; but the Icel. has er-um, er-ud, er-u. p. The gen. Aryan
formula for the 3rd pers. plu. is as-anti, whence Skt. s-anti, Gk. tia-iv,
Lat. s-unl, Goth, s-ind, G. s-ind, Icel. er-u (for es-u), Swed. ar-e (for tes-e),
Dan. er-e (for es-e), O. Northumb. ar-on (for os-on), M.E. ar-en, later
are, A.S. s-ind(on). In the A.S. s-indon, the -on is a later suffix.
peculiar to English. 7. Thus E. are is short for aren, and stands
for the as-on of the primitive as-anti, whilst the A. S. sind stands for
s-ant of the same primitive form. As the final * in are is no longer
sounded, the word is practically reduced to ar, standing for the
original root AS, to be, by the common change of s into r.
The ^AS, to be, appears in Skt. as, to be, Gk. la- of Doric ia-ai,
Lat. es-se, to be, G. s-ein, to be, and in various parts of the verb in
various languages, but chiefly in the present tense. It may be related
to ^ AS, to sit ; cf. Skt. as, to sit. The original sense was probably
' sit, remain.' ^f For other parts of the verb, see Be, Was.
AREA, a large space. (Lat.) Used by Dryden, Ded. to Span.
Fryar (R.). Lat. area, an open space, a threshing-floor. Root un-
certain ; see Fick, ii. 22.
AREFACTION, a drying, making dry. (Lat.) Used by Bacon,
Adv. of Learning, b. ii. ed. Wright, p. 124, 1. 14. A coined word,
from Lat. arefacere, to make dry. Lat. are-re, to be dry (cf. aridus,
dry) ; and facere, to make. See Arid. Der. By adding -fy, to
make, to the stem are-, dry, the verb arefy has also been made ; it is
used by Bacon, Nat. Hist. sect. 294.
ARENA, a space for disputants or combatants. (Lat.) It occurs
in Hakewill, Apologie, p. 396 ; and Gibbon, Hist. vol. ii. c. 1 1. Lat.
arena, sand ; hence, a sanded space for gladiators in the amphitheatre.
Better harena ; see Errata, [t] Der. arena-ce-ous, i. e. sandy.
AREOPAGUS, Mars' hill ; the supreme court at Athens. (Gk.)
From Lat. areopagus, which occurs in the Vulgate version of Acts,
xvii. 22, where the A. V. has 'Mars' hill.' Gk. 'Apnvirayos, a form
which occurs in no good author (Liddell and Scott) ; more commonly
"Apfiot Trdyos, which is the form used in Acts, xvii. 22. Gk. 'Apdos,
of or belonging to 'Aprjs, the Gk. god of war; and wdyoi, a rock,
mountain peak, hill. ^f Perhaps connected with Gk. wr/yvvfu, I
fasten, and the root PAK, to fix, as suggested by Liddell and Scott.
Der. Areopag-ite, Areopag-it-ic-a (Milton's treatise).
ARGENT, white, in heraldry ; silvery. (F..-L.) In Milton, iii.
460; as an heraldic term, much earlier. F. argent, silver; also,
'argent in blason;' Cot. Lat. argentum, silver; of which the old
Oscan form was aragetom ; connected with Lat. arguere, to make clear,
J_ argutvs, clear, plain, argilla, white clay. + Gk. apyvpos, silver ; con-
ARGILLACEOUS.
AROINT THEE!
33
nected with dpyoi, white.+Skt. rajata, white, silver, from raj, to shine ; T aristocrat-ic-al, aristocrat-ic-al-ly. and even aristocrat (not a very good
also Skt. arjuna, white. ^ARG, to shine ; Fick, i. 497 ; Curtius, i. form) ; all from the Gk. stem dpiaroxpaT-.
ARITHMETIC, the science of numbers. (F., - Gk.) In M. E.
we find the corrupt form arsmetite, Genesis and Exodus, ed. Morris,
790; further altered to arsmetrH, Chaucer, C. T. 1900, 7804; these
are probably from the Prov. arismetica, where s is a corruption of th.
211. Der. argent-ine (F. argentin, Cotgrave ; Low Lat. argentinus).
ARGILLACEOUS, clayey. (Lat.) Modern. -Lat. argillacms,
clayey. Lat. argilla, white clay.+ Gk. dp-yiAos, white clay.
to shine. See Argent.
ARGONAUT, one who sailed in the ship Argo. (Lat.,-Gk.)
Lat. argonauta, one who sailed in the Argo. Gk. 'Ap-fovavrrjs, an
Argonaut. Gk. 'Apyw, the name of Jason's ship (meaning ' the
swift ; ' from dpyot, swift) ; and raunjj, a ship-man, sailor, from vavs,
a ship. Der. Argonai.!-ic.
ARGOSY, a merchant-vessel. (Dalmatian.) InShak.Mer.ofVen.i.
1.9; on which Clark and Wright note: 'Argosy denotes a large vessel,
gen. a merchant-ship, more rarely a ship of war. The word has been
supposed to be a corruption of Ragosie, "a ship of Ragusa," but more
probably is derived from the Low Lat. argis from the classical Argo.'
The former is surely the more correct view. p. The etymology of this
word has been set at rest by Mr. Tancock, in N. and Q. 6. S. iv. 490.
See The Present State of the Ottoman Empire, by Sir Paul Ricaut,
1675, c. 14, p. 119 ; Lewis Roberts's Marchants Map of Commerce,
1638, c. 237, where he speaks of the great ships ' vulgarly called
Argoses, properly R/taguses;' and especially the earlier quotation about
' Ragusyes, Hulks, Caravels, and other rich laden ships,' in The Petty
.
At a later period the word was conformed to the Gk. We find arith-
metic} in Holland's Pliny (concerning Pamphilus), b. xxxv. c. 10 ;
and in Shak. Troil. i. 2. 123. F. arithmetiq:;e, explained as 'arith-
metick ' by Cotgrave. Gk. dpifl/iiyriK^, the science of numbers,
fern, of dpi6/a)TiKui, belonging to numbers. Gk. d/xtytot, number,
reckoning. y'AR, to hit upon a thing, fit; Curtius, i. 424. See
Aristocracy. Der. arithmetic-al, arithmetic-al-ly, arithmetic-ion.
ARE, a chest, or box ; a large floating vessel. (Lat.) In very
early use as a Bible word. In the A. S. version of Gen. vi. 15, it is
spelt ore. Lat. area, Gen. vi. 15 (Vulgate). Lat. arcere, to keep.
Gk. aptcfir, to keep off, suffice,
to keep off, whence Gk.
7, defence, corresponding to Lat. area. ^ARK (or ALK), to keep,
protect. Fick, i. 49 ; Curtius, i. 162. Der. arcana, Lat. neut. pi.,
things kept secret, secrets ; from Lat. arcanus, hidden, from arcere, to
protect, keep, enclose.
ATi/M (i), s ., the limb extending from the shoulder to the hand.
(E.) M. E. arm, Layamon, iii. 207 ; also earm, (trm.O. Northum-
Navy Royal, by Dr. John Dee, 1577, pr. in Arber's English Garner, ii. brian arm, Luke, i. 51 ; A. S. earm, Grein, i. 248. + Du. arm. + Icel.
67. See also Wedgwood (Contested Etymologies) ; Palmer (Folk- armr. + Dan. and Swed. arm. + Goth. arms. + G. arm. + Lat. ar-
Etymology). The O. F. argousin is unrelated ; see Palmer, Brachet.
Ragusa is a port in Dalmatia, on the E. coast of the Gulf of Venice.
ARGUE, to make clear, prove by argument. (F., L.) 'Aris-
totle and other moo to argue I tanghte ; ' P. Plowman, B. x. 1 74.
O. F. arguer. Lat. arguere, to prove, make clear ; cf. argtitus, clear.
, to shine ; Fick, i. 497 ; Curtius, i. 211; whence also Gk.
dpy6t, Skt. arjuna, white. See Argent. Der. argu-ment, Chaucer,
C. T. 11198; argument-al-ion, argument-at-ive, argument-at-ive-ly,
argnment-at-ive-ness.
ARID, dry, parched. (Lat.) Not in early use ; Rich, quotes from
Swift's Battle of the Books, and Cowper's Homer's Iliad, bk. xii. It
mus, the shoulder ; cf. Lat. artus, a limb. + Gk. apu6s, joint, shoulder ;
cf. Gk. apffpov, a joint, limb. All from ^AR, to fit, join ; expressive
of the articulation of the limb, and its motion from the joint. See
Curtius, i. 424. Der. arm-let, arm-ful, arm-less, arm-pit. From the
same root are ar-istocracy, ar-ithmetic, ar-ticle, ar-l, q. v.
ARM (2), v., to furnish with weapons. (F., L.) M. E. armen,
to arm ; Rob. of GIouc. p. 63. O. F. armer, to arm. Lat. armare,
to furnish with weapons. Lat. arma, weapons. See Arms. Der.
arma-da, arma-dillo, arma-ment, armour, army ; all from Lat. arma-re ;
see these words. Armistice is from Lat. arma, s. pi.
ARMADA, an ' armed ' fleet ; a large fleet. (Span., - Lat.) Well
was therefore probably taken immediately from Lat. aridus, dry, by j known in the time of Elizabeth. Camden speaks of the ' great ar-
merely dropping -us. Lat. arere, to be dry. Possibly related, as j mada;' Elizabeth, an. 1588. Span, armada, a fleet; fern, of armada,
suggested by Fick, to Gk. df eiv, to dry up, to parch. Der. arid-it-y, armed, pp. of armor, to arm, equip. Lat. armare, to arm. See
arid-ness ; and see Arena, Arefaction.
ARIGHT, in the right way. (E.) We find in Layamon, 1. 17631,
' XT he mihte fusen a riht,' i. e. ere he might proceed aright. The
a, thus written separately, is (as usual) short for an, the M. E. form
of A. S. on, often used in the sense of ' in.' Thus aright is for ' on
right,' i. e. in right ; right being a substantive. Cf. abed, asleep,
afoot, &c. See Right.
ARISE, to rise up. (E.) M. E. arisen, Old Eng. Homilies, p. 49 ;
very common. A. S. drisan, to arise ; Grein, 1.38; in common use.
A. S. a'-, and risan, to rise. The prefix a- in this case is equivalent
to Goth, us-, and mod. G. er-; cf. Goth, ur-reisan, to arise, Mat. viii.
15, where ur- is the prefix which commonly appears as us-, but be-
comes ur- before a following r. ^f The Goth, us is used separately as
a preposition, with the meanings ' out, out of, from, forth from ; ' as
' us himinam,' out of heaven, Mark, i. n. The O. H. G. had the
same preposition, spelt or. ir, ur, but it is wholly lost in mod. G. ex-
cept in the prefix er-, and its place has been supplied by aus, which
is the E. out and Goth, ut, really a different word. In Icelandic the
prep, remains in full force, spelt or or or in old MSS., and sometimes
yr ; in later MSS. it is spelt ur, generally written as r in mod. Ice-
landic. As a prefix in Icelandic, it is spelt or-. Several other E. verbs
no doubt possess this prefix, but it is a little difficult to determine in
every case the value of the prefix a-. In this case we are certain.
See A-, prefix, and see Rise.
ARISTOCRACY, a government of the best men ; a govern-
ment by a privileged order ; the nobility. (Gk.) Holland speaks of
' an aristocracy, or regiment [i. e. government] of wise and noble
senate ; ' Plutarch, p. 276. F. aristocratie, ' an aristocracy ; the govern-
ment of nobles, or of some few of the greatest men in the state ; '
Cot. [Or the word may have been taken directly from Gk.] Gk.
dpiaTOKparia, the rule of the best-born or nobles. Gk. apiaro-, crude
form of apiaros, best ; and paT?v, to be strong, to rule, govern.
A. The Gk. dpiaros, best, is a superlative from a form dpi-, proper,
good, which does not occur, but is abundantly illustrated by allied
words, such as dp-riot, fit, exact, dp-en;, excellence, dp-fuvos, fit,
suiting ; all from a root ap, to fit, suit. See other numerous related
words in Curtius, i. 424. <^AR, to hit upon a thing, to fit ; these are
the roots numbered 2 and 3 by Fick, i. 19, 20 ; and more suitable
than that which he numbers as 4. B. The Gk. aparta*, to be strong,
Arm, v. Doublet, army, q. v.
ARMADILLO, an animal with a bony shell. (Span.,-L.) A
Brazilian quadruped ; lit. ' the little armed one,' because oi its pro-
tecting shell. Span, armadillo, dimin. with suffix -itto, from armada,
armed, pp. of armar, to arm. Lat. armare, to arm. See Arm, verb.
ARMAMENT, armed forces; equipment. (Lat.) Modern.
Direct from the Lat. armamentum, gen. used in pi. armamenta, tack-
ling. Lat. armare, to arm ; with suffix -mentum. See Arm, verb.
ARMISTICE, a short cessation of hostilities. (F., - L.) Not in
early use. In Smollet's Hist, of England, an. 1748. F. armistice, a
cessation of hostilities. Lat. artnistitium *, a coined word, not in the
dictionaries ; but the right form for producing F. armistice, Ital. ar-
mistizio, and Span, armisticio ; cf. Lat. solstitium, whence E. solstice.
Lat. arma, arms, weapons ; and -stitum, the form assumed in composi-
tion by statum, the pp. of sistere, to make to stand, to place, fix ; a
secondary verb, formed by reduplication from stare, to stand, cognate
with E. stand See Arms and Stand.
ARMOTJR, defensive arms or dress. (F., L.) M. E. armour,
armoure, armure. Rob. of Glouc. has armnre, p. 397. O. F. armure,
armeure. Lat. armatnra, armour ; properly fern, of artnaturus, fut.
part. act. of armare, to arm. See Arm, verb. Der. armour-er,
armour-y ; also armorial (F. armorial, belonging to arms ; Cotgrave).
ARMS, sb. pi., weapons. (F., L.) M. E. armes, Havelok, 2924.
O. F. armes, pi.; sing. arme. Lat. arma, neut. pi., arms, weapons,
lit. ' fittings,' equipments. Cf. Gk. dpfuva, the tackling of a ship,
tools of a workman. ^ AR, to fit, join. See Arm. Der. arm,
verb, q. v. ; also arm-i-stice, q. v.
ARMY, a large armed body of men. (F., L.) In Chaucer's
C. T. Prol. 60, many MSS. read armee, but it is doubtful if it is the
right reading, and the word is very rare at so early a time. It is
spelt army in Udal on St. Matt. c. 25. O. F. armee, fern, of arme, pp.
of armer, to arm. Lat. armare, to arm, of which the fern. pp. is
artnata, whence Span, armada. Doublet, armada, q. v.
AROINT THEE! begone! (Scand.) 'Aroint thee, witch!'
Macbeth, i. 3. 36. The lit. sense is ' get out of the way,' or ' make
room,' i. e. begone ! It is a corruption of the prov. E. rynt ye, or rynt
you. ' Rynt thee is used by milkmaids in Cheshire to a cow, when
she has been milked, to bid her get out of the way ; ' note in Clark
and Wright's edition. Ray, in his North-Country Words, gives:
t, strength, are connected with t:palveiv, to complete, and Lat. ' Rynt ye, by your leave, stand hanclsomly [i. e. more conveniently
creare (whence E. create); from V KAR, to make, which Fick! forme]. As; " Rynt you, witch," quoth Besse Locket to her mother;
lengthens to star, i. 239. See Curtius, i. 189. Der. aristocrat-ic, I Cheshire Proverb.' Icel. ryma, to make room, to clear the way; cf.
<& D
34
AROMA.
Swed. rymma, to remove, clear, get out of the way, decamp ; Dan.
romme, to make way, get out of the way, decamp. [Similarly, the
tool called a rimer, used for enlarging holes in metal, signifies ' en-
larger,' ' that which makes more room ; ' and corresponds to a verb
to rime.] Rynt ye is an easy corruption of rime ta, i. e. do thou make
more room ; where ta is a form frequently heard instead of ' thou ' in
the North of England. See Dialect of Mid- Yorkshire, by C. Clough
Robinson, Pref. p. xxiv (E. D. S.), for remarks on the forms of thou.
AROMA, a sweet smell. (Lat., - Gk.) The sb. is modem in use ;
but the adj. aromatic is found rather early. Fabyan has ' oyntmentis
and aromatykes ;' c. 1 66. Late Lat. aroma, borrowed from Gk. Gk.
apaifia. a spice, a sweet herb. Etym. unknown ; but the word ' occurs
not only in the sense of sweet herbs, but likewise in that of field-fruits
in general, such as barley and others ; ' Max Miiller, Lect. on the
Science of Language, 8th ed. ii. 293. There is thus a probability,
strengthened by the very form of the word, that it is derived from
&po(iv, to plough, cognate with E. ear, to plough. See Ear, verb.
Der. aroma-t-ic, aroma-t-ise, from the Gk. stem O/XU^OT-.
AROUND, prep, and adv., on all sides of, on every side. (Hybrid ;
E. and F.) Spenser has arownd, F. Q. i. 10. 54. M. E. around,
Life of Beket, ed. Black, 1. 2162. The prefix is the common E. a-,
in its commonest use as short for an, the M. E. form of A. S. prep.
on ; so that a-rmind is for on round, i. e. in a round or circle. Round
is from O. F. roond, rond, Lat. rotundas. Cf. abed, asleep, afoot, &c.
See Bound.
ABOTJSE, to rouse up. (Scand.) In Shak. 2 Hen. VI, iv. I. 3.
The prefix is a needless addition ; no doubt meant to be intensive,
and imitated from that in arise, which is the A. S. a'-, answering
to Gothic as- ; see Arise. For further remarks, see Bouse.
ABQUEBTJS, a kind of gun. (F.,-Du.) Used by Nicholas
Breton, an Elizabethan poet, in A Farewell to Town (R.) F.
arquebuse, ' an harquebuse, caleever, or hand-gun ; ' Cot. He also
gives the spelling harquebuse, which is older and better. Walloon
hartibuse, in Diet, de la langue Wallonne, by Grandgagnage, i. 266,
278, qu. by Diez, who traces the word. This Walloon word is a
dialectal variation of Du. haakbus, which is a significant word. Du.
haai; a hook, clasp, and bus, a gun-barrel, gun ; exactly parallel to
G. hakenbuchse, an arquebuse, from halten, a hook, and buchse, a gun-
barrel, gun. B. The word means ' gun with a hook,' alluding to some
peculiarity in the make of it. In Webster's Diet, the ' hook ' is said
to have been the name given to the forked rest upon which the gun,
of a clumsy make, was supported ; but the arquebuse was an unsup-
ported hand-gun, and the reference seems to be rather to the shape of
the gun, which was bent or hooked, whereas the oldest hand-guns
had the barrel and butt all in one straight line, so that it was difficult
to take aim. Another suggestion is that the hook was a trigger, pre-
viously unused. See Hackbut. ^f Brachet derives F. arquebuse
from Ital. archibugio, but this will not account for the O. F. harque-
buse; besides, archibugio is itself a borrowed word. See Diez's
account, which is clear and sufficient.
ARRACK, the name of an ardent spirit used in the East. (Arab.)
Better spelt arack or arac, as in Sir T. Herbert's Travels, ed. 1665,
pp. 45, 241, 348. From the Arabic word 'araq, juice, the more
literal signification being ' sweat ; ' in allusion to its production by
distillation. In Palmer's Pers. Diet. col. 425, is the entry : ' Arab,
'aray, juice, essence, sweat ; distilled spirit.' Arab, araqa, he
sweated. ^f The word is sometimes shortened to Back.
ARRAIGN, to call to account, put on one's trial. (F., L.)
M. E. arainen, areinen, arenen (with one r). ' He arayned hym ful
runyschly, what raysoun he hade,' &c. ; Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, C.
191. O. F. aranier, aragnier, areisnier, to speak to, discourse with ;
also, to cite, arraign. O.F. a-, prefix (Lat. ad) ; and reisner, reisoner,
to reason, speak, plead. O. F. reson, raison, reason, advice, account.
Lat. ace. rationem, fromnom.ro/io, reason. See Reason. ^[ The
Low Lat. form of arraign is arrationare ; similarly the Low Lat.
derationare, to reason out, decide, produced the now obsolete darraign,
to decide, esp. used of deciding by combat or fighting out a quarrel ;
see Chaucer, Kn. Ta. 775- Der. arraign-ment.
ABBANOE, to range, set in a rank. (F..-O. H. G.) M. E.
arayngen, as in 'he araynged his men ; ' Berners, Froissart, c. 325 ;
orig. spelt with one r. O. F. arengier, to put into a rank, arrange.
O. F. a-, prefix (Lat. ad, to); and rangier, renger, to range, put in a
rank. O. F. renc, mod. F. rang, a rank, file ; orig. a ring or circle of
people. O. H. G. hrinc, mod. G. ring, a ring, esp. a ring or circle of
people ; cognate with E. ring. See Bank, Bing. Der. arrange-
ment.
ARBATfT, knavish, mischievous, notoriously bad. (E.) Also
(better) spelt arrand, Howell, bk. iv. let. 9 (R.) ' So arrant a thefe ; '
Grafton, Hen. IV, an. i. a. It stands for arghand, i.e. fearing,
timid, cowardly, a word closely allied to Arch, q. v., which has
passed through a similar change of meaning, from ' cowardly ' to
ARROGATE.
' knavish.' We find, e. g. ' arwe coward ' = arch (or arrant) coward, in
K. Alisaunder, ed. Weber, 1. 3340. 0. Arghand is the pres. pt., in
the Northumbrian dialect, of the Northern E. verb argh, to be
cowardly. ' Antenor arghet with austerne wordes, Had doute of the
duke and of his dethe fere ' = Antenor turned coward at his threatening
words, had fear of the duke, and was afraid to die ; Destruction of
Troy, 1946. For pres. participles in -and, see Harbour's Bruce and the
Pricke of Conscience. They are even found as late as in Spenser,
who has glitterand, K. Q. ii. 1 1 . 1 7 ; &c. y. This North. E. pres. pt.
in -and was easily confused with the F. pres. pt. in -ant, so that arghand
became arrant; used 16 times by Shakespeare. In the same way,
plesand in Barbour's Bruce = mod. E. pleasant. 8. Next, its root
being unrecognised, it was confused with the word trrant, of French
origin, first used in the phrase ' errant knights ; ' Sir. T. Malory's Morte
Arthur, bk. iv. c. xii ; or ' knight errant,' id. bk. iv. c. xxiv. Chap-
man, in his Byron's Tragedy, Act v. sc. I, shews the confusion com-
plete in the line ' As this extravagant and errant rogue.' A. S. eargian,
to be a coward : ' hy ondredon . . . )>set hy to ratte a-slawedon and
d-eargedon ' = they feared, lest they might too soon become very slow
(slothful) and become very timid; where d- is an intensive prefix.
A. S. earg, earh, timid ; Grein, i. 248. See further under Arch.
5T For further examples of the verb argh, Southern M. E. aryen,
see Ergh in Jamieson's Scot. Diet., and aryen in Stratmann and
Matzner ; and cf. Icel. ergjaslt, to become a coward. [#]
ABBAS, tapestry. (F.) In Shak. Haml. iv. i. 9. So named
from Arras, in Artois, N. of France, where it was first made.
ABBAY, to set in order, get ready. (F., hybrid of Lat.and Scand.)
M. E. arraien, araien, to array ; common in I4th century ; Chaucer,
Kn. Ta. 1 1 88 ; Rob. of Glouc. p. 36. O. F. arraier, arroier, to array,
prepare, arrange. O. F. arrai, arroi, preparation. p. Formed
by prefixing or- (imitation of the Lat. prefix ar-, the form assumed
by ad, to, before a following r) to the sb. roi, rai, order, arrangement,
according to Burguy ; though I suspect roi may rather have meant
' tackle.' The simple sb. roi seems to be rare, but we have the com-
pounds arroi, preparation, baggage ; conroi, equipage, conroier, to equip,
which point to the special arrangements for a journey. y. Of Scandi-
navian origin; Swed. reda, order, Dan. rede, order, Icel. reida, imple-
ments, an outfit, tackle, rigging, service, affairs; Icel. reidi, implements,
rigging of a ship ; also, tackle, harness of a horse, &c. It seems to me
clear that the Icel. word is the real origin, as the soft 6 would so easily
drop out. However, the word is certainly Scandinavian. The 6 or
d is preserved in Low Lat. arredium, warlike apparatus, implements
or equipage of war ; Ital. arredo, furniture, rigging, apparel ; both
of which come close to the Icel. use. 8. These Scandinavian words
are closely allied to A. S. rcede, prepared, mod. E. ready ; A. S. ger&de,
trappings, equipment (Grein. ii. 440) ; cf. Scottish graithe, to make
ready, graith, ready, graitk, apparatus, all words directly borrowed
from Icel. greiia, to equip, greidr, ready, and greidi, arrangement.
Hence to array, to graithe, and to make ready, are three equivalent
expressions containing the same root. See Beady, Curry. ^f It
will be observed that the sb. array is really older than the verb.
ABBEABS, debts unpaid and still due. (F..-L.) The M. E.
arere is always an adverb, signifying backward, in the rear ; e. g.
' Some tyme aside, and somme arrere ' = sometimes on one side, and
sometimes backward ; P. Plowman, B. v. 354. It is more commonly
spelt- arere (with one r), or a rere (in two words), id. C. vii. 405.
O. F. arier, ariere, backward. Lat. ad, towards; and retro, back-
ward. [Similarly O. F. deriere (mod. F. derriere) is from Lat. de,
from, and r/ro, backward ; and we ourselves use the word rear still.]
See Bear ; and see arriere in Brachet. ^ What we now express
by arrears is always expressed in M. E. by arrearages or arerages, a
sb. pi. formed from M. E. arere by the addition of the F. suffix -age.
For examples of arrearages, see Rich. s. v. arrear ; and cf. P. Plow-
man, C. xii. 297.
ARREST, to stop, to seize. (F., L.) M. E. arresten, or com-
monly aresten ; Chaucer, Prol. 829 (or 837). O.F. arester, aresteir,
to stay (mod. F. arreter) ; given by Burguy s. v. steir (Lat. stare).
Lat. ad, to (which becomes a in O. F.) ; and restore, to stay, com-
pounded of re- (older form red-), back, and stare, to stand, remain,
cognate with E. stand. See Be- and Stand ; and see Best.
ABBIVE, to come to a place, reach it. (F., L.) Gen. followed
by at in modem E. ; but see Milton, P. L. ii. 409. M. E. aryuen, ariiien,
(it for v) ; Rob. of Glouc. p. 18. O.F. ariver, arriver. Low Lat.
adripare, to come to the shore, spelt arripare in a 9th cent, text, and
arribare in an nth cent, chartulary ; Brachet. See the note also in
Brachet, shewing that it was originally a seaman's term. Lat. ad
ripam, towards the shore, to the bank. Lat. ad, to ; and ripa, the
bank, shore. Fick, i. 742, ingeniously suggests that the orig. sense
of Lat. ripa is ' a rift, a break ; ' cf. Icel. rifa, whence E. rive.
See Bive. Der. arriv-al, spelt arrivaile in Gower, C. A. ii. 4.
ARROGATE, to lay claim to, assume. (Lat.) Used by Barnes,
ARROW.
AS.
55
Works, p. 371, col. I. The sb. arrogance is much older; Chaucer,
C. T. 6694 ; so is the adj. arrogant, C. T. Persones Tale, De Superbia.
Formed with suff. -ate (see Abbreviate) from Lat. arrogare, to ask
of, to adopt, attribute to, add to, pp. arrngatus. Lat. ad, to ( = ar-
before r) ; and rogare, to ask. See Rogation. Der. arrogat-ion ;
also (from Lat. arroga-re, pres. pt. arrogans, ace. arrogantem) arro-
gant, arrogant-ly, arrogance, arroganc-y.
ARROW, a missile shot from a bow. (E.) M. E. arewe, arwe
(with one r) ; Chaucer, Prol. 107 ; Ancren Riwle, pp. 60, 62. A. S.
arewe, A. S. Chron. an. 1083 ; older form earh, Grein, i. 248 ; akin to
A. S. earn, swift, and arod, prompt, ready. -f- Icel. or, an arrow, pi.
orvar; akin to Icel. drr, swift. ^AR, to go; which appears in
Skt. ri, to go, Gk. Ip-xo/jai, I come, i-aAXeo, I hasten, send, shoot ;
Kick, iii. 21 ; Curtius, ii. 171. The Skt. arvan means a horse. From
the same root is E. errand, q. v. Der. arrow-y. 5ss- Another view
of the word is to connect A. S. earh, an arrow, Icel. or (pi. orvar)
with Goth, arhwazna, a dart, Eph. vi. 16 ; and these again with Lat.
areas, a bow ; the supposed root being ^ ARK, to keep off, defend ;
Fick, iii. 24. See Arc.
ARROW-ROOT, a farinaceous substance, made from the root
of the Maranla Arundinacea, and other plants. (E.) From arrow
and root ; if the following note be correct. ' The E. name of this
preparation is derived from the use to which the Indians of S. America
were accustomed to apply the juice extracted from another species of
Maranta the Maranta galanga, which was employed as an antidote
to the poison in which the arrows of hostile tribes were dipped ; '
Eng. Cyclopaedia, Arts and Sciences, s. v. Arrow-root. Observe the
Lat. name, ' Maranta arvndinacea.'
ARSE, the buttocks. (E.) M. E. ars, ers ; P. Plowman, B. v.
175, and footnote. A. S. ters; Bosworth. + Du. oars. + Icel. ars,
also spelt ross.+Swed. and Dan. ars.+M. H. G. ars ; mod. G. arsch.
+ Gk. ofrpof, the rump ; cf. ovpa, the tail ; Curtius, i. 434.
ARSENAL, a magazine for naval stores, &c. (Span., Arab.)
Holland speaks of ' that very place where now the arsenall and ship-
docks are ; ' Livy, p. 106 ; and see Milton, P. R. iv. 270. [Perhaps
rather from Span, than from F. arcenal, which Cotgrave, following
the F. spelling, explains by ' an Arcenall.'~\ Span, arsenal, an arsenal,
magazine, dock-yard ; a longer form appears in Span, atarazanal, an
arsenal, a rope-walk, a cellar where wine is kept ; also spelt atara-
zana. [So in Italian we find arzanale or arzana, an arsenal, a dock-
yard ; and darsena, a wet dock. The varying forms are due to the
word being foreign, viz. Arabic. The final -/ is merely formative,
and no part of the original word. The Span, atarazana and Ital.
darsena are the best forms.] Arab, ddr, a house, and cind'at, art,
trade ; Palmer's Pers. Diet. coll. 248, 403. The two words together
signify ' a house of art or construction,' ' a place for making things.'
Mr. Wedgwood says : ' Ibn Khaldoun quotes an order of the Caliph
Abdalmelic to build at Tunis a ddr-cind'a for the construction of
everything necessary for the equipment and armament of vessels.
Pedro de Alcala translates atarazana by the Arab, ddr a cina'a ; see
Engelmann and Dozy.'
ARSENIC, a poisonous mineral. (Gk.) Chaucer speaks of
ar.enik, C. T. Group G, 778. It was one of the four 'spirits' in
alchemy. Lat. arsenicum. Gk. apamKuv, arsenic, a name occurring
in Dioscorides, 5. 121. [This Gk. word lit. means ' male ; ' in allu-
sion to the extraordinary alchemical fancy that some metals were of
different sexes. Gold, e. g. also called Sol, the sun, was masculine,
whilst silver, also called luna, the moon, was feminine. Others sup-
pose the word simply refers to the strength of the mineral.] Gk.
apaiv-, base ofaparjv, a male ; also, strong, mighty. Cf. Zend arshan,
a man, male; Skt. rishaba, a bull ; Curtius, i. 427. Der. arsenic-al.
ARSON, the crime of burning houses. (F., L.) Old Law
French ; see Blackstone's Comment, b. iv. c. 16. O. F. arson, arsun,
arsiun, incendiarism. O. F. ardoir, order, to burn. Lat. ardere, to
burn ; pp. arsus. See Ardent, [f]
ART (i), 2 p. s. pres. of the verb substantive. (E.) O. Northum-
brian ar'S, later art ; A. S. eart. The ar- stands for as-, from ^AS, to
be ; and the -t, O. Northumb. -S, is the initial letter of 'S-u, i.e. thou.
See further under Are.
ART (2), skill, contrivance, method. (F..-L.) M. E. art, arte;
Rob. of Bnmne, tr. of P. Langtoft, p. 336 ; and in Floriz and Blaunche-
flur, ed. Lumby, 1. 521. O. F. art, skill. Lat. ace. artem, from, nom.
ars, skill. ^AR, to fit. Cf. Gk. aprtos, fit, exact, Lat. artus, a limb
(lit. joint), &c. ; see Fick, i. 493 ; Curtius, i. 423. From the same
root we have ar-m, the shoulder-joint, hence, the arm ; ar-ticulation,
i. e. a ' fitting,' ar-ticulate, ar-ticle, ar-ithrnetic. Der. art-ful, art-ful-ness,
art-ist, tirt-ist-ic, art-ist-ic-al, art-ist-ic-al-ly, art-less, art-less-ly, art-less-
ness ; also art-ijice, art-illery, art-isan, which are treated of separately.
ARTERY, a tube or pipe conveying blood from the heart. (L.,
Gk.) Shak. L. L. L. iv. 3. 306. Lat. arteria, the windpipe ; also,
an artery. [The F. form is artfre, which is shorter than the E., and
&
consequently the E. word is not from French.] Gk. aprijpta, an artery ;
but orig. the windpipe. Perhaps connected with dpraa, I fasten to,
hang from ; see Curtius, i. 442. Der. arteri-al, arteri-al-ise.
ARTESIAN, adj., applied to a well. (F.) These wells are made
by boring till the water is found ; and the adj. is properly applied to
such as are produced by boring through an impermeable stratum, in
such a way that the water, when found, overflows at the outlet.
Englished from F. Artesien, of or belonging to Artois, a province in
the N. of France, where these wells were first brought into use at
an early period. See Eng. Cycl. s. v. Artesian well.
ARTICHOKE, an esculent plant; Cynara scolymus. (Ital.,
Arab.) ' A artochocke, cynara ; ' Levins, 159.4. Holland has the
odd spelling artichoux for the plural ; Pliny, b. xx. c. 23. [He seems
to have been thinking of F. choux, cabbage.] Ital. articiocco, an arti-
choke ; cf. F. artichaut, spelt artiehatilt by Cotgrave, and explained
by him as ' an artichock.' A corrupt form. Florio gives the spellings
archiciocco, archicioffb ; also carciocco, carcioffb. Cf. Span, alcachofa,
Port, alcachofra. Arab, al harshaf, an artichoke ; Rich. Pers. Diet,
p. 562. ^f The pretended Arab, ar'di shaiiH, cited by Diez, is a
mere corruption from Italian.
ARTICLE, a small item; a part of speech. (F..-L.) M.E.
article, Ayenbite of Inwyt, pp. 1 1, 1 2. F. article, ' an article ; a head,
principall clause, title or point of a matter; . . also, a joint or
knuckle;' Cot. Lat. articulus, a joint, knuckle, member of a sen-
tence, an article in grammar ; the lit. sense being ' a little joint.'
Formed, by help of suffix -c- (Aryan -io) and dim. suffix -ul, from
Lat. artus, a joint, a limb. y'AR, to fit. See Max Miiller, Lect. i.
104. (8th ed.) See Arm, Art. Der. article, verb. And see
below.
ARTICULATE, adj., jointed, fitted; also, distinct, clear. (Lat.)
Speech is articulate when distinctly divided into joints, i. e. into words
and syllables ; not jumbled together. Lat. articulatus, distinct, arti-
culate ; pp. of articulare, to supply with joints, or divide by joints,
chiefly applied to articulate speaking. Lat. articulus, a little joint ;
dimin. of artus, a joint, limb. See Article. Der. articulate, verb ;
artict.late-ly, articulat-ion.
ARTIFICE, a contrivance. (F..-L.) Gower has artificer, C. A.
iii. 142. Shak. has artificer, K. John, iv. 2. 101 ; and artificial, Romeo,
i. i . 146. Artifice is in Milton, P. L. ix. 39. F. artifice, skill, cunning,
workmanship; Cot. Lat. ariificium, a craft, handicraft. Lat. artifici-,
crude form of artifex, a workman. Lat. arti-, crude form of ars, art ;
and facere, to make, the stem fac- being altered to fie- in forming
compounds. See Art and Pact. Der. artifici-al, artifici-al-ly ; also
artific-er, in Gower, C. A. iii. 142.
ARTISAN, a workman. (F., Ital.,-L.) In Blount's Gloss.,
ed. 1674. Bacon and Ford use artsman (R.) F. artisan, an artisan,
mechanic ; older spelling arlisien ; Roquefort. Ital. artigiano, a
workman; whence it was introduced into F. in the i6th century;
Brachet. p. This corresponds, according to Diez, to a late Lat. form
artitianus (not found), formed in its turn from Lat. artitus, cunning,
artful (a dubious word), which from Lat. artem, ace. of ars, art. The
Lat. ars is, in any case, the obvious source of it. See Art.
ARTILLERY, gunnery ; great weapons of war. (F., - L.) Mil-
ton, P. L.ii. 715 ; Shak. K. John, ii. 403. Chaucer, in his Tale of Meli-
beus, speaks of ' castiles, and other maner edifices, and armure, and
artilries.'O. F. artillerie, machines or equipment of war ; see quota-
tion in Roquefort s. v. arlillement. The word was used to include
crossbows, bows, &c. long before the invention of gunpowder. O. F.
artiller, to fortify, equip ; Roquefort. Low Lat. artillare, to make
machines ; a verb inferred from the word artillator, a maker of ma-
chines, given by Ducange. Lat. art-, stem of ars, art. See Art.
Der. artillerist. ^[ What Brachet means by making artillare
equivalent to articulare ' derived from artem through articulus,' I can-
not understand ; for articulus is not derived from artem, art, but from
ar/s, a joint ; though both are from y'AR, to fit. Neither is ar7-
lare, to make machines, the same as articulare, which is plainly the
Ital. artigliare, to claw, from articulus, Ital. arliglio, a claw.
AS (i), conjunction and adverb ; distinct from the next word. (E.)
M. E. as, als, alse, also, alswa ; and al so, al swa, written separately.
That these are all one and the same word, has been proved by Sir F.
Madden, in remarks upon Havelok, and is a familiar fact to all who
are acquainted with Middle English. In other words, as is a corrup-
tion of also. p. The successive spellings are : A. S. col swd, Grein, i.
239 ; al swa, Layamon, 1. 70 ; al so. Seven Sages, 569, ed. Weber ;
alse, P. Plowman, A. v. 144 ; als, id. B. v. 230 (where als means
' also ') ; als mani as = as many as, Mandeville's Travels, p. 209.
The A. S. eal swit means both 'just so ' and 'just as.' See Also.
AS (2), relative pronoun. (Scand.) Considered vulgar, but ex-
tremely common provincially. ' Take the box as stands in the first
fire-place ; ' Pickwick Papers, c. xx. It is found in M. E. ; ' The
firste soudan [sultan] was Zaracon, as was fadre to Salahadyn;'
D 2
36
ASAFCETIDA.
Mandeville, p. 36 ; and see Matzner, Gram. ii. 2. 495. It is a cor-
ruption of es, rel. pron. signifying ' which," due to confusion with
the far commoner and native E. as, which was used in phrases like
' as long as,' and so seemed to have also somewhat of a relative force.
O. Icel. es, mod. Icel. er, rel. pron., used precisely as the mod. prov.
E. as is used still. See examples in Cleasby and Vigfusson's Icel.
Dictionary, p. 131, where the prov. E. as is duly alluded to. ' Hann
atti d(5ttur eina, er Unnr het ' = he had a daughter as was named
Unnr. ' Hann gekk til herbergis bess er konungr var inni ' = he
went to the harbour (shelter, house) as the king was in. ^f It is also
by means of this relative that we can account for the -ce at the end
of sin-ce, and the -s at the end of the corresponding M. E. sithen-s ; cf.
Icel. sidan er. O. Icel. sioan es, after that. ' The Icelandic has no
relat. pron. but only the relat. particles er and sent, both indeclinable ; *
Cl. and Vigf. Icel. Diet.
ASAFCETIDA, ASSAFCETIDA, a medicinal gum. (Hybrid ;
Pers. and Lat.) It is the Ferula assaftetida, an umbelliferous plant,
growing in Persia. The Persian name is dzd (Rich. Diet. p. 65) ;
the Lat. fcetida, stinking, refers to its offensive smell. See Fetid.
ASBESTOS, a fibrous mineral. (Gk.) In Holland's Pliny,
b.xxxvii.c. 10. So called because it is incombustible. Gk. aaQfaros,
incombustible, or lit. 'unquenchable.' Gk. d-, negative prefix ; and
-afl(OT6t, quenchable, from afiiwviu, I quench, extinguish. See re-
marks by Curtius on this curious verb. Der. asbest-ine, adj.
ASCEND, to climb, mount up. (Lat.) Chaucer has ascensioun
and ascended, C. T. 14861, 14863. [There is a F. sb. ascension, but
no verb ascendre, though the form descendre is used for ' to descend.']
Lat. ascenders, to climb up to, ascend; pp. ascensus. Lat. ad-, to
(reduced to a- before sc); and scandere, to climb. + Skt. skand, to jump ;
also, to jump upwards, ascend. ^ SKAND, to jump. Curtius,
i. 207, who also points out the connection with Gk. aiefa>la\ov. See
Scandal. Der. ascendent, Chaucer, Prol. 417 (now foolishly spelt
ascendant to pair off with descendant, though ascendent is purely Latin) ;
ascendenc-y ; ascens-ion, from Lat. pp. ascenstts ; ascent (Shak.), coined
to pair off with descent, the latter being a true F. word.
ASCERTAIN", to make certain, determine. (F..-L.) Thesis
an idle addition to the word, and should never have been inserted.
Yet the spelling ascerlayn occurs in Fabyan, c. 177. Bale has assar-
lened ; Image, pt. i. O. F. acertainer, a form which Burguy notes
(s. v. cert) as having been used by Marot. Cotgrave has ' acerlener,
to certifie, ascertaine, assure.' (5. Acertener is a coined word, used in
the place of the older F. acerter, to assure ; it is made up of F. prefix
a- (Lat. ad), and the adj. certain, certain, sure. Again, certain is a
lengthened form, with suffix -am (Lat. -anus) from the O. F. cert, sure.
Lat. cerlns, sure. See Certain. Der. ascertain-able.
ASCETIC, adj. as sb., one who is rigidly self-denying in religious
observances ; a strict hermit. (Gk.) Gibbon speaks of ' the ascetics ; '
Hist. c. 37. In the Life of Bp. Burnet, c. 13, we find : ' he entered
into such an ascetic course.' The adjective was 'applied by the Greek
fathers to those who exercised themselves in, who employed them-
selves in, who devoted themselves to, the contemplation of divine
things : and for that purpose, separated themselves from all company
with the world ; ' Richardson. Gk. da/a]TiK6s, industrious, lit. given
to exercise. Gk. uaicr]r/is, one who exercises an art, esp. applied to
an athlete. Gk. aaictiv, to work, adorn, practise, exercise ; also, to
mortify the body, in Ecclesiastical writers. Root unknown. Der.
ascetic-ism.
ASCITITIOTJS, supplemental, incidental. (Lat.) Little used.
' Adscititiotis, added, borrowed;' Kersey's Diet. 'Homer has been
reckoned an ascititioas name, from some accident of his life ; ' Pope,
qu. in Todd's Johnson. Coined, as if from Lat. ascititius (not used),
from ascitus, received, derived from others, not innate ; pp. ofasciscere,
to take in, admit, receive from without, also written adsciscere. Lat.
ad, to ; and sciscere, to learn, find out, ascertain, which is formed from
scire by the addition of the ending -sco, common in forming ' incho-
ative ' or ' inceptive ' verbs in Latin. Lat. scire, to know ; closely
related to Gk. K'OI, ca<v, I split, cleave; see Curtius, i. 178. See
Science.
ASCRIBE, to attribute, impute. (Lat.) It occurs in the Lamen-
tation of Mary Magdeleine, St. 37 ; a poem later than Chaucer, but
sometimes printed with his works. Lat. ascribere, to write down to
one's account ; pp. ascriptus. Lat. ad, to (which becomes a- before
sc) ; and scribere, to write. See Scribe. Der. ascrib-able, ascripl-ion.
ASH, the name of a tree. (E.) M. E. asch, esch, assch ; Chaucer,
C. T. 2924. ' Esche, tre, fraxinus ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 143. A. S. cesc,
Grein, i. P 8.+ Du. esch.+lce\. askr.+ Dan. and Swed. osi.+O. H. G.
osc ; M. H. G. asch ; G. esche. Origin unknown. Der. ash-en, adj.
ASHAMED, pp. as adj., affected by shame. (E.) M. E. aschamed,
often written a-schamed. ' Aschamyd, or made ashamyd, verecundatus ;'
Prompt. Parv. p. 15. But we also find M. E. ofschamed, ashamed ;
Shoreham's Poems, p. 160 ; Owl and Nightingale, 1. 934. Hence, in
ASIDE.
this instance, we may consider the prefix a- as equivalent to of-, as it
is in the case of the word adown, q. v. (3. This would point back to
an A. S. form ofscamod, which is not recorded, but was probably in
use. y. The form dscamian, to make ashamed, occurs once in poetry,
Grein, i. 39, and the prefix <i- commonly answers to G. er-, Goth, us-,
an intensive prefix. 8. Hence ashamed answers either to A.S. ofscamod,
pp. of ofscamian, or dscaiiiod, pp. of dscamian, to make ashamed ; the
prefix being indeterminate. The verb scamian, to affect by shame, is
derived from the sb. scamu, shame. See Shame.
ASHES, the dust or relics of what is burnt. (E.) The pi. of ash,
which is little used. M. E. asche, axe, aske, a dissyllabic word, the
usual pi. being aschen, axm, asken, but in Northern Eng. asches, axes,
askes. Thus asken appears in the (Southern) Ancren Riwle, p. 214,
while askes is in Hampole's Pricke of Conscience, 424. A. S. asce,
axe, asce, pi. tescan, axan, ascan ; Grein, i. 10, 1 1, 58. + Dn. asch. +
Icel. aska. + Swed. aska, + Dan. aske. + Goth, azgo, sing., asgon, pi. ;
Luke, x. 13. + O. H. G. asgd, ascd ; M. H. G. asche, aske, esche ; G.
asche. Origin unknown. Der. ash-y Ash- Wednesday, so called from
the use of ashes by penitents, the Lat. name being dies cinerum.
ASHLAR, ASHLER, a facing made of squared stones. (F.,
L.) ' In countries where stone is scarce, ashler principally consists of
thin slabs of stone used to face the brick and rubble walls of buildings ; '
Eng. Cycl. s. v. Ashler. Again, Ashlering is used in masonry to sig-
nify ' the act of bedding in mortar the ashler above described ; ' id.
It is also used in carpentry ' to signify the short upright pieces of
wood placed in the roof of a house to cutoff the acute angle between
the joists of the floor and the rafters ; almost all the garrets in London
are built in this way ; ' id. 0. The clue to understanding the word is
to remember that the use of wood preceded that of stone. This is re-
markably exemplified by the entry in Cotgrave's Dictionary : ' Aissil,
a single, or shingle of wood, such as houses are, in some places,
covered withatt.' He also gives: ' Aisselle, an arm-hole ; also, a little
boord, plank, or shingle of wood.' It is clear that the facings of
stone, called ashlers, were preceded by similar facings of square
shingles of wood, called in French aisselles ; and the square shape of
these pieces gave rise to the notion of transferring the term ashler to
squared stone. y. Again, Cotgrave gives : ' Bouttice, an ashler, or
binding stone, in building.' Here too it is clear that the term was
previously used in carpentry of the small upright pieces which, as it
were, bind together the sloping rafter and the horizontal joist, as
shewn in the woodcut in the Eng. Cycl. s. v. ashlering. In this case
also, the orig. sense is a small board or plank, as given by Cotgrave
for aisselle. 8. The Scot, spellings are estler, aislair. Jamieson quotes
' houses biggit a" with estler stane ' = houses all built with squared
stone, from Ramsay's Poems, i. 60. And again, he quotes from
Abp. Hamilton's Catechism, fol. 5 a : ' A mason can nocht hew ane
euin aislair without directioun of his rewill ' = cannot hew a straight
ashlar without drawing a line with his rule to guide him. O. F.
aiseler, a word for which Mr. Wedgwood quotes the following sent-
ence from the Livre des Rois : ' Entur le temple . . . fud un murs de
treis estruiz de aiselers qui bien furent polls,' i. e. around the temple
was a wall of three rows of well-polished ashlars. B. This word is
evidently an extension, by suffix -er, from O. F. aiselle, aisiele (Burguy),
aisselle (Cotgrave), aissele (Bartsch, Chrest. Fran9. p. 341, 1. 25),
meaning ' a little board, a little plank ; ' the dim. of F. ais, a plank.
Lat. assis, sometimes spelt axis, a strong plank or board. Cf. the
Lat. assnla, dimin. of assis, which means a chip, shaving, thin piece
or ' shingle ' of wood ; also, a shingle for roofing ; also, a spar, or
broken piece of marble (Vitruvius). The way in which the use of
Lat. assula has been transferred to F. aisselle and to the derivative
ashlar is interesting and conclusive. C. The Lat. assis is also some-
times spelt axis, and appears to be the same word as axis, an axle-
tree. D. Hence observe that Cotgrave has mixed the two forms
together in his explanation of aisselle ; aisselle, an armpit, is from
Lat. axilla, dimin. of axis, an axle-tree ; but aisselle, a little board,
is for a Lat. assella, equivalent to assnla, and a diminutive of assis,
a board. This confusion on Cotgrave's part has somewhat thrown
out Mr. Wedgwood, after he had succeeded in tracing back the
word to F. aisselle. ^f Ashlar is sometimes used to denote stones
in the rough, just as they come from the quarry. This is pro-
bably because they are destined to be used as ashlar-stones. It is
to be suspected that the popular mind had an idea that the stones,
being hewn, must be named from an axe, unsuited as it is for stone-
cutting.
ASHORE, on shore. (E.) Shak. has on shore, Temp. v. 209,
where we might say ashore. Ashore is for a shore, where a is short
for an, M. E. form of on. So also in a-bed, a-sleep, &c.
ASIDE, to one side, on one side. (E.) For on side. Wyclif has
asydis-hond in Gal. ii. 2, but on sidis hond in Mk. iv. 34 : 'he ex-
pounyde to his disciplis alle thingis on sidis hond, or by hemself.' See
above.
ASININE.
ASININE ; see Ass.
ASK, to seek an answer, to request. (E.) M. E. asken, aschen,
axien, Sec. Asken is in Ancren Riwle, p. 338. Axien in Layamon,
i. 307. A. S. dscian, dhsian, ucsian, Grein, i. 14, 24, 40. The form
acsian is not uncommon, nor is M. E. axien uncommon ; hence mod.
prov. E. ax, as a variation of ask. + Du. eischen, to demand, require.
f- Swed. aska, to ask, demand. + i)an. teste, to demand. + O. H. G.
eiscon, eisgdn ; M.H.G. eischen ; mod. G. heischen, to ask. p. The A.S.
dcsian, like others in -ian, is a secondary or derived verb ; from a sb.
dsce, an inquiry, which is not found, but may be inferred. All the
above Teutonic words are related to Skt. ichchhd, a wish, desire,
eshana, a wish, esh, to search ; to Gk. IOTTJS, wish, will ; to Sabine
aisos, prayer, with which cf. Lat. cestimare (E. esteem) ; and to Lith.
jeskoti, Russ. istate, to seek. The root is seen in Skt. ish, to desire, wish.
V IS, ISK, to seek, wish ; Fick, i. 29, Curtius, i. 500. % It is
remarkable that the Icel. ceskja does not mean ' to ask,' but ' to wish ; '
for which reason it is, in Cleasby and Vigfusson's Diet., supposed to
be allied to G. wiintc/un and E. wish. And this is certainly correct ;
teskja stands for an older form ceskja, which has lost an initial w or v.
See Wish.
ASKANCE, obliquely. (F., - Ital., Teutonic.) Cowper,
Homer's Iliad, bk. xi, writes ' with his eyes asltan!.' The older
form seems to be askance or ascance. Sir T. Wyatt, in his Satire Of
the Meane and Sure Estate, I. 52, says: ' For, as she lookt a sconce,
Under a stole she spied two stemyng eyes ; ' &c. O. F. a scanche,
de travels, en lorgnant, i. e. obliquely ; Palsgrave's French Diet,
p. 831. The lit. sense is ' on the slope,' so that a stands for Lat. ad,
to, towards ; and scanche is ' slope.' Ital. schiancio, slope, direction ;
cf. Ital. schiancire, to strike obliquely; schianciana, the diagonal
of a square figure. B. The Ital. schi- is sometimes equivalent
to si-, as in schiavo, a slave. And here, the word schiancio, evidently
not of Latin origin, but rather Teutonic, points back to a Teutonic
slank-, with the sense of ' slope.' And since it is sometimes repre-
sented by t, we see here the familiar E. word slant, with the very
sense required. That is, the Ital. schiancio, slope, is derived from a
Teutonic root, which appears in E. as slant. Askance is thus little
else than another form of aslant, so that the alternative form askant is
easily accounted for. (But see the Errata.) 5T We should make
a great mistake, were we to mix up with the present word the totally
different word askaunce, ' perchance, perhaps,' used by Chaucer, and
related to O. F. escance, ' ce qui echoit, tombe en partage ' (Burguy),
and to our own word chance. See it fully explained in my Glossary
to Chaucer's Man of Law's Tale, in the Clarendon Press Series. [*]
ASKEW, awry. (Scand.) ' But he on it lookt scomefully askew ;
Spenser, F. Q. iii. 10. 29. As usual, the prefix a- stands for an, M. E.
form of on, and askew means ' on the skew.' But in this case, the
phrase was probably suggested by the use of Icel. d skd, on the skew ;
where d answers to E. on ; yet skd is not quite the E. skew, though
a related word, and near it. The real Icel. equivalent of E. skew
is the adj. skeifr, skew, oblique; of which the Dan. form, viz. skjev,
wry, oblique, is still nearer to the English. I may add here that these
words are near akin to A. S. scedh, whence E. shy. See Skew, Shy.
ASLANT, on the slant, obliquely. (See Slant.) A-slonte occurs
in the Prompt. Parv. p. 6, as equivalent to acyde (aside) and to the
Lat. oblique, obliquely. It stands for on slonte, on the slant, a form
which occurs in the Anturs of Arthur, st. xlviii. 6 ; cf. abed, afoot,
asleep. It appears as o slante in the Morte Arthure, ed. Brock, 2254.
Aslant is related to askant and askance, with the same meaning of
' obliquely.' See Askance. Slant is from a root which is best pre-
served in the Swed. slinta, to slip, slide, miss one's footing, glance ;
whence Swed. dial. adj. slant, slippery (Rietz). See Slant.
ASLEEP, in a sleep. (E.) For ' on sleep ; ' a- being short for an,
M.E. form of on. ' David . . . fell on sleep ; ' Acts, xiii. 36. See Sleep.
ASLOPE, on a slope, slopingly. (See Slope.) For ' on slope,' as
in many other instances. See above. In the Romaunt of the Rose,
1. 4464, a slope occurs in the sense of ' contrary to expectation,' or
' amiss.' See Slope.
ASP, ASPIC, a venomous serpent. (F.,-L.,-Gk.) Shak.
has aspick, Antony, v. 2. 296, 354. Gower speaks of ' A serpent,
which that aspidis Is cleped;' C. A. i. 57. The form aspic is
French; Cotgrave gives : ' Aspic, the serpent called an aspe.' The
form asp is also French ; see Brachet, who notes, s. v. aspic, that
there was an O. F. form aspe, which existed as a doublet of the Pro-
ven9al aspic ; both of them being from Lat. ace. aspidem, from nom.
aspis. The false form in (iower is due to his supposing that, as
aspides is the nom. pi., it would follow that aspidis would be the nom.
singular. Gk. da-iris, gen. dtrm'Sos, an asp. Origin undetermined.
ASPARAGUS, a garden vegetable. (Lat.,-Gk.,-Pers. (?))
Formerly written sperage ; Holland's Pliny, bk. xix. c. 8. Also
sparage or sparagus ; thus Cotgrave explains F. asperge by ' the herb
iparage or sparagus.' But these are mere corruptions of the Lat. word.
ASSAIL.
37
Lat. asparagus. Gk. dairdpayos, Attic da(pdpa"fos, asparagus. Cur-
tius, ii. 1 10, compares it with the Zend fparegha, a prong, and the
Lith. spnrgas, a shoot, sprout, and thinks it was a word borrowed
from the Persian. He adds that asparag is found in modern Persian.
If so, the orig. sense is ' sprout." See also Fick, i. 253, s. v. sparga;
ii. 281, s. v. spar go. Cf. Skt. sphur, sphar, to break out, swell.
ASPECT, view, appearance, look. (Lat.) In old authors, often
aspect : ' In thin aspect ben alle aliche ; ' Gower, C. A. i. 143. Chaucer,
Treatise on the Astrolabe, ed. Skeat, p. 19, uses aspectys in the old
astrological sense, of the ' aspects ' of planets. [Probably from Lat.
directly. Whilst known in English in the I4th century, the F. aspect
does not seem to be older than the i6th, when it was used by Rabe-
lais, Pant. iii. 42, in the astrological sense.] Lat. aspectus, look.
Lat. aspectus, pp. of aspicere, to behold, see. Lat. ad, to, at (which
becomes a- before tp) ; and specere, to look, cognate with E. spy.
See Spy.
ASPEN, ASP, a kind of poplar, with tremulous leaves. (E.) The
form aspen (more usual) is a singular corruption. Aspen is properly
an adjective, like gold-en, wood-en, and the sb. is asp. The tree is still
called the asp in Herefordshire, and in the S. and W. of England it
is called aps. The phrase ' lyk an os/>enJeef,' in Chaucer, C. T. 7249,
is correct, as aspen is there an adjective. M. E. asp, aspe, ape.
Chaucer has asp, C. T. 2923. 'Aspe tre, Espe tre;' Prompt. Parv.
pp. 15, 143. A.S. <esp, also aps ; BoswOrth. + Du. tip, sb., espen,
adj. + Icel. Ssp.+ Dan. and Swed. asp. + G. aspe, aspe (O.H.G. aspa ;
M. H. G. apse). See Fick, iii. 29, who adds Lettish apsa, Lithuanian
apuszis ; Polish and Russ. osina. Origin unknown.
ASPERITY, roughness, harshness. (F., L.) Sir T. More has
asperite. Works, p. I2i8c. Chaucer has asprenesse, tr. of-Boethius,
b. iv. pr. 4, p. 127. The contracted O. F. form asprete occurs in
Ancren Riwle, p. 354, as an E. word. O. F. asperiteit, later aiperitr,
roughness. Lat. ace. asperitatem ; nom. asperitas, roughness. Lat.
asper, rough. Root undetermined.
ASPERSE, to cast calumny upon. (Lat.) Milton, P. L. ix. 296.
Formed from aspersus, the pp. of aspergere, to besprinkle ; also, to
bespatter. Lat. ad, to (which becomes a- before sp) ; and spargere, to
sprinkle, scatter; allied to E. sprinkle. See Sprinkle. Der.
aspers-ion.
ASPHALT, ASPHALTTJBI, a bituminous substance. (Gk.)
' Blazing cressets fed With naphtha and asphaltus ; ' Milton, P. L. i.
728, 729. Aspalt occurs in Mandeville's Travels, p. loo, and aspaltoun
in Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, B. 1038. Gk. aa<pa\ros, &aQa\Tov, as-
phalt, bitumen. The Gk. word is probably of foreign origin ; in
Webster's Diet., it is said to be Phoenician. Der. asphalt-ic ; Milton,
P. L. i. 411.
ASPHODEL, a plant of the lily kind. (Gk.) In Milton, P. L.
ix. 1040. Gk. da<f>6S(\os, a plant of the lily kind. In English, the
word has been oddly corrupted into daffodil and even into daffadown-
dilly (Halliwell). Cotgrave gives : * Asphodile, the daffodil!, affodill,
or asphodill flower."
ASPHYXIA, suspended animation, suffocation. (Gk.) In Ker-
sey, ed. 1715. Gk. dar<pv'ia, a stopping of the pulse. Gk. da<pvKros,
without pulsation. Gk. d-, privative ; and <rcf>ii (tv, to throb, pulsate ;
cf. Gk. ffcpi/7/ius, pulsation.
ASPIRE, to pant after, to aim at eagerly. (F., L.) Generally
followed by to or unto. ' If we shal . . . desyrously aspyre unto
that countreye of heauen with all our whole heartes ; ' Udal, i Peter,
c. 3(R.) F. aspirer, 'to breathe, . . . also to desire, covet, aim at,
aspire unto ; ' Cot. Lat. aspirare, to breathe towards, to seek to
attain. Lat. ad, to, towards (which becomes a- before sp) ; and
spirare, to breathe, blow. Root uncertain ; see Curtius, i. 117, 118 ;
Fick, ii. 282. Der. aspir-ing, aspir-ing-ly, aspir-ant, aspir-ate (i. e. to
pronounce with a full breathing), aspirat-ion.
ASS, a well-known quadruped of the genus Eauus ; a dolt. (E.)
M. E. asse; Ancren Riwle, p. 32. A. S. assa, Grein, i. 10. The
origin of the word is unknown, and to what extent one language has
borrowed it from another is very uncertain ; the Icel. asm', e. g. seems
to be merely the Lat. asinus contracted. What is most remarkable
about the word is that it is so widely spread. The Celtic languages
have W. asyn, Corn, asen, Bret, azen, Irish and Gael, asal, Manx essyl
(Williams). Cf. Du. ezel, an ass, also, a dolt, blockhead, G. esel,
Dan. esel, <zsel, Goth, asilus, Lith. asilus, Polish osiel, all apparently
diminutives, like Lat. aselliis. Also Lat. asinus, Icel. asni, Swed.
Aitia, Gk. ovo*. Most likely the word is of Semitic origin ; cf. Heb.
athdn, she-ass; see Curtius, i. 501.
ASSAFCETEDA ; see Asafoetida.
ASSAIL, to leap or spring upon, to attack. (F., L.) In early
use. M. E. assailen, asailen ; Ancren Riwle, pp. 246, 252, 362. O. F.
assailler, asaillir, asalir, to attack ; cf. Lat. assilire. O. F. a-, prefix
(Lat. ad, which becomes as- in Lat. before s) ; and saillir, sallir, to
leap, rush forward. Lat. satire, to leap, rush forth. + Gk. ak\opai.
38
ASSASSIN.
I spring, leap. + Skt. Htr, sri, to flow, chiefly used of water, as salire
often is in Latin ; cf. Skt. salila, water, from root sal = sar.
^SAR, to flow, stream out. See Curtius, i. 167; Fick, i. 796.
Der. assail-able, assail-ant ; also assault (O. F. assail, Lat. ad, to, and
sallus, a leap ; from saltus, pp. of salire, to leap) ; whence assault, verb.
ASSASSIN, a secret murderer. (F.,- Arabic.) Milton has as-
sassin-like, P. L. xi. 219; and assassinated, Sams. Agon. 1109. F.
assassin, given by Cotgrave, who also gives assassiner, to slay, kill, and
assassinat, sb., a murther. [' Assassin, which is assacis in Joinville, in
the i Jth cent., in late Lat. hassessin, is the name of a well-known sect
in Palestine who flourished in the I3th century, the Haschischin,
drinkers ofhaschisch, an intoxicating drink, a decoction of hemp. The
Scheik Haschischin, known by the name of the Old Man of the
Mountain, roused his followers' spirits by help of this drink, and sent
them to stab his enemies, esp. the leading Crusaders ; ' Brachet. See
the whole account.] Arab, hashish, an intoxicating preparation of
Cannabis indica; Palmer's Pers. Diet. col. 199. Der. assassin-ate,
assassin-at-ion.
ASSAULT ; see under Assail.
ASSAY, sb., examination, test, trial ; chiefly used of the trial of
metal or of weights. (F., L., Gk.) In the sense of 'attempt.'
it is generally spelt essay in mod. E. ; see Acts, ix. 26, xvi. 7 ; Heb.
xi. 29. Chaucer uses assay to denote the ' trial of an experiment ; '
C. T. Group G, 1249, 1338. Gower uses assa.y for 'an attempt,'
C. A. i. 68. [The spelling assay came in through the use of
0. F. verb asaier as another spelling of essaier, to judge of a thing,
derived from the sb. essai, a trial.] O. F. essai, a trial. Lat. exagium,
a weighing, a trial of exact weight. See further under Essay,
which is the better spelling. Cf. amend = emend. Der. assay, verb ;
assay-er.
ASSEMBLE, to bring together, collect. (F..-L.) M. E. assem-
blen, asemblen ; Will, of Palerne, 1 1 20, 1 288. Chaucer has ' to assemble
moneye ; ' tr. of Boethius, b. iii. met. 7, p. 80. The sb. asemblaye, as-
sembly, is in K. Alisaunder, ed. Weber, 1. 3473. O. F. assembler, to
assemble, approach, come together, often with the sense of ' to engage
in battle," as frequently in Barbour's Bruce. Low Lat. assimulare, to
collect, bring together into one place ; different from classical Lat.
assimulare, to pretend, feign. Lat. ad, to ; and simul, together ; so
that Low Lat. assimulare is ' to bring together ; ' the Lat. ad becom-
ing as- before s, as usual. [The class. Lat. assimulare is from ad, to,
and similis, like ; and similis is from the same source as simul.'] p.
The Lat. simul and similis are from the same source as E. same, Gk.
Hfia., at the same time, Skt. sam, with, together with, sama, same.
VSAM, together; Fick, i. 222 ; Curtius, i. 400, 401. See Same.
Der. assembl-y, assembl-age. From the same source are similar,
simulate, assimilate, same, Aomoso-pathy, and some others. Doublet,
assimilate.
ASSENT, to comply, agree, yield. (F..-L.) M. E. assenten;
Chaucer, C. T. 4761, 8052. 'They assentyn, by on assent,' i. e. they
assent with one consent ; K. Alisaunder, ed. Weber, 1. 1480. O. F.
assentir, to consent, acquiesce. Lat. assentire, to assent to, approve,
consent. Lat. ad, to (which becomes as- before s); and sentire, to
feel ; pp. sensus. See Sense. Der. assent, sb., in early use ; Ham-
pole, Pricke of Conscience, 8390.
ASSERT, to affirm, declare positively. (Lat.) In Milton, P. L.
1. 25. SirT. More has assertation, Works, p. 141 e ; and assercion, p.
473 e. The E. word is formed from the Lat. pp. assertus. Lat. asserere,
to add to, take to one's self, claim, assert. Lat. ad, to (which be-
comes as- before s) ; and serere, to join or bind together, connect, to
range in a row. + Gk. ci/xiv, to fasten, bind ; cf. Gk. aupa, a rope.
Cf. Skt. sari/, thread.- .^SAR, to bind; Curtius, i. 441. Der.
asserl-ion.
ASSESS, to fix a rate or tax. (Lat.) ' I will make such satis-
faction, as it shall please you to assess it at ; ' North's Plutarch, p.
12 ; repr. in 'Shakespeare's Plutarch," ed. Skeat, p. 289. Hall has
assessement, Hen. VIII, an. 24. Both verb and sb. are coined words,
due to the use of the Law Lat. assessor, one whose duty it was to
assess, i. e. to adjust and fix the amount of, the public taxes ; ' qui
tributa persequat vel imponit ; ' Ducange. The title of assessor was
also given to a judge's assistant, in accordance with the etymological
meaning, viz. ' one who sits beside ' another. Lat. assesses, pp. of
assidere, to sit beside, to be assessor to a judge. Lat. ad, to, near
(which becomes as- before s) ; and sedere, to sit ; cognate with E. sit.
See Sit. Der. assess-ment ; assessor is really an older word, see above.
Doublet, assize, q. v.
ASSETS, effects of a deceased debtor, &c. (F..-L.) So called
because sufficient ' to discharge that burden, which is cast upon the
heir, in satisfying the testator's debts or legacies ; ' Blount's Law
Diet. In early use in a different form. ' And if it sufficith not for
aselh;' P. Plowman, C. xx. 203, where another reading is assetz, B.
xvii. 237 ; see my note on the passage, Notes to P. Plowman, p. 390.
ASSOCIATE.
In the Romaunt of the Rose, 5600, the E. asseth is used to translate
the F. assez. p. The common M.E. form is aseth, aseetli, meaning resti-
tution, compensation, satisfaction ; evidently modified (probably by
confusion with the O. F. assez) from the original Scandinavian word
represented by Icel. se<)/'a, to satiate ; cf. Goth, saths, full ; cognate
with Lat. satis, enough. But our modern assets is no more than a
corruption of O. F. assez, which took the place of the older Scandi-
navian seth; though the form syth or sith long remained in use in
Scotland. Jamieson quotes : ' Yit the king was nocht sithit [satis-
fied] with his justice, but with mair rigour punist Mordak to the
deith ; ' Bellenden, Chron. B. ix. c. 28. We may, accordingly, regard
aseth, assyth, syith, sithe (see assyth in Jamieson) as Scandinavian, at
the same time treating assets as French, y The final -ts is a mere
orthographical device for representing the old sound of the O. F. z,
employed again in the word Jitz (son) to denote the O. F. z. This
z was certainly sounded as ts ; cf. F. avez with Lat. habetis, shortened
to 'abet's, and cf. F. assez with Lat. ad satis, shortened to a" safs. The
G. z is pronounced as is to this day. Lat. ad satis, up to what is
enough ; from ad, to, and satis, enough. The Lat. satis is allied to
Goth, saths, full, noted above. See Satisfy, Satiate. ^[ It
will be observed that assess was originally a phrase, then an adverb,
then used adjectively, and lastly employed as a substantive. Of
course it is, etymologically, in the singular, like alms, riches, eaves,
&c. ; but it is doubtful if this etymological fact has ever been dis-
tinctly recognised.
ASSEVERATE, to declare seriously, affirm. (Lat.) Bp. Jewel
has asseveration. Defence of the Apology, p. 61. Richardson shews
that the verb to assever was sometimes used. The verb asseverate is
formed, like others in -ate, from the pp. of the Lat. verb. Lat.
asseueratus, pp. of asseuerare, to speak in earnest. Lat. ad, to (which
becomes os- before s) ; and seuerus, adj., earnest, serious. See Severe.
Der. asseverat-ion.
ASSIDUOUS, sitting close at, diligent. (Lat.) In Milton, P. L.
xi. 310. Dryden has ' assiduous care ; ' tr. of Virgil, Georg. iii. 463.
Englished by putting' -ous for Lat. -us, as in abstemious, &c. Lat. os-
siduus, sitting down to, constant, unremitted. Lat. assidere, to sit at
or near. Lat. ad, to, near (=os- before s) ; and sedere, to sit, cog-
nate with E. sit. See Sit. Der. assiduous-Jy, assiduous-ness ; also
assidu-i-ty, from Lat. ace. assiduitatem, nom. assiduitas, formed from
the adj. assiduus.
ASSIGN, to mark out to one, to allot, &c. (F..-L.) M.E.
assignen, asignen ; Rob. of Glouc. p. 502. O. F. assigner, to assign.
Lat. assignare, to affix a seal to, to appoint, ascribe, attribute, con-
sign. Lat. oo", to (which becomes as- before s) ; and signare, to mark.
Lat. signum, a mark. See Sign. Der. assign-able, assign-at-ion,
assign-er, assign-ment (spelt assignement, Gower,C. A. ii. 373) ; assign-ee
(from Law French assigns', pp. of assigner).
ASSIMILATE, to make similar to, to become similar to. (Lat.)
Bacon has assimilating and assimilateth ; Nat. Hist. sect. 899. Sir T.
Browne has assimilable and assimilation ; Vulg. Errors, bk. vii. c. 19.
last ; bk. iii. c. 21. 9. Formed, like other verbs in -ate, from
the pp. of the Lat. verb. Lat. assimilare, also assimulare, to make
like. Lat. ad, to (which becomes as- before s); and similis, like.
See Similar. Der. assimilat-ion, assimilat-ive. Doublet, assemble.
ASSIST, to stand by, to help. (F., L.) ' Be at our hand, and
frendly vs assist ; ' Surrey, Virgil, JEa. bk. iv. F. assister, to assist,
help, defend; Cot. Lat. assislere, to step to, approach, stand at,
stand by, assist. Lat. ad, to (which becomes as- before s) ; and
sislere, to place, to stand, a secondary form from stare, to stand,
which is cognate with E. stand. See Stand. Der. assist-ant, adj.,
Hamlet, i. 3. 3 ; sb., id. ii. 2. 166 ; assist-ance, Macbeth, iii. i. 124.
ASSIZE, (i) a session of a court of justice ; (2) a fixed quantity
or dimension. (F., L.) In mod. E. mostly in the pi. assizes ; the use
in the second sense is almost obsolete, but in M. E. we read of ' the
assise of bread,' &c. It is still, however, preserved in the contracted
form size ; cf. sizings. See Size. M. E. assise, in both senses, (i)
' For to loke domes and asise ; ' Rob. of Glouc. p. 429. (2) ' To don
trewleche the ossys to the sellere and to the byggere [buyer] ; Eng.
Guilds, ed. T. Smith, p. 359. [We also find M. E. verb assisen, to
appoint ; Gower, C. A. i. 181. But the verb is derived from the sb.]
O. F. assis, assise, an assembly of judges ; also, a tax, impost ; see
Burguy, s. v. so/r. Properly a pp. of the O. F. verb asseoir, not much
used otherwise. Lat. assidere, to sit at or near, to act as assessor to
a judge ; pp. assessws. Lat. ad, to, near ( = as- before s) ; and sedere,
to sit, cognate with E. sit. See Sit. Der. assize, verb, to assess ;
assiz-er. Doublet, assess, q. v. [t]
ASSOCIATE, a companion. (Lat.) Properly a past participle.
Cf. ' yf he intend to be associate with me in blisse ; ' Udal, S. Mark,
c. 8 ; where we should now rather use associated. A mere sb. in
Shak. Hamlet, iv. 3. 47. Lat. associatus, joined with in company;
pp. of asiociare, to join, unite. Lat. ad. to ( = as- before s) ; and
ASSONANT.
sociare, to join, associate. Lat. socius, a companion, lit. a follower.
Lat. sequi, to follow ; cf. toga, cloak, from tegere, to cover, frocus,
a wooer, from precari, to pray ; see Peile, Gk. and Lat. Etymology,
and ed. p. 1 88. See Sequence. Der. associate, verb ; associat-ion.
ASSONANT, adj., applied to a (certain) resemblance of sounds.
(Lat.) [Chiefly used in prosody, esp. in discussing Spanish
poetry, in which assonance, or a correspondence of vowel-sounds only,
is a marked feature. Thus the words beholding, rosebud, boldly,
glowing, broken, are said to be assonant, all having the accented vowel
o in common in the penultimate syllable. So, in Spanish, are the
words crueles, tienes, fuerte, /e;ne.] Lat. assonantem, ace. of assonans,
sounding like ; whence also Span, asonante (with one s). Assonans is
the pres. pt. of aisonare, to respond to. Lat. ad, to, near (which
becomes as- before s); and sonare, to sound. Lat. sonus, sound.
See Sound. Der. assonance.
ASSORT, to sort, dispose, arrange ; to be companion with.
(F., Ital., L.) Not much used formerly. F. assortir, 'to sort,
assort, suit, match, equall ; ' Cot. F. prefix as-, imitated from Lat. as-
(the form assumed by ad, to, before s) ; and sb. sorte, ' sort, manner,
form, fashion, kind ; ' Cot. Thus assortir is to put together things
of like kind. The sb. sorte was introduced in the i6th cent, from
Ital. sorta, a sort, kind, species ; Brachet. The Ital. sorta is of Lat.
origin, but a little difficult to trace. See Sort. Der. assortment
(cf. V. assnrtimenf). [#]
ASSUAGE, to soften, allay, abate, subside. (F..-L.) M. E.
assitagen, asuagen, aswagen. ' His wrath forto asuage ; ' Rob. of
Brunne, tr. of Langtoft, p. 300. O. F. asuager, asoager, to soften,
appease, assuage, console ; a word of which the Proven9al forms are
assuaviar, asuaviar. Formed (as if from a Lat. verb assuauiare, to
sweeten) from the O. F. prefix a- (Lat. ad), and Lat. suauis, sweet, a
word cognate with E. sweet. See Sweet. Der. assuage-ment.
Iff In all but the prefix, to assuage is a doublet of to sweeten.
ASSUASIVE, softening, gentle [?]. (Lat.) Pope, in his Ode on
St. Cecilia's day, i. 25, has the line : ' Music her soft, assuasive voice
applies ; ' and the word has been used also by Johnson and Warton
in a similar way ; see Todd's Johnson. This queer word seems to
have been meant to be connected with the verb to assuage, and to
have been confused with persuasive at the same time. It is a mis-
taken formation, and, if allied to anything, would point to a non-
existent Lat. assuadere, as if from ad and suadere. See Persuasive.
|B- The word is to be utterly condemned.
ASSUME, to take to one's self, to appropriate ; take for granted.
(Lat.) The derived sb. assumption was in use in the I3th century as
applied to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. It is spelt assumciun
in the Ancren Riwle, p. 412. The use of the verb is later. It is
used by Hall, Hen. VIII, an. I. Lat. assumere, to take to one's
self ; pp. assumptus. Lat. ad, to (which becomes as- before s) ; and
sumere, to take. p. The Lat. sumere is a compound verb, being a
contraction of subimere, from sub, under, and enure, to take, buy. See
Curtius, ii. 247 ; Fick, i. 493. The same root occurs in Redeem,
q. v. Der. assum-ing, assumpt-ion, assumpt-itie, assumpt-ive-ly.
ASSURE, to make sure, insure, make confident. (F., L.) Chau-
cer has ' assuretk vs,' C. T. 7969, and assiiraunce, C. T. 4761 ! also
asseured, tr. of Boethius, b. i. pr. 4, 1. 330. O. F. aseiirer, to make
secure, assure, warrant ; Burguy, s. v. segur. O. F. prefix a- (Lat. ad,
to) ; and adj. seiir, also spelt segur, secure. Lat. securus, secure, sure.
See Secure and Sure. Der. assur-ed, assur-ed-ly, assur-ed-ness,
ASTltlCTION.
39
a^ur-ance.
ASTER, the name of a genus of flowers. (Gk.) A botanical
name, from Gk. OOTIJP, a star ; owing to the star-like shape of the
flowers. See Asterisk, Asterism, Asteroid.
ASTERISK, a little star used in printing, thus *. (Gk.) Spelt
asterisque in Blount's Gloss., ed. 1674. Gk. darfpiaxos, a little star,
also an asterisk *, used for distinguishing fine passages in MSS.
(Liddell and Scott). Formed, with dimin. suffix -KTKOS, from amtp-,
base of darfip, a star, a word cognate with E. star. See Star.
GW An asterisk is sometimes called a star.
ASTERISM, a constellation, a cluster of stars. (Gk.) In Dray-
ton, Barons' Wars, b. vi (R.) A coined word, made by adding the
Gk. suffix -tafios (E. -ism) to the stem darcp- of the Gk. darrip, a star.
ASTERN, on the stem, behind. (E.) Sir. F. Drake, in The
World Encompassed, 1578, has : ' Having left this strait a stern.' It
stands for on stern ; see abed, afoot, asleep, and other words in which
the prefix a- stands for an, M. E. form of on.
ASTEROID, a term applied to the minor planets situate between
the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. (Gk.) Modem, and astronomical.
Properly an adj., signifying ' star-like,' or ' star-shaped.' Gk. daripo-
18175, star-like. Gk. darep-, base of darrip, a star (cognate with E.
star, q. v.) ; and (to-os, form, figure, from iiSnv, to see (cognate with
E. wit, q. v.). Der. afteroid-al,
ASTHMA, a difficulty in breathing. (Gk.) In Blount's Gloss.,
ed. 1674; and in the Life of Locke, who suffered from it; p. 22.
Gk. aaOjui, short-drawn breath, panting. Gk. dafav, to breathe out,
breathe through the mouth. Gk. day, to breathe. + Goth, waian, to
blow. + Skt. vd, to blow. ^ \\'A, to blow ; Curtius, i. 483 ; Fick,
i. 202. From the same root come Lat. uentus, E. wind. Der. asthmat-
ic, aslhmat-ic-al, from Gk. adj. daff/nartKof.
ASTIR, on the stir. (E.) For on stir. The host wes all on
steir ' = the army was all astir ; Barbour's Bruce, ed. Skeat, vii. 344.
' Var on steir,' i. e. they were on the move, id. xix. 577. See Stir.
ASTONISH, to astound, amaze. (E., modified by F.) Cf. M. E.
astonien, astunien, astonen. 1. The addition of the suliix -ish (as in
extinguish) is due to analogy. Rich, quotes ' Be astonyshed, O ye
heauens,' from the Bible of 1539, Jerem. ii. 12; and 'astonishment
hathe taken me,' from the Geneva Bible, 1540-57, Jerem. viii. 21.
It occurs, too, in Holland's Livy, p. 1124, and Holland's Pliny, i.
261 ; see Trench's Select Glossary. In Webster's Diet, a quotation
is given from Sir P. Sidney : ' Musidorus . . . had his wits astonished
with sorrow;' the date of which is about 1580. 2 The sum:.
-isA is, in most other words, only added where the derivation is from
a French verb ending in -ir, and forming its pres. pt. in -issant ; so
that the addition of it in the present case is unauthorised and incor-
rect. It was probably added merely to give the word a fuller sound,
and from some dislike to the form astony, which was the form into
which the M. E. astonien had passed, and which occurs in Hol-
land's Livy, p. 50, &c. 3. For like reasons, the word astony was
sometimes altered to astound, so that astound and astonish are
both incorrect variants from the same source. See further under
Astound. Der. astonish-ment, astonish-ing.
ASTOUND, to astonish, amaze. (E., modified by F.) Astound
and astonish are both corruptions from the M. E. astonien, astunien,
later astony, astoun. 1. Astonish is the older corruption, and occurs
in Shakespeare, and as early as 1539 (Bible). Astound is in
Milton, Comus, 210, and astounded in the same, P. L. i. 281. It is
remarkable that Milton also uses both astonish'd, P. L. i. 266, and
astonied, P. L. ix. 890. 2. Thus the final -d in astound is excrescent,
like the d in sound, from M. E. soun. ' Verai much astouned ' occurs
in Udal, Luke, c. 2 ; which is the pp. of astoun. ' Astoynyn, or brese
werkys, quatio, quasso ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 1 6. ' Hit astonieth yit my
thought ; ' Chaucer, Ho. of Fame, 84. ' The folc that stod ther-
aboute ful adoun for drede, And leye [misprinted seye] ther as hi
were astoned and as hi were dede; ' St. Margarete, 291, 292. 'If he
be slowe and astoned and lache, he lyueth as an asse ; ' Chaucer, tr. of
Boethius, b. iv. pr. 3. B. The derivation is commonly given from the
O. F. estonner (mod. F. Manner), but this alone is inadequate to ac-
count either for the ending -ten in the M. E. astonien, or for the peculiar
meaning of ' stunned ' so often found, and sufficiently obvious in the
quotation from St. Margarete, which means : ' the folk that stood
around fell down for fear, and lay there as if they were stunned and
as if they were dead." Cf. ' Who with the thund'ring noise of his
swift courser's feet Astunn'd the earth ; ' Drayton, Polyolbion, song
1 8. It is obvious that the true old form of astonien must needs be
the A. S. dstunian, to stun completely ; for, though this word is not
found in the extant A. S. literature hitherto printed, its component
parts occur, viz. the intensive prefix a- and the verb stunian, given in
Grein (ii. 490) and in Bosworth, and preserved in the mod. E. stun,
Moreover, the A. S. prefix d- answers to mod. G. er-, and the whole
word occurs in G. in the form erstaunen, to amaze. C. At the same
time, the O. F. estonner has undoubtedly much influenced the word
and extended its use and meanings. We conclude that astound stands
for an older astoun, another form of astonie or astony, and that the
derivation is, as regards/orm, from A. S. dstunian, to stun or amaze
completely, intimately confused with the O. F. estonner, to amaze.
D. To continue the tracing of the word further back, we note (i)
that dstunian is from d-, prefix, and stunian ; see A-, prefix, and
Stun. And (2) that O. F. estonner stands for Low Lat. extonare, to
thunder out, a form not found, but inferred from the form of the O. F.
verb and from the occurrence in classical Latin of altonare, to thunder,
amaze, astonish, a compound of ad and tonare, to thunder ; see Bra-
chet. Extonare is, similarly, from Lat. ex, out, and tonare, to thunder,
a word cognate with E. thunder ; See Ex-, prefix, and Thunder.
And see Astonish.
ASTRAL, belonging to the stars ; starry. (Lat.) Seldom used.
Rich, quotes from Boyle's Works, vol. v. p. 161. Lat. asiralis, be-
longing to the stars. Lat. astrum, a star, cognate with E. star. See
Star.
ASTRAY, out of the right way. (See Stray.) ' His people goth
about astray ; ' Gower, C. A. iii. 175. ' They go a straye and speake
lyes;' Bible, 1539, Ps. Iviii. 3. A corruption of on stray (cf. abed,
asleep). ' Thair mycht men se mony a steid Fleand on stray ; ' Bar-
bour's Bruce, 13. 195.
A8TRICTION, a binding or contraction. (Lat.) It occurs in
40
ASTRIDE.
Bacon, Nat. Hist. sect. 342. The verb to astrict is in Hall, Hen. VI,
an. 37; and to astringe in Holland's Plutarch, p. 819. Lat. ace.
astrictionem, from nom. astrictio, a drawing together, contracting.
Lat. astrictus, pp. of aslringere, to bind or draw closely together. See
Astringe.
ASTRIDE, on the stride. (E.) In Butler, Hudibras, pt. i. c. ii.
1. 390. For on stride, like afoot for on foot.
ASTRINGE, to draw closely together. (Lat.) In Holland's
Plutarch, p. 819 ; now almost obsolete ; we should say 'acts as an
astringent.' Astringent is in Holland's Pliny, bk. xxiv. c. 13. Lat.
astringere, pp. astrictus, to bind or draw closely together. Lat. ad,
to, closely (which becomes a- before st) ; and stringere, to bind closely.
See Stringent. Der. astring-ent, astring-enc-y, astriction, q. v. (from
pp. astrictus}.
ASTROLOGY, the knowledge of the stars. (Gk.) A pretended
and exploded science. In Chaucer, Treat, on the Astrolabe, Prol.
1. 70. Lat. astrologia, used to denote ' astronomy ' also. Gk. aarpo-
Xo-yi'a, astronomy. Gk. aarpo-, for avrpov, a star, cognate with E.
star, q. v. ; and \4fur, to speak about, whence Ao-yos, a discourse.
Der. astrolog-ic-al, astrolog-ic-al-ly, astrolog-er.
ASTRONOMY, the science of the stars. (Gk.) In early use.
M. E. astronomic, Layamon, ii. 598. O. F. osfronomi'e. Lat. astrono-
mia. Gk. aarpovo/ua. Gk. aarpo-, for aarpov, a star, cognate with
E. star, q. v. ; and vifuw, to distribute, dispense, whence Gk. yo/tos,
law. See Nomad. Der. astronom-ic-al, astronom-ic-al-ly, astronom-er.
ASTUTE, crafty, sagacious. (Lat.) In Blount's Gloss., ed. 1674.
Lat. astutus, crafty, cunning. Lat. astus, craft, craftiness. Per-
haps from an amplified form aks of the root AK, to pierce ; Curtius,
i. 161. Der. astute-ly, astute-ness.
ASUNDER, apart. (E.) For on sunder, a. form which occurs in
Genesis and Exodus, ed. Morris, 1. 3909 ; in 1. n 6, we have the form
o sunder. A. S. onsundran, adv. ' And Isedde hi sylfe onsundran '
and led them apart by themselves ; Mark, ix. 2. See Sunder.
ASYLUM, a place of refuge. (L., Gk.) 'A sanctuarie, or
asylum;' Holland's Livy, p. 7. Lat. asylum, a sanctuary, place of
refuge. Gk. aavXov, an asylum ; neut. of adj. aav\os, safe from
violence, unharmed. Gk. d-, negative prefix ; and aii\Tj, a right of
seizure, av\aa>, I despoil an enemy, words akin to Gk. any\ov, Lat.
spolium, and E. spoil. See Curtius, i. 207, ii. 358.
ASYMPTOTE, a line which, though continually approaching a
curve, never meets it. (Gk.) Geometrical. Barrow, in his Math.
Lectures, lect. 9, has 'asymptotical lines.' Gk. dav/nrnoTos, not fall-
ing together. Gk. d-, negative prefix; avy, together (written avp
before IT) ; and wrarros, falling, apt to fall, a derivative of Triirria>, to
fall (perf. tense ire-imam). The Gk. mirrfiv (Dor. aorist 1-irtT-ov),
is from the ^ PAT, to fly, to fall. Cf. Skt. pat, to fly, to fall. From
the same root are E. find, feather, and Lat. im-pet-us. Curtius, i. 259.
Der. asymptot-ic-al.
AT; prep, denoting nearness. (E.) In earliest use. A. S. at, Grein,
i. 59. + Icel. at. + Dan. ad. + Swed. at. + Goth. at. + O. H. G. az
(obsolete). + Lat. ad, which enters largely into English. See Ad-.
ATHEISM, disbelief in the existence of God. (Gk.) Bacon has
an essay ' On Atheism.' Milton has atheist, P.L. i. 495 ; and atheous,
P. R. i. 487. All are coined words from the Gk. &6tos, denying the
gods, a word introduced into Latin by Cicero hi the form atheos.
Gk. d-, neg. prefix ; and 6e6s, a god ; on which difficult word see
Curtius, ii. 122. From Gk. aStos come atheous, athe-ism, alhe-ist,
athe-ist-ic, athe-ist-ic-al.
ATHIRST, very thirsty. (E.) Alhirst, now an adj., is properly a
past participle ; and the prefix a- was originally of-. The M. E.
forms are qftliurst, ofthyrst, corrupted sometimes to athurst, and
sometimes to afurst. See P. Plowman, B. x. 59 ; King Horn, ed.
Lumby, 1120; and the Ancren Riwle, p. 240, where the form is
oft'wrst. This form is contracted from ofthursled = made exceed-
ingly thirsty. A. S. offyrsted, very thirsty, Grein, ii. 321 ; pp. of
offyrstan. A. S. of-, intensive prefix, signifying ' very ;' and fyrsled,
pp. ofpyrstan, to thirst; Grein, ii. 614. See Thirst.
ATHLETE, a contender for victory in a contest ; a vigorous
person. (Gk.) Bacon speaks of the ' art of activity, which is called
athletic ;' Advancement of Learning, ed. Wright, p. 133. We should
now say athletics. The use of athlete seems to be later. Gk. aS\TjTrjs,
a combatant, contender in athletic games. Gk. u0\(iv, to contend.
Gk. a9\os, a contest, contracted from atflAos ; a9\ov, the prize of a
contest, contracted from atOKov. These words contain the same root
(f8-) as the E. wed. See Curtius, i. 309. See Wed. Der. atlilet-ic,
atHet-ics.
ATHWART, across. (See Thwart). Orig. an adverb, as in Shak.
Meas. i. 3. 30; later a prep., as in L. L. L. iv. 3.145. Athirt, across,
occurs in the Romance of Partenay, ed. Skeat, 1. 169. It stands for
on thirt, a translation or accommodation of Icel. um pvert, across.
The spelling with w is due to confusion between the Icel. ^verr
ATONE.
(neuter Invert), transverse, and the A.S. ]meorh, with the same meaning.
A more usual phrase in M. E. is overthwarl, as in Chaucer, Kn. Tale,
1133. See Thwart.
ATLAS, a collection of maps. (Gk.) Named after Atlas, a Greek
demi-god who was said to bear the world on his shoulders, and whose
figure used to be given on the title-page of atlases. Cf. Shak. 3 Hen.
VI, v. i. 36. "ArAaj (gen. 'ArAoi/Tos) probably means 'bearer' or
' sustainer,' from the y' TAL, to bear, sustain, which appears in Gk.
T\f)t>ai, to endure, Lat. tollere, to lift, and tolerare, to endure ; see
Curtius, i. 395, who remarks that in this word there is ' no evidence
of any origin for the [initial] vowel but the phonetic.' See Tolerate.
Der. Atlanles, in arch., figures of men used instead of columns or
pilasters; from the Gk. form for the pi. of Atlas ; also Atlani-ic, the
name of the ocean, with reference to Mount Atlas, in the N.W. of
Africa.
ATMOSPHERE, the sphere of air round the earth. (Gk.) In
Pope's Dunciad, iv. 423. A coined word ; from Gk. ar/to-, stem of
dr/ios, vapour ; and a<t>atpa, a sphere. The Gk. drn6s is cognate with
Skt. a/man, breath, and G. athem, breath. And see Sphere. Der.
atmoipher-ic, atmospher-ic-al.
ATOM, a very small particle. (L., Gk.) Lit. ' indivisible,' i. e. a
particle so small that it cannot be divided. Cudworth, in his Intellect-
ual System, p. 26, speaks of atoms, atomists, and ' atomical physiology."
Milton has atom, P. L. viii. 18 ; Shak. has pi. atomies, As You Like It,
iii. 2. 245. [F. atome; Cotgrave.] Lat. atomus, an atom. Gk.
dronot, sb. fern., an indivisible particle; a-ropo*, adj., indivisible.
Gk. d-, neg. prefix ; and rtfivnv (aor. Iraitov), to cut, divide. See An-
atomy. Der. atom-ic, atom-ic-al, atom-ist.
ATONE, to set at one ; to reconcile. (E.) Made up of the two
words at and one ; so that atone means to ' set at one.' This was a
clumsy expedient, so much so as to make the etymology look doubt-
ful; but it can be clearly traced, and there need be no hesitation
about it. a. The interesting point is that the old pronunciation of
M.E. oon (now written one, and corrupted in pronunciation to wun) is
here exactly preserved ; and there are at least two other similar in-
stances, viz. in nl'ine (from M. E. al, all, and one), and only (M.E. ormly),
etymologically one-ly, but never pronounced vmnly in the standard
speech. In anon, lit. ' on one,' the -on is pronounced as the prep. ' on,'
never as anwun. See Anon. p. The use of atone arose from the
frequent use of M. E. at oon (also written at on) in the phrases ' be at
oon' = to agree, and 'set at oon,' i.e. to set at one, to make to
agree, to reconcile. The easiest way is to begin with the oldest
examples, and trace downwards to a later date. 1. ' Heo maden certeyne
couenaunt that heo were al at on' = were all agreed; Rob. of
Glouc. p. 113. 'Sone they weren atone, with wille at on assent' =
they were soon agreed, with will in one concord ; Rob. of Brunne, tr.
of P. Langtoft, p. 2 20. ' If gentil men, or othere of hir contree Were
wrothe, she wolde bringen hem atoon; ' Chaucer, C. T. Group B, 437,
where the two words are run into one in the Ellesmere MS., as printed.
They are similarly run together in a much earlier passage : ' Aton he
was wi|> j* king ; ' King Horn, ed. Lumby, 925. 2. Particularly note
the following from Tyndal, who seems to have been the inventor of
the new phrase. ' Where thou seest bate or strife between person
and person, . . leaue nothing vnsought, to set them at one ; ' Works,
p. 193, col. 2. ' One God, one Mediatour, that is to say, aduocate,
intercessor, or an atonemaker, between God and man ; ' Works, p. 158.
' One mediatour Christ, . . and by that word vnderstand an attone-
maker, a peacemaker ; ' id. p. 43 1 (The Testament of M. W. Tracie).
' Hauyng more regarde to their olde variaunce then their newe attone-
ment ; ' Sir T. More, Rich. Ill, p. 41 c (written in 1513, pr. in 1557).
See also his Works, p. 40 f (qu. in Richardson). ' Or els . . reconcile
hymself, and make an onement with God ; ' Erasmus on the Com-
mandments, 1553, fol. 162. 'And lyke as he made the Jewes and
the Gentiles at one betwene themselues, euen so he made them both
at one with God, that there should be nothing to breake the atone-
ment, but that the thinges in heauen and the thynges in earth, should
be ioyned together as it were into one body;' Udal, Ephesians, c. 2.
' Attonement, a louing againe after a breache or falling out ; ' Baret,
Alvearie, s. v. ' So beene they both at one ; ' Spenser, F. Q. ii. I. 29.
3. See also Shak. Rich. II, i. i. 202 ; Oth. iv. 1 . 244 ; Ant. ii. 2. 102 ;
Cymb. i. 4. 42 ; Timon, v. 4. 58 ; As You Like It, v. 4. 116 ; Cor. iv.
6. 72 ; also atonement. Merry Wives, i. I. 53 ; 2 Hen. IV, iv. I. 221 ;
Rich. Ill, i. 3. 36. Also Ben Jonson, Epicoene, Act iv. sc. 2 (Truewit
to La Foole) ; Beaumont and Fletcher, Span. Curate. A. ii. sc. 4 ;
Massinger, Duke of Milan, Act iv. sc. 3 (Pescara) ; Milton, P. L. iii.
384. Bp. Hall says : ' Ye . . set such discord "twixt agreeing hearts
Which never can be set at onement more ; ' Sat. iii. 7. And Dryden :
' If not atton'd, yet seemingly at peace ; ' Aurungzebe, Act iii. To
complete the history of the word, more quotations are required from
Tyndal, Erasmus, and More, or authors of that time. The word
came into use somewhere about A.D. 1530. 4. The simple verb cnen,
ATROCITY.
ATTIRE.
41
to unite, pp. oned, occurs in Chaucer, C. T. 7550 ; see also Prompt.
Parv. p. 365. ^f It is to be added that, strangely enough, the phrase
at once was for a long period written as one word, spelt atones, or
quite as often at/ones, attonis, or attonys. See examples in Gloss, to
Specimens of English from 1394 to 1579, ed. Skeat. By introducing
the sound of w into once (wunce), we have again made at once into
two words. Der. alone-merit.
ATROCITY, extreme cruelty. (F..-L.) The adj. atrocious, an
ill-formed word, apparently founded on the F. adj. atroce, heinous,
does not appear to have been used till the 1 8th century. But atrocity
is much older, and occurs, spelt atrocyte, in Sir T. More's Works, c. 2
(sic; R.) F. atrocite, ' atrocity, great cruelty ;' Cotgrave. Lat. ace.
atrocii'atem, from nom. atrocilas, cruelty. Lat. alroci-, crude form of
atrox, cruel ; more lit. raw, uncooked, applied to meat. Root un-
known. From the same source, atroci~ous, atroci-ous-ly, atroci-ous-ness.
ATROPHY, a wasting away of the body. (Gk.) Medical. It
means lit. ' want of nourishment.' In Evelyn's Memoirs, v. ii. p. 1 77.
Holland writes of ' no benefit of nutriment of meat, which they call
in Greek atropha; ' Pliny, bk. xxii. c. 25. Gk. drpo>ja, want of
food, hunger, atrophy. Gk. a-, neg. prefix ; and Tp(<t>ay, to nourish
(perf. t. Tf-T/xxp-a) ; no doubt connected with Gk. ripxtiv, to delight,
from ^TTARP, to satisfy, satiate, content. See Fick, i. 599 ; Curtius,
i. 276.
ATTACH, to take and hold fast; to apprehend. (F., - Celtic.)
M. E. attachen, to take prisoner, arrest, much in use as a law term.
' Attache tho tyrauntz,' apprehend those cruel men ; P. Plowman, B.
ii. 1 99. O. F. attacker, to attach, fasten ; a word marked by Brachet
as being of unknown origin, as well as the verb detacher, to detach,
unfasten, which is obviously from the same root. p. But, as Diez
remarks, the root is to be found in the word which appears in English
as tack, with the signification of ' peg ' or ' small nail ; ' so that to
attach is to fasten with a tack or nail, whilst to detach is to unfasten
what has been but loosely held together by such a nail. The prefix
is, of course, the O. F. prep, a, to = Lat. ad, so that attacker stands for
an older a'.acher ; and in Bartsch's Chrestomathie Fran9aise the three
forms atachier, atacier, ataquer all occur, y. The only difficulty is to
determine whether the source is Celtic or Old Low German, but the
sense determines this. Cf. Breton tach, a nail, tacha, to fasten with a
nail ; Irish taca, a peg, pin, nail, fastening ; Gaelic tacaid, a tack or
small nail, a peg, a stab. The cognate Old Low German words are
Du. tali, a bough, branch, properly a prong ; Dan. takke, a jag, tooth,
cog of a wheel, branch or antler of a horn, properly a prong ; Swed.
tagg, a prong, prickle, point, tooth ; cf. also Icel. tak, a hold, grasp,
a stitch in the side. 8. All these words are further allied to Icel. ralta,
to take (whence E. take), Lat. tangere, to touch, attack, prick slightly,
the orig. sense being that of puncturing or stabbing, or pricking
lightly. See Curtius, i. 269, who acutely remarks that the reason
why the Lat. tangere and the Goth, teltan, to touch (as well as all
the words hitherto mentioned), begin with the same letter, in opposi-
tion to Grimm's law, is simply that an initial s is dropped, and the
real root is stag, whence E. stick, as in ' sticking a pig.' The Latin
letigi, I touched, is obviously the Goth, tailok, I touched, both being
reduplicated perfect tenses. . And when it is once seen that the root
is stag, represented in E. both by sting and stick, as well as by the
Gk. stigma, we see at once that the fuller form of Irish taca, a peg,
appears in the Irish stang, a peg, a pin, and the Gaelic staiag, a peg,
a cloak-pin. It is curious that the Gothic actually has the compound
verb attekan, but only in the sense of ' touch with the hand.' Fick
also correctly gives the .y' STAG for tangere, i. 823. Cf. Skt. tij, to
be sharp, where again Benfey remarks, ' cf. A. S. stician, to sting ;
tij has lost the initial s, as tdra [star], and others.' Der. attach-able,
attach-ment, attach-e (F. p. p.). Doublet, attack. See Tack.
ATTACK, to assault. (F..-C.) Rich, remarks that it is not an
old word in the language. It occurs in Milton, P. L. vi. 248 ; Sams.
Agon. 1 1 1 3. F. attaquer, explained by Cotgrave as ' to assault, or
set on ; ' he does not use the word attack. Attaquer was a dialectal F.
form of the standard F. attacher, see Brachet. Hence attack and attach
are doublets.; for the etymology, see Attach. Der. attack, sb.
ATTAIN", to reach to, obtain. (F., L.) M. E. a'.lainen, atleinen ;
' they wenen to atteine to thilke good that thei desiren ; ' Chaucer, tr.
of Boethius, b. iv. pr. 2, p. 1 1 S. O. F. aleindre, ataindre, to reach to,
attain. Lat. attingere, to touch upon, to attain. Lat. ad, to ( = a/-
before t) ; and tangere, to touch. See Tangent. Der. attain-able,
attain-able-ness, attain-ment.
ATTAINT, to convict. (F., L.) The similarity in sound be-
tween attaint and taint has led, probably, to some false law ; see the
remarks about it in Blount's Law Dictionary. But etymologically,
and without regard to imported senses, to attaint is to convict, and at-
tainder is conviction. As a fact, attaint is a verb that has been made
out of a past participle, like convict, and abbreviate, and all verbs in
ate. It is merely the past participle of the verb to attain, used in a
technical sense in law. The Prompt. Parv. has : ' Alteyntyn, convinco ; '
p. 16. Palsgrave even has ' I atteynt, I hyt or louche a thyng,' i. e.
attain it. In the I4th century, we find M. E. atteynt, atteint, aleynt in
the sense of ' convicted,' and the verb alteyn in the sense of ' con-
vict.' ' And justice of the lond of falsnes was atteynt' = and the justice
administered in the land was convicted of falseness ; Rob. of Brunne,
tr. of Langtoft, p. 246. ' To reprove tham at the last day, and to atleya
tham/i.e. to convict them; Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 5331.
Cf. P. Plowman, C. xxiii. 162. See Attain. Der. attainder, from
O. F. ateindre, F. atteindre, to attain, used substantively ; see above.
ATTAR OP ROSES, perfumed oil of roses. (Arabic). Often
called, less correctly, ' otto of roses.' From Arab, 'itr, perfume ; from
'atira, he smelt sweetly. See Richardson's Arab. Diet. p. 1014.
ATTEMPER, to temper, qualify. (F.,-L.) Now little used.
M. E. attempren, atempren. ' Attemprith the lusty houres of the fyrste
somer sesoun ; ' Chaucer, tr. of Boethius, b. i. met. 2, p. 8. O. F.
atemprer, to modify. O.F. a, to (Lat. ad) ; and temprer, to temper.
Lat. temperare, to moderate, control. See Temper.
ATTEMPT, to try, endeavour. (F..-L.) 'That might attempt
his fansie by request ; ' Surrey, tr. of ^Eneid, bk. iv. [Not in Gower,
C. A. i. 287.] O. F. atempter, to undertake ; Roquefort. The simple
verb tempter was also spelt tenter, tanter, tempteir; Burguy. Hence
atempter is a corruption of an older form atenter. Lat. attentare,
to attempt. Lat. ad (becoming at- before /) ; and tentare, to try,
endeavour ; so that ' attempt ' is to ' try at.' Tentare is a fre-
quentative of tendere, to stretch, and means ' to stretch repeatedly
till it fits ; ' Curtius, i. 268. Tendere has an inserted or excrescent
d, so very common after n, so that the root is Lat. ten, Aryan
tan. Cf. Gk. rtivtiv, to stretch, ruvos, strain, tension, whence E.
tone ; and from the same root we have E. thin and thunder. Cf.
Skt. tan, to stretch. - ./ TAN, to stretch ; Curtius, i. 268 ; Fick, i.
591. See Thin. DOT. attempt, sb.
ATTEND, to wait upon, to heed. (F.,-L.) 'The Carthage
lords did on the quene attend ; ' Surrey, Virgil, J&n. b. iv. The sbs.
attencioun and attendaunce occur in Chaucer, tr. of Boethius, b. ii.
pr. i, p. 29 ; C. T. 6514. O. F. atendre, to wait. Lat. attendere,
pp. attentus, to stretch towards, think upon, give heed to. V TAN,
to stretch. See Attempt, and Thin. Der. attend-once, attend-ant ;
and, from Lat. pp. attentus, we have attent, adj. (2 Chron. vi. 40, vii.
15), attent-ion, attenl-ive, attent-ive-ly, attent-ive-ness.
ATTENUATE, to make thin. (Lat.) It occurs in Elyot, Castel
of Health, bk. ii. c. 7 ; Bacon, Nat. Hist. sect. 299. Formed, like
other words in -ate, from a past participle. Lat. attenualus, thin, pp.
of allenuare, to make thin. Lat. ad ( = at- before t) ; and tenuare, to
make thin. Lat. tenuis, thin. ^ TAN, to stretch. See Attempt,
and Thin. Der. attenuat-ion.
ATTEST, to bear witness to. (Lat.) In Shak. Hen. V, iii. i. 22.
Lat. attestari, to bear witness to ; pp. atteslatus. Lat. ad ( = at-
before t) ; and testari, to be witness. Lat. testis, a witness. See
Testify. Der. attest-at-ion.
ATTIC, a low-built top story of a house, or a room in the same.
(Gk.) ' A term in architecture, comprehending the whole of a plain
or decorated parapet wall, terminating the upper part of the fa9ade
of an edifice. The derivation of the word is uncertain. It appears
to have been a generally received opinion that the word was derived
from the circumstances of edifices in Attica being built after this
manner ; ' Eng. Cyclopaedia, s. v. Altick, in arch., a kind of order,
after the manner of the city of Athens ; in our buildings, a small
order placed upon another that is much greater ; ' Kersey's Diet., ed.
1715. Gk. 'ATTIKOS, Attic, Athenian. See Curtius, ii. 321. JjjrThe
F aitiyue.sca attic, similarly coincides with F. Atti/jue, Attic.
ATTIRE, apparel, dress ; vb., to adorn, dress. (F., L. and G.)
In early use. a. The sb. is M. E. ntyr, a'ir (wi'.h one /X and is later (?)
than the verb. ' Mid his fourti cnihtes and hire hors and hire atyr'
= with his forty knights and their horses and their apparel. In
William of Palerne, 1. 1725, it is spelt tir; in 1. 1174, it is atir; so
again, we have ' in no gay tyr ; ' Alexander, frag. B. 883. ft. The
verb is M. E. atyren, atiren (mostly with one /). ' Hii . . . newe
knightes made and armede and attired hem" = they made new knights
and armed and equipped them ; Rob. of Glouc. p. 47. The sb.
does not appear in French, but only the verb. O.F. atirer, to adorn ;
not in Burguy, but Roquefort has : 'Attire, orne, ajuste, pare, decore ;'
also : 'Attirer, atirier, atlirer, ajuster, convenir, accorder, omer, de-
corer, parer, preparer, disposer, regler.' ' L'abbe ne doit enseignier,
ne attirier [appoint?], ne commander contre le commandement de
Nostre Seigneur ; ' Regie de Seint Benoit ; chap. 2. O. F. a-, prefix
(Lat. ad); and a sb. tire, a row (cf. Prov. tiara, a row) which is
to be considered as quite distinct from the common F. tirer, to
draw. B. See further in Errata ; I now withdraw my statement
that the source of O. F. atirer is the Low G. sb. tir, glory, amply
vouched for by the Old Saxon tir, glory, tirlHo, honourably, gloriously.
42
ATTITUDE.
the Icel. tirr, glory, renown, fame, praise (a very common word),
and the well-known A. S. tir, glory, honour, splendor, which was a
word in common use, and forming numerous compounds ; see Grein,
" 534> 535- The true source of this O. F. sb. tire is seen in
O. H. G. ziari, mod. G. zier, ornament. [The rest of this article
1 now withdraw ; see Errata.] C. Now the verb atirer and
all traces of it have so utterly died out in French, and this too
so long ago, that we can hardly suppose otherwise than that the
O. F. verb atirer was really formed in England, and that the par-
ticular Low German dialect which furnished the word tir was, in
fact, ENGLISH. I regard the M. E. atir or atyr, attire (accented on
the second syllable, and pronounced ateer), as nothing but a Norman
adaptation of the A. S. tir, splendor, with a new sense of ' splendor of
dress.' See Koch, iii. 157. D. The most remarkable point is that
this change of meaning actually took place also in O. H. German. The
cognate word to A. S. tir is the O. H. G. ziari, M. H. G. ziere, mod. G.
zier, ornament, grace, honour, whence the G. verb zieren, ' to adorn,
set off, decorate, grace, trim up, embellish, garnish, attire ; ' Fliigel's
Germ. Diet. E. Moreover, as the prefix a- was an unnecessary F.
addition, we need not wonder that it was often thrown off in English,
as in the well-known text : ' she painted her face, and tired her head ; '
2 Kings, ix. 30. The sb. tire, a head-dress, is very common in the
Bible (Isaiah iii. 1 8 ; Ezek. xxiv. 1 7, 23 ; Judith, x. 3, xvi. 8), and is
nothing but the A. S. tir, which some have most absurdly connected
with the Persian tiara. Cotgrave explains the F. attiffers by ' attires,
or tires, dressings, trickings, attirals.' F. The A. S. tir, glory, is
in fact, an extremely old word, connected with the A. S. adj.
torht, bright, shining, which is undoubtedly connected with the Gk.
SipKofuu, I see, and the Skt. diif, to see; Curtius, i. 164; Fick, i.
61 8 ; Benfey's Skt. Diet. p. 414. These words are from ^ DARK, to
see, but A. S. tir goes back to the older ^ DAR, from which ^ DARK
is but a secondary formation. ^T The O. F. atour, apparel, some-
times confused with attire, is quite a different word ; see Brachet. [#]
ATTITUDE, position, posture. (Ital.,-L.) "Tis the business
of a painter in his choice of attitudes to foresee the effect and har-
mony of the lights and shadows ; ' Dryden, Dufresnoy, sect. 4. This,
being a word connected with the painter's art, came from Italy.
Ital. attitudine, aptness, skill, attitude. Lat. aptitudinem, ace. of
aptitudo, aptitude. Thus attitude is a doublet of aptitude. See Apt.
^[ Italian assimilates pt into tt, dm to mm, &c. Der. atlitud-in-al,
attitud-in-ise.
ATTORNEY, an agent who acts in the ' turn ' of another. (F., -
L.) M. E. attourneie, alurneye. ' Atturneye, suffectus, attomatus ; '
Prompt. Parv. p. 17. ' Attourneis in cuntre thei geten silver for
noht ; ' Polit. Songs, p. 339. O. F. atorne, pp. of atorner, to direct,
turn, prepare, arrange or transact business. O. F. a, to (Lat. ad) ;
and torner, to turn. Lat. lornare, to turn, esp. to turn in a lathe.
See Turn. Der. attorney-ship.
ATTRACT, to draw to, allure. (Lat.) Used by Grafton, Rich.
Ill, an. 2. Formed, like convict and some others, from a past parti-
ciple. Lat. attractus, pp. of attrahere, to draw to, attract. Lat. ad
{-at- before /) j and trahere, to draw. See Trace. Der. attract-able,
attract-ib-il-it-y, attract-ion, attract-ive, attract-ive-ly, attract-ive-ness.
ATTRIBUTE, to assign or impute. (Lat.) Formed, like
attract, from a past participle. Yet the verb to attribute seems to
have been in use before the sb. attribute, contrary to what might
have been expected. The sb. is in Shak. Merch. iv. 1. 191 ; the verb
in Sir T. More, Works, p. 1121 d. Lat. attributus, pp. of attribuere,
to assign. Lat. ad, to (= at- before /) ; and tribuere, to give,
bestow. See Tribute. Der. attribute, sb., attribut-able, attribut-
ion, attribut-ive.
ATTRITION, a wearing by friction. (F..-L.) Formerly in
use in a theological sense, as expressing sorrow for sin without shrift ;
after shrift, such sorrow became contrition ; see Tyndal, Works, p.
148, col. 2. [Perhaps from Latin directly.] F. attrition, 'arubbing,
fretting, wearing ; ' Cotgrave. Lat. ace. attritionem, from nom. attritio,
a rubbing, wearing away. Lat. attritus, rubbed away, pp. ofatlerere.
Lat. ad( = at- before t) ; and terere, to rub. Cf. Gk. reipetv, to rub.
- ^TAR, to bore; Curtius, i. 274.
ATTUNE, to make to harmonise, put in tune. (Hybrid.) A coined
word. In Spenser, F. Q. i. I a. 7. Made by prefixing Lat. ad (which
in composition becomes at- before t) to the sb. tune, so that attune is
to ' bring to a like tune or tone.' See Tune.
AUBURN, reddish brown. (F., Ital., L.) M. E. auburne,
awburne. ' Awburne coloure, citrinus ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 17. Thus
the old sense was ' citron-coloured ' or light yellow. The modem
meaning was probably due to some confusion in the popular mind
with the word brown ; indeed, Hall, in his Satires, bk. iii. Sat. 5,
speaks of ' abron locks,' which looks like an attempt to ' improve '
the spelling. The spelling with u shews that the word passed
through French, though the precise form auburn is not found. [Yet
AUGUST.
we find in French the closely related aubier, sap-wood, inner bark ol
trees, and (in Cotgrave) aubourt, ' a kind of tree tearmed in Latin
alburnus.'] Ital. alburno, of which one of the old meaning;;, given by
Florio, is ' that whitish colour of women's hair called an album or aburn
colour.' [The change in spelling from alb- to aub- occurs again in
the F. atibe, meaning the clerical vestment called an alb,' from Low
Lat. alba, a white garment.] Low Lat. alburnus, whitish, light-
coloured ; Ducange. Cf. Lat. alburnum, the sap-wood, or inner bark
of trees (Pliny). Lat. allms, white. See Alb.
AUCTION, a public sale to the highest bidder. (Lat.) A ' sale
by auction ' is a sale by ' increase of price," till the article is knocked
down to the highest bidder. Auction occurs in Pope, Moral Essays,
iii. 119. Lat. auctionem, ace. of audio, a sale by auction, lit. an * in-
crease.' Lat. auctus, pp. ofaugere, to increase; cognate with A. S.
ccan, to eke. See Eke. Der. auclion-eer.
AUDACIOUS, bold, impudent. (F..-L.) Ben Jonson has
' audacious ornaments ; ' The Silent Woman, A. ii. sc. 3. Bacon has
audacity, Nat. Hist. sect. 943. F. audacieux, 'bold, stout, hardy,
. . . audacious,' &c. ; Cot. Formed as if from a Lat. form auda-
ciosus, which again is from Lat. audaci-, crude form of audax, bold,
daring. Lat. audere, to be bold, to dare. Root uncertain. Der.
audacious-ly, audacious-ness ; also audacity, from Lat. ace. audacilalem,
nom. audacitas, boldness.
AUDIENCE, hearing, an assembly of listeners. (F..-L.) In
Chaucer, C. T. 5093 ; and tr. of Boethius, b. ii. pr. 7, p. 59. Sir T. More
has audible, Works, p. 1 2 59 c. F. audience, ' an audience or hearing ; '
Cot. Lat. audientia, attention, hearing. Lat. audire, pp. audi-
tus, to hear ; cf. Lat. auris, the ear. + Gk. dtai, I hear, perceive ;
cf. Gk. ovs, the ear. Cf. Skt. av, to be pleased. ^ AW, to be
satisfied with ; Curtius, i. 482 ; Fick, i. 501. Der. From Lat. audire,
to hear, we have also audi-ble, audi-ble-ness, audi-bly. From the pp.
auditus, we have audit-or (spelt auditour in Gower, C. A. ii. 191),
audit-or-y, audit-or-ship. I should suppose audit to be from the sb.
auditus, hearing, but in Webster's Diet, it is said to have arisen from
the use of the 3rd pers. sing. pres. tense, audit, he hears, attends.
AUGER, a centre-bit, a tool for boring holes. (E.) ' An augoure,
terebrum;' Levins, 222. 38. A corruption of nauger. Like adder,
and some other words, it has lost an initial it. It is spelt nauger in
Wright's Vol. of Vocabularies, ist Series, p. 170. In Halliwell's
Diet, we find : ' Navegor, an auger, a carpenter's tool. This word
occurs in an inventory dated A. D. 1301, and inNominale MS.' A.S.
nafegdr, an auger, ' foratorium telum, terebellum; ' ^Elfric's Glossary
(Bosworth). It means, literally, a nave-piercer, being used for boring
the hole in the centre of a wheel for the axle to pass through. A.S.
nafu, nafa, the nave of a wheel (see Have) ; and gar, a piercer, that
which gores (see Gore).+O. H. G. napager, an auger; from O. H. G.
napa, nave, and ger, a spear-point, ^f The Du. avegaar, an auger, has
lost the initial like English, being derived from naaf, the nave of a
wheel, and an old word gaar, a spear-point (A. S. gar), now obsolete
except in as far as it is represented by geer, a gore. But the Du. also
has the word naafboor, an auger, in which the n is preserved, the
derivation being from naaf, nave, and boren, to bore. Cf. Icel. nafarr.
AUGHT, a whit, anything. (E.) Very variously spelt in M. E.,
which has awiht, eawiht, eawt, nut, aht, aght, aught, ouht, ought, out,
oht, oght. 'Yif he awiht delanwule' = if he will give aught ; O. Eng.
Homilies, p. 103. Aught is for ' a whit,' and ' ought' is for ' o whit,'
where o, like a, is a M. E. form of one. A. S. awiht, aught, Grein, i.
48. A. S. a, short for an, one ; and wiht, a wight, creature, thing,
whit. See Whit.
AUGMENT, to increase. (F., - L.) ' My sorowes to augment ; '
Remedie of Love (15* cent.), anon, poem in old editions of Chaucer's
Works, St. 13. [Perhaps directly from Latin.] F. augmenter, ' to
augment, increase ; ' Cot. Lat. augmentare, to enlarge, pp. aug-
mentatus. Lat. augmentum, an increase, augment. Lat. augere, to
increase ; with suffix -mentum. See Auction. Der. augment-able,
augment-at-ion, augment-at-ive. The sb. augment is (etymologically)
older than the verb, as seen above.
AUGUR, a soothsayer, a diviner by the flight and cries of birds.
(Lat.) Gower has augur, C. A. ii. 82. Chaucer has augurie, Troil.
and Cress, b. v. 1. 380. Lat. augur, a priest at Rome, who foretold
events, and interpreted the will of the gods from the flight and sing-
ing of birds. Hence the attempt to derive augur from OBI'S, a bird ;
but this is not quite clear. If it be right, the etym. is from auis, a
bird, and -gur, telling, ' gur being connected with garrire, garrulus,
and the Skt. gar or gri, to shout ;' Max M tiller, Lect. on Science of
Lang. ii. 266 (8th ed.). Fick divides the word aug-ur, and makes it
mean ' assistant,' or ' helper,' from aug-ere, to increase, furnish ; ii. 3.
Der. augur-y (Lat. augur-ium), augur-al, augur-ship ; also in-augur-
ate, q. v. And see Auspice, [t]
AUGUST', adj.,venerable. (Lat.) Dryden, Virgil, JEn. b. i, 1. 825,
has : 'Augi.it in visage, and serenely bright.' Lat. augustus, honoured.
AUNT.
AVAST.
43
venerable. Lat. augere, to increase, extol, magnify, promote to
honour. See Eke. Der. August, the 8th month, named after Au-
gustus (i.e. the honoured) Caesar; Attgust-an, august-ly, august-ness.
AUNT, a father's or mother's sister. (F..-L.) M. E. aunte, Rob.
of Glouc. p. 37. O.K. ante (corrupted to tante in mod. F.). Lat.
amita, a father's sister. Cf. Icel. ammo, a grandmother, O. H. G.
ammd, mother, mamma; the mod. G. amme means ' nurse.' % For
the change of m to n before /, see Ant. [t]
AUREATE, golden. (Lat.) Formerly aureat, a word common
in some of the older Scotch poets. ' The aureat fanys,' the golden
streamers; G. Douglas, Prol. to JEa. bk. xii. 1. 47. Low Lat.
aureatus, golden; a corrupted form. Lat. auratus, gilded, pp. of
aurare, to gild, a verb not in use. Lat. aurum, gold ; old form,
aufnm. Probably named from its bright colour; from ^US, to
bum ; cf. Skt. ush, to burn, Lat. urere, to burn. Fick, i. 512 ; Ben-
fey, Skt. Diet. p. 132. Der. From Lat. aurum we have aur-elia, the
gold-coloured chrysalis of an insect ; aur-e-ola, aur-e-ole, the halo of
golden glory in paintings ; aur-ic, golden ; aur-i-ferous, gold-produc-
ing, from Lai/art, to produce, cognate with E. bear, [t]
AURICULAB, told in the ear, secret. (Lat.) Well known in
the phrase ' auricular confession.' Udal speaks of it, Reuel. of St.
John, c. 21 ; and Grafton, K. John, an. 14 ; cf. Shak. K. Lear, i. 2.
99. Low Lat. auricularis, in the phr. auricularis confessio, secret con-
fession. Lat. auricula, the lobe of the ear; dimin. formed by adding
-c- (Aryan suffix -ka) and -ul- (dimin. suffix) to the stem auri- of Lat.
auris, the ear. See Ear. Der. From Lat. auricula we have auricle,
the outer ear ; pi. auricles, two ear-like cavities of the heart ; auri-
cula, the ' bear's ear,' a kind of primrose, named from the shape of
its leaves ; auricul-ar, auricul-ar-ly, auricul-ate. From Lat. auris we
have auri-form, aur-ist.
AURORA, the dawn. (Lat.) In Shak. Romeo, i. I. 142. Lat.
aurora, the dawn, the goddess of the dawn ; which stands for an older
form ausosa. + Gk. jjeis, JEolic avait, Attic ton, dawn ; avpiov, morrow.
+ Skt. ushdsd, dawn ; ushas, shining ; from ush, to burn. ^ US, to
bum. Curtius, i. 498 ; Fick, i. 32. Cf. A urora-borealis, i. e. northern
dawn or dawn-like halo ; from Lat. Boreas, the North wind.
AUSCULTATION, a listening. (Lat.) Modem; chiefly medi-
cal, applied to the use of the stethoscope. Lat. atacultationem,
ace. of auscultatio, a listening. Lat. auscultatus, pp. of auscitltare, to
listen. p. A contracted form for ausiculitare, a frequentative form
from ausicula, old form of auricula, dimin. of auris, the ear. See
Auricular.
AUSPICE, favour, patronage. (F..-L.) Used by Dryden in
the sense of ' patronage ; ' Annus Mirabilis, st. 288. Shak. has
auspicious, Temp. i. 2. 182 ; v. 314. F. auspice, 'a sign, token . . of
things by the flight of birds ; also, fortune, lucke, or a luckie begin-
ning of matters ; ' Cot. Lat. auspicium, a watching of birds for
the purpose of augury. A contraction of auispicium. Lat. aui-, stem
of auis, a bird ; and spicere, more usually specere, to spy, look into,
cognate with E. spy. See Aviary and Spy. Der. pi. auspices ; and
(from Lat. auspicium), anspici-ous, auspici-ous-ly, auspici-ous-ness.
AUSTERE, harsh, rough, severe. (F.,-L.,-Gk.) Inearlyuse.
' He was fulle austere ; ' Rob. of Brunne, tr. of Langtoft, p. 54.
O. F. austere, which Cotgrave explains by ' austere, severe, stem,' &c.
Lat. austerus, harsh, tart, sour to the taste ; also, harsh, severe,
rigorous. Gk. avarr/pos, making the tongue dry, harsh, bitter. Gk.
alos, dry, withered, parched ; aveiv, to parch, dry. Curtius, i. 490,
shews that the breathing is an aspirate, and that the word is related
to A. S. sear, dry, E. sere, dry, rather than to the root us, to bum.
See Sere. Der. austere-ly, austere-ness, auster-i-ty.
AUSTRAL, southern. (Lat.; or F..-L.) The use of Lat.
Auster for the South wind occurs in Chaucer, tr. of Boethius, b. ii.
met. 3, p. 39. The adj. austral does not appear to be used till late
times. [Perhaps directly from Latin.] F.australe, southerly; Cot.
Lat. Australis, southerly. Lat. Auster, the South wind. It probably
meant ' burning,' from the ^ US, to bum. See Aurora. Der.
Austral-ia, Austral-ian, Austral-asia (from Asia), Austral-asian.
AUTHENTIC, original, genuine. (F., - L., - Gk.) In early use.
M. E. autentik, autentiaue, auctentyke. Spelt auctentyke in Hampole,
Pricke of Conscience, 7115. O. F. autenlique, auclenlique, later au-
thentique, which is the form in Cotgrave, who explains it by ' authen-
tick, authenticall, of good authority ; ' the English and F. words
having been alike modified by reference to the original Greek. Lat.
authenticus, original, written by the author's own hand. Gk. avStvn-
xot, authentic, vouched for, warranted. Gk. avSivrr/s, one who does
things with his own hand; of uncertain origin. Perhaps aii9- =
aiiT-tis, himself, before an aspirate; and err- = sant- = asant, being,
existing, pres. part, from yAS, to be. Der. authentic-al, authentic-
ally, authentic-ate, authentic-at-ion, authentic-i-ty,
AUTHOR, the originator of a book. (Lat.) M. E. autor, autour,
am/or, auctovr; Chaucer, C. T. 9017. [The word docs not seem to
have been used in early French ; but we find the O. F. derivative
autoritel, whence was derived the M. E. autorite, authority, Ancren
Riwle, p. 78.] Lat. auctor, an originator, lit. 'one who makes a
thing to grow.' Lat. augere, to make to grow. See Auction.
Der. author-ess, author-ship, author-i-ty, author-i-tat-ive, author-i-tat-ive-
ly, author-ise (spelt auctorise in Gower, C. A. iii. 134); author-is-at-ion.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY, a life of a man written by himself. (Gk.)
Modem. Made by prefixing auto-, from Gk. airro-, stem of aiirof, self,
to biography, q. v. Der. autobiograph-ic, autobiograph-ic-al, autobio-
graph-er.
AUTOCRACY, self-derived power, absolute and despotic gov-
ernment by one man. (Gk.) Spelt autocrasy in South's Sermons,
vol. viii. ser. 10. Gk. aiiTOKparcia, absolute government. Gk. aino-,
base of aiirit, self ; and aparos, strength, might, from xparvt, strong,
cognate with E. hard; and derived, according to Curtius, i. 189,
from ^ KAR, to make, create. Der. autocrat (Gk. aiiroicpaTtap),
autocrat-ic-al.
AUTOGRAPH, something in one's own handwriting. (F., - Gk.)
Used by Anthony a Wood to denote an original MS. ; see the quo-
tation in Richardson from his Athenae Oxonienses. F. autographe,
' written with his own hand ; ' Cot. Gk. a\rr6ypa<t>ot, written with
one's own hand ; aiiTuifxupov, an original. Gk. airro-, stem of O.VTOS,
self; and ypa-tpav, to write. Der. autograph-ic, autograph-y.
AUTOMATON", a self-moving machine. (Gk.) In Boyle's
Works, vol. v. p. 251. Browne, in his Vulg. Errors, b. v. c. 18, i,
uses the adj. automatons. Gk. aiiTo/MTov, neut. of OUT<$/XTO, self-
moving. Gk. airro-, stem of ai/rus, self; and a stem fiar-, which
appears in iun-tvai, I seek after, strive to do, and in the Skt. mata,
desired, pp. of man, to think; see Benfey, s.v. num. ^MAN, to
think. See Mean, verb. Der. pi. automatons or automata ; automat-
ic, automat-ic-al, automat-ic-al-ly.
AUTONOMY, self-government. (Gk.) Modem. -Gk. aiiro-
vofua, independence. Gk. OVTOVOIIOS, free, living by one's own laws.
Gk. aino-, stem of aiir6s, self ; and yi/^o^at , I sway , middle voice of
vcuai, I distribute ; whence E. nomad. See Nomad. Der. autonom-
ous, from Gk. av-Tovofun.
AUTOPSY, personal inspection. (Gk.) Used by Ray, On the
Creation; and by Cudworth, Intellectual System, p. 160 (R.) Gk.
avTo^ia, a seeing with one's own eyes. Gk. airro-, stem of avros, self;
and fya, sight, from Gk. ^ On, to see, Aryan ^ AK, to see ; Fick,
i. 473. Der. autoplic-al ; see Optic.
AUTUMN, the harvest time of the year. (Lat.) Spelt autumpne
in Chaucer, tr. of Boethius, b. i. met. 2, 1. 118. [It seems to have
been taken from Latin immediately.] Lat. autumnus, auctumnus,
autumn. By some connected with augere (pp. auctus), to increase,
as being the season of produce. Der. autumn-al.
AUXILIARY, adj., helping ; sb., a helper. (Lat.) Holland,
Livy, p. 433, speaks of ' auxtliarie or aid soldiers lightly armed.'
Lat. auxiliarius, auxiliaris, assisting, aiding. Lat. auxilium, help,
assistance. Lat. augere, to increase. See Auction.
AVAIL, to be of value or use. (F., L.) M. E. auailen (u for v).
' Avaylyn or profytyn ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 17. Hampole has availes,
Pricke of Conscience, 1. 3586. The compound verb was not used in
the French of the continent ; it was made by prefixing the O. F. a
( = Lat. ad, to) to the O. F. valoir, valir, to be of use. Lat. ualere,
to be strong. VWAL, to be strong; Fick, i. 777. Cf. Skt. bala,
strength, balin, strong. Der. avail-able, avail-abl-y. The simple form
appears in valiant, q. v.
AVALANCHE, a fall of snow. (F.,-L.) Modern. In Cole-
ridge's Hymn in the Vale of Chamouni, and in Byron's Manfred, Act
i. sc. 2. F. avalanche, a descent of snow into the valley; given by
Cotgrave in the form avallanche, ' a great falling or sinking down, as
of earth, &c.' F. avaler, which in mod. F. means ' to swallow,' but
Cotgrave also gives, s. v. avaller, the senses ' to let, put, cast, lay,
fell down, to let fall down.' F. aval, downward ; common in O. F.
as opposed to amont, upward (Lat. ad montem, towards the hill).
O. F. a val, from Lat. ad uallem, towards the valley ; hence, down-
ward. See Valley, [t]
AVARICE, greediness after wealth. (F..-L.) M. E. auarice
(u as v) ; used by Chaucer, tr. of Boethius, b. ii. pr. 5, p. 45 ; Wyclif,
I Kings, viii. 3. O. F. avarisce, avarice. Lat. auaritia, avarice. Lat.
auarus, greedy ; cf. Lat. auidus, greedy. Lat. auere, to wish, desire.
Curtius, i. 482, hesitates about this connection with Lat. auere ; see
Fick, ii. 27. If it be correct, there is a further connection with Skt.
o, to be pleased, to desire ; cf. also Gk. atuv, to regard, perceive.
^AW, to be pleased, desire, regard. Der. avarici-ous, avaric:
ous-ly, avarici-ous-ness.
AVAST, hold fast, stop. (Dutch.) It occurs in Poor Jack, a sea-
song by C. Dibdin, died A. D. 1814. Like many sea-terms, it is mere
Dutch. Du. hoitd vast, hold fast. Hand (short form hou) is the imp.
s. of louden, cognate with E. l-old. Vaft is cognate with E./os/. ft]
44
AVATAR.
AVATAR, the descent of a Hindu deity in an incarnate form.
(Sanskrit.) Modem. An English modification of Skt. avatura,
descent ; which stands for ava-tri-a, where ava means ' down,' tri is
' lo pass over,' and -a is a suffix.
AVAUNT, begone! (F..-L.) In Shak. Mer. Wives, i. 3. 90,
&c. Shortened from the F. phrase en avant, forward 1 on I march 1
The F. avant is from Lat. ab ante. See Advance.
AVE, hail ! (Lat.) As mostly used, it is short for Ave, Maria,
i. e. hail, Mary 1 alluding to St. Luke, i. 28, where the Vulgate
version has: 'Ave gratia plena.' Spenser Englishes the phrase by
Ave-Mary, F. Q. i. i. 35. Lat. auel haill imp. sing, of auere,
which perhaps had the sense ' to be propitious.' Cf. Skt. av, to be
pleased. ^AW, to be pleased. See Curtius, i. 482.
AVENGE, to take vengeance for an injury. (F., L.) 'This
sinne of ire ... is wicked will to be auenged by word or by dede ; '
Chaucer, Pers. Tale, De Ira. O. F. avengier, to avenge. O. F. a,
prefix (Lai. ad, to) ; and vengier, to revenge, take vengeance. Lat.
mndicare, to lay claim to ; also, to punish, revenge. An older spelling
is uendicare, which is perhaps connected with uenia, leave, pardon,
remission ; see Peile's Introd. to Gk. and Lat. Etymology, 2nd ed.,
p. 281. If so, I suppose uendicare to have meant 'to appoint the
terms of pardon,' hence, to punish. The Lat. uenia is connected with
Skt. van, to ask ; Fick, i. 208. Dicare is the frequentative of dicere,
to say; see Vengeance and Diction. Der. aveng-er.
AVENUE, an approach, esp. an alley shaded by trees forming
the approach to a house. (F., L.) Spelt advenue in Holland's
Livy, p. 413, but avenue at p. 657 (R.) F. avenue, also spelt
advenue by Cotgrave, and explained by ' an access, passage, or entry
into a place.' It is the fern, form of the pp. of the verb avenir or
advenir (Cotgrave), used in the original sense of 'to come to.' Lat.
aduenire, to come to. Lat. ad; and uenire, to come, cognate with
E. come, q. v.
AVER, to affirm to be true. (F..-L.) In Shak. Cymb. v. 5.
203. F. averer, ' to aver, avouch, verifie, witness; ' Cotgrave. Low
Lat. auerare, aduerare, to prove a thing to be true ; Ducange. A
coined word, from Lat. ad, prep, to, and uerum, truth, a true thing,
neut. of uerus, true. See Verity. Der. aver-ment; in Blackslone,
Commenl. b. iv. c. 26.
AVERAGE, a proportionate amount. (F., L.) o. The modem
sense is ' an amount estimated as a mean proportion of a number of
different amounts.' This has been easily developed out of an older
and original meaning, viz. a proportionate contribution rendered by
a tenant to the lord of Ihe manor for the service of carrying wheat,
turf, &c. p. It was used, originally, solely with reference to the
employment of horses and carts. Later, it meant ' a charge for carri-
age," according to the weight and trouble taken. Richardson quotes
from Spelman to Ihe effecl that average meant ' a portion of work
done by working beasts (averiis) yoked in carriages or otherwise ;
also, a charge upon carriage." [His odd translation of averiis by
' working beasts ' is due to an odd notion of connecting the Low Lat.
averium with Lat. opera, work !] Y. Average is not in early use in
E. literature ; it occurs in Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, bk. i. c.
5. In Blount's Law Diet. (A. D. 1691), we find : ' Average (Lat. aver-
agium, from averia, i. e. cattle) signifies service which the tenant
owes the king or other lord, by horse or ox, or by carriage with
either ; for in ancient charters of priviledges, we find quietum esse de
averagiis ... In the Register of the Abby of Peterborough (in Bibl.
Cotton.) it is thus explicated ; Averagium, hoc est quod nativi debe-
renl ex antiqua servitute ducere bladum [to carry wheat] annuatim
per umim diem de Pillesgate apud Burgum, vel carfare turbas [to
carry turf] de marisco ad manerium de Pillesgate cum carectis et
equissuis; Anno 32 Hen. 8, c. 14 ; and i Jacob, cap. 32." He adds:
' it is used for a contribution that merchants and others do propor-
tionably make towards their losses, who have their goods cast into
the sea for the safeguard of the ship, or of the goods and lives of
them in the ship, in time of tempest. And it is so called, because it
is proportioned after the rate of every man's average, or goods
carried. In this lasl sence, it is also used in the Statute 14 Car. a,
cap. 27.' B. The development of senses is easy, viz. (i) a contri-
bution towards the work of carrying the lord's wheat ; (2) a charge
for carriage; (3) a contribution towards loss of things carried.
Low Lat. averagium, ' vecturse onus quod tenens domino exsolvit cum
averiis, seu bobus, equis, plaustris, et curribus ; (2) detrimentum quod
in vectura mercibus accidit. His adduntur vecturae sumptus et ne-
cessaripa alise impensae;' Ducange. Low Lat. averium, 'omnia quae
quis possidet, F. avoir, fortune ; (i)pecunia; (2) equi, oves, jumenta,
cpeteraque animalia quas agricultural inserviunt' &c. ; Ducange.
O. F. aver, also avoir, (i) to have; (2)35 sb., goods, possessions,
cattle. [For, in this case, the Low Lat. averium is nothing but
the O. F. aver turned into a Latin word, with the suffix -ium added
to make it a neuter collective substantive.] Lat. habere, to have.
AVOID.
^f The Low Lat. averium was also spelt avert and aver, in accordance
with the French. Also note, that the O. F. aver was so particularly
used of horses that a horse was called an aver, and we even find in
Bums, in a poem called 'A Dream,' st. n, the lines: 'Yet aft a
ragged cowl's been known To mak a noble aiver ; ' see aiver in
Jamieson's Scot. Diet., and see Aver, Aver-corn, Averland, Average,
Averpenny, in Halli well's Diet. It is surprising that the extremely
simple etymology of Average is wrongly given by Wedgwood, after
a correct explanation of Aver and a reference to one of the right
senses of Average ; also by Mahn (in Webster's Diet.), who, after
correctly referring to Averpenny, actually cites the verb to avir, to
affirm to be true ; and by Richardson, who refers to the F. oeuvre, a
work. The very simplicity of the explanation seems hitherto to have
secured its rejection; but quite unnecessarily. An aver-age was
estimated according to the ' work done by avers,' i. e. cart-horses ;
and extended to carriage of goods by ships. [*]
AVERT, to turn aside. (Lat.) ' I averte, I tourne away a thyng ; '
Palsgrave, French Diet. Lat. auertere, to turn away. Lat. o, short
form of ab, abs, away, from ; and uertere, to turn. See Verse.
Der. (From Lat. auersus, pp. of auertere) averse, Milton, P. L. ii. 763,
averse-ly, averse-ness, avers-ion. ^f The F. avertir Lat. aduertere,
and is therefore a different word.
AVIARY, a place for keeping birds. (Lat.) ' For aviaries, I
like them not ; ' Bacon, Essay 46 ; On Gardens. Lat. auiarium, a
place for birds ; neut. of adj. auiarius, belonging to birds. Lat. auis,
a bird. From the Aryan stem avi, a bird ; whence also, by loss of
the initial vowel, Skt. in, a bird, Zend in', a bird ; also the Gk. ol-uvof,
a large bird, with augmentative suffix. Curtius, i. 488 ; Fick, i. 503.
AVIDITY, greediness, eagerness. (F., L.) Not in early use ; in
Blount's Gloss., ed. 1674. The pi. avidities is in Boyle's Works, ii. 317.
[Perhaps immediately from Latin.] F. avidite, ' greedinesse, covet-
ousnesse, extreame lust, ardent affection, eager desire ; ' Cotgrave
(who, it will be seen, has not ' avidity ' as an English word). Lat.
ace. auiditatem, from nom. auidilas, eagerness. Lat. auidus, greedy,
desirous. See Avarice.
AVOCATION, pursuit, employment, business. (Lat.) Used
by Dryden (Todd's Johnson) ; also in Boyle, Occas. Reflections, s. a.
med. 6. Not found in French, but formed with the common F.
suffix -lion (Lat. ace. -tionem), from Lat. auocatio, a calling away of
the attention, a diverting of the thoughts ; hence, a diversion, amuse-
ment. It is in this sense that Boyle uses it. He says : ' In the time
of health, visits, businesses, cards, and I know not how many other
avocations, which they justly stile diversions, do succeed one another
so thick, that in the day there is no time left for the distracted person
to converse with his own thoughts.' Dryden (in Todd's Johnson)
speaks of the ' avocations of business.' ft. The word has gradually
changed its meaning from ' diversions ' to ' necessary employments,'
evidently by confusion with vocations, with which it should never
have been confused. A false popular notion of the etymology has
probably assisted in this ; the prefix seems to have been mistaken
for the common F. prefix a- (Lat. ad, to), the Lat. a ( = 06) being
very rare as a prefix, occurring only in this word and avert. Lat.
auocare, to call away. Lat. a, short for ab, abs, away ; and uocare,
to call ; from Lat. vox (stem uoc-), a voice. See Vocal.
AVOID, to get out of the way of, to shun. (F..-L.) M. E.
anoiden (u for v), auoyden. ' Auoyden, evacuo, devacuo ; avoyded,
evacuatus ; ' Promp. Parv. p. 19. In M. E. it is generally transitive,
meaning (i) to empty, (2) to remove, (3) to go away from ; but also
intransitive, meaning (i) to go away, (2) to flee, escape. Of these,
the true original sense is ' to empty,' as in ' avoyd thou thi trenchere '
= empty your plate, Babees Book, p. 33. In Ecclesiasticus, xiii. 6
(xiii. 5 in A. V.) the Vulgate version has : ' Si habes, conuiuet tecum,
et euacvabit te ; ' where the A. V. has : ' If thou have anything, he
will live with thee, yea, he will make thee bare ; ' but Wyclif has :
' He shal lyue with thee and auoide thee out,' which is exactly equiva-
lent to the modem slang expression ' he will clean you out.' A. Ic
is obvious that the word is closely connected with the adj. void,
empty, as stated in E. Miiller. It seems almost incredible that,
in some dictionaries, it appears to be connected with the F. tviter,
with which the word cannot, etymologically, have any connection.
The same extraordinary confusion seems to have been a popular
blunder of long standing, and has no doubt materially influenced
the sense of the word. Cotgrave gives : ' Eviter, to avoid, eschew,
shun, shrink from.' And Shak., though he has 'avoid the house'
(Cor. iv. 5. 25), and ' bow may I avoid [get rid of] the wife I chose '
(Troil. ii. 65), most commonly uses it in the sense of ' shun ' (Merry
Wives, ii. 2. 289, &c.). In Palsgrave's French Diet., we have :
' Never have to do with hym, if thou mayst avoyde him (escheuer or
cutter).' B. But, as we trace the word still further backwards, this
; confusion disappears, and only the correct use of the word is found.
: Chaucer uses only the simple form voiden, and in senses that are all
AVOIRDUPOIS.
connected with the adj. void. C. The prefix a- is a corruption of
O. F. es- (Lat. ex, out), as in abash, q. v. ; this prefix was extremely
common in O. F., and Burguy gives the forms esvuidier, esveudier, to
empty out, to dissipate, compounded of es-, prefix, and vuidier, voidier,
to empty, make void. Our E. word, however, follows the Norman
spelling, viz. voider, to empty, which see in Vie de St. Auban, ed.
Atkinson, 1. 75 1 Lat. ex, out ; and uiduare, to empty. Lat. uiduus,
empty. See Void. Der. avoid-able, avoid-ance. ^f In a word,
avoid evoid; just as amend = emend.
AVOIRDUPOIS, a particular way of estimating weights, viz.
by a pound of 16 oz. (F., L.) Shak. uses avoirdupois (spelt haber-
de-pois in old edd.) in 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 277 simply with the sense of
weight." Lit. the signification is ' to have some weight," or ' having
tome weight." F. avoir du pois, to have some weight, to weigh.
Lat. habere, to have, whence F. avoir ; de illo, of that, of tire, whence
F. du ; and Lat. pensum, that which is weighed out, from pensus, pp. of
peadere, to weigh. The spelling pois is correct ; the word is misspelt
poids in mod. F. from a false notion of a connection with Lat. pondus,
weight ; see Brachet. [#]
AVOUCH, to declare, confess. (F., L.) M. E. avomlien, Gower,
C. A. i. 295. Sometimes in the sense ' to make good,' ' maintain,'
or ' answer for it,' as in Macb. iii. i. 120. Grafton has avouchment
in the sense of ' maintenance,' K. John, an. 14. Formed, in imi-
tation of the older word avow, by prefixing the F. a ( = Lat. ad, to)
to the verb vouch ; M. E. vouchen, used by Chaucer in the phrase
vouchen satif, to vouchsafe, C. T. 11355, 11885. Thus Cotgrave
gives: 'Advovtr, to advow, avouch, approve," &c. The M. E. vouchen
is from O. F. vocher, to call. Lat. uocare, to call. Lat. vox (stem
uoci-), a voice. See Vouchsafe and Voice. JsS" Avouch is quite
distinct from avow.
AVOW, to confess, declare openly. (F., L.) M. E. avouen,
avowen, to promise, swear, make a vow ; also, to maintain. ' I de-
woutly awowe . . . Sobrely to do the sacrafyse ; ' Allit. Poems, ed.
Morris, C. 333. ' Awowyn, or to make a-vowe ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 19.
' I avowe it,' in the sense ' I declare it ; ' Palsgrave. O. F. avoer,
mod. F. avouer, to avow, confess, a word which has much changed
its meaning ; see Brachet. The orig. sense was ' to swear fealty to.'
It appears in Low Latin as advoare ; Ducange. P'. prefix a (Lat. ad,
to) ; and O. F. voer, vouer, to make a vow (Low Lat. votare). O. F.
vo, vou, veu, mod. F. v ecu, a vow. Lat. uotum, a vow, lit. 'a thing
vowed ; ' neut. of uotus, pp. of uouere, to vow. See Vow. Der.
avow-al. [&]
AWAIT, to wait for. (F..-O. H.G.) In early use. M.E.
awaiten, to wait for ; also, to lie in wait for. ' Me awaiteth ou ' =
people lie in wait for you ; Ancren Riwle, p. 1 74. O. F. awaiter,
awaiiier, the original spelling of O. F. agaiter, agaitier, to lie in wait
for, watch for ; see gaitier in Burguy, and waiter in Roquefort. O. F.
prefix a- (Lat. ad) ; and O. F. waiter, waitier, later gaiter, gaitier (mod.
F. guetler), to watch. O. H. G. wahtan, to watch (mod. G. wachten),
a verb not given in Wackemagel's Handworterbuch, though wahtari,
a watcher, and wahla, a watch, are recorded. However, the verb is
a mere formation from the sb. wahta, a watch, a word corresponding
to O. F. waite, a sentinel, and accurately preserved in the E. wait, as
used in the phrase ' the Christmas waits.' O. H. G. wahhan (mod. G.
wachen), to wake, to be awake ; cognate with A. S. wacian, to wake.
Thus wait is a secondary verb, formed from an older verb correspond-
ing to E. wake. See Awake.
AWAKE, to rouse from sleep ; to cease sleeping. (E.) In M. E.
we find both awaken, strong verb, answering to mod. E. awake,
strong verb ; and awakien, a weak verb, which accounts for the
pt. t. and pp. awaked as used by Shakespeare (Timon, ii. 2. 21) and
others. The latter seems to be obsolete ; we will consider only the
former. 'Tha autoc Brutus ' = then Brutus awoke, Layamon, i. 53.
A. S. dwacan, pt. t. dwdc, to awake; Grein, i. 48. A. S. a-, prefix,
answering to G. er-, Goth, us-, an intensive prefix ; and wacan, to
wake, Grein, ii. 635. See Wake. Cf. G. erwachen, O. H. G. tir-
wahhen, irwachen, weak verb, to awake. Der. awake, adj., as used
in Milton, ' ere well awake,' P. L. i. 334. This was originally a past
participle, viz. the M. E. awake, short for awaiten, A. S. dwacen, pp.
of dwacan, to awake. Similarly, we have broke for broken, bound for
bounden, and the like. And see below.
AWAKEN, to awake. (E.) Strictly speaking, this is an intran-
sitive verb only, and never used transitively in early authors ; it is
thus distinguished from awake, which is used in both senses ; and it
is slightly different in its origin. M. E. awakenen, awaknen. ' I
awakned therwith ; ' P. Plowman, B. xix. 478. A. S. dwacnan, dwac-
nian, to awake ; Grein, i. 46, 47. P. Note that the word awaken is
thus seen to stand for awakn, the e being merely inserted to render the
word easier to sound ; and the final - answers to the first n in the
A. S. suffix -nan. In this suffix, the first n is formative, and conspi-
cuous in both Moeso-Gothic and Scandinavian, in which languages it
AWKWARD.
45
ft.
is used to render a verb intransitive or reflexive. Thus the verb awaken
is radically and essentially intransitive, and only to be so used.
Shakespeare misuses it more than once ; Meas. for Meas. iv. 2. 119 ;
Tarn. Shrew, v. 2. 42 ; Cor. v. I. 23.
AWARD, to adjudge, determine. (F., O. H. G.) 'Thus I
awarde ' = thus I decide, Chaucer, C. T. 13617. O. F. eswardeir, old
spelling of O. F. esgardeir, to examine, to adjudge after examination ;
see garder in Burguy. O. F. prefix es-, modified from Lat. ex, out;
and O. F. warder, old spelling of garder, to observe, regard, guard.
[The word is thus a hybrid ; for, while the prefix is Latin, the rest
is O. H. G.] O. H. G. warten, sometimes warden, to regard, look at,
guard. O. H. G. warta, a watching, guarding ; wart, warto, a guard.
O. H. G. warjan (M. H. G. wern, weren), to protect ; O. H. G. wara,
heed, care. + Goth, warjan, to bid beware ; from adj. wars, wary.
See Ward, Wary. -</ WAR, to protect; Fick, i. 211. See
below.
AWARE, adj., informed of, in a watchful state. (E.) In this
particular word, the prefix a- has a very unusual origin ; it is a cor-
ruption of M. E. prefix '-, or y-, which again is a corruption of A. S.
ge-. The spelling aware occurs in Early Eng. Poems, ed. Furnivall,
p. 16, 1. 9, but is very rare, the usual spelling being iwar, ywar, or
iwer; see Layamon, 11. 5781, 7261; Ancren Riwle, p. 104; Owl
and Nightingale, 1. 147 ; P. Plowman, B. i. 42 ; Rob. of Glouc.
p. 168, 1. n; Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. loo. -A. S. gewar, aware j
a form not recorded, but the addition of A. S. ge- as a prefix to
a word is as common as possible, and makes no appreciable dif-
ference ; moreover, the verb gewairian, to protect, is recorded in a
gloss ; see Leo, A. S. Glossar, col. 15, 1. 31. Gewcer is thus equiva-
lent to wcer, aware, cautious, Grein, i. 649 ; where we find ' wes thu
K><zr' = be thou aware. Cf. also G. gewahr werden, to be aware;
where gewahr is from O. H. G. giwar, from the prefix gi- (A. S. ge-)
and war, cognate with A. S. w atr. ^WAR, to protect ; whence also
Gk. upaai, I see, wpa, care, protection, Lat. uereri, to respect, revere,
fear. Curtius, i. 432 ; Fick, iii. 290.
AWAY, out of the way, absent. (E.) The proper sense is ' on the
way,' though now often used as if it meant ' off (or out of) the way.'
To ' go away ' meant ' to go on one's way.' M. E. awei, owei, O. Eng.
Homilies, ed. Morris, p. 21 ; spelt away in Hampole, Pricke of Con-
science, 2269. A. S. onweg, away, Grein, i. 354 ; from A. S. on, on,
and weg, way. See Way. It was sometimes spelt dweg, Grein, i.
47; but the prefix d- is probably the same, the a being lengthened
to compensate for the loss of n in an, another form of on. [f]
AW .hi, fear. (Scand.) M. E. ay, aghe, awe, properly a dissyl-
labic word ; Ormulum, 7 J 85. [Another form is M.E. e$l, eghe, eye,
also dissyllabic, Ormnlum, 4481. We also meet with A. S. oga,
fear, dread, and A. S. ege, fear. Both words occur in the same
passage : ' And beo eower ege and oga ofer ealle nitenu ' = and let
the fear of you and the dread of you be over all animals, Gen. ix. 2.
Both can be referred to a common base ag, to dread.] Icel. agi,
awe, terror. + Dan. ave, check, control, restraint ; ave, to control. +
Goth, agis, fear, anguish. + Irish and Gael, eaghal, fear, terror. +
Gk. &xos, anguish, affliction. + Lat. angor, choking, anguish. + Skt.
agha, sin. ^/AGH, to choke. See Curtius, i. 234; Fick, i. 9.
Der. aw-ful, aw-ful-ly, aw-ful-ness. From the same root we have
anguish, anxious, anger, &c. ^\ The final e in awe, now quite un-
necessary, records the fact that the word was once dissyllabic.
AWKWARD, clumsy. (Hybrid ; Scand. and E.) o. The modern
sense of ' clumsy ' is seldom found in old authors ; though it means
this or something very near it in ' ridiculous and awkward action ; '
Shak. Troil. i. 3. 149. We also find : ' 'tis no sinister nor no awkward
claim,' Hen. V, ii. 4. 85 ; and again, ' by awltward wind,' i. e. by an
adverse wind, 2 Hen. VI, iii. 2. 83 ; and again, ' awkward casualties,'
i. e. adverse chances, Per. v. I. 94. p. In tracing the word back-
wards, its use as an adjective disappears ; it was, originally, an ad-
verb, like forward, backward, onward. Its sense was ' transversely,'
' sideways,' especially used with regard to a back-handed stroke with
a sword. ' As he glaid by, awkwart he couth him ta '= as he glided
by, he took him a back-handed stroke ; Wallace, iii. 1 75. ' The world
thai all awkeward sett ' = they turn the world topsy-turvy, Hampole,
Pricke of Conscience, 1541. y. The suffix -ward, as in onward,
forward, means ' in the direction of,' ' towards,' like the cognate Lat.
uersus. The prefix awk is the M. E. awk, auk, adj., signifying ' con-
trary," hence 'wrong.' ' Awke or angry, contrarius, bilosus, per-
versus. Awke or wronge, sinister. Awkely or wrawely [angrily],
perverse, con/rarie, bilose ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 1 8. Auk is a contraction
of Icel. afig- or iifg-, like hawk from A. S. An/or. Icel. ofigr, ofugr,
tifigr, often contracted to ofgu, ofgir in old writers, adj. turning the
wrong way, back foremost ; as in ' of gum vapnum," with the butt-
end of a weapon ; ' vi6 hendi nfgri,' with the back of the hand ; see
examples in Cleasby and Vigfusson. 8. Here of- stands for af, from ;
and -ug- is a suffix. Cognate forms appear in O. Sax. avuh, perverse.
46
AWL.
evil (from a/, from, and suffix -ah) ; in O. H. G. apuJi, M. H. G. ebich,
turned away, perverse, evil (from O. H. G. ap G. ab, off, from, and
suffix -uh) ; and in O. Skt. apdk or apdilch, turned away, cited by
Fick, i. 17, and derived from apa, off, away, and anch, to bend, of
which the original form must have been ant, or (without the nasal) alt.
e. The Skt. form explains the word awk as meaning ' bent away,"
from Aryan APA, away, and AK, to bend; whence the sense of
awkward was originally ' bent-away-ward,' hence back-handed, per-
verse. The root ANK occurs in E. anchor, q. v. Der. awkward-ly,
awkward-ness, [t]
AWL, a pointed instrument for piercing holes in leather. (E.)
M. E. aid, eawl, owel, awel, al, el. 'Mid heore scherpe aides ' = with
their sharp awls; Ancren Riwle, p. 212. [Sometimes an aul or an
all is corrupted to a naul or a nail ; see Wyclif, Deut. xv. 17. Hence
nail as a provincial E. word for awl.] A. S. <*/, Exod. xxi. 6. The
full form is awel, cited from JElfnc's Glossary in Lye and Manning's
A. S. Diet. + Icel. air, an awl. + O. H. G. ala, M. H. G. die, G. ahle.
+ Skt. drd, an awl. Cf. Skt. arpaya, to pierce, causal of ri, to go.
AWN", a beard of corn or grass. (Scand.) M. E. awn. ' Hec
arista, an awn ; ' Wright's Vocabularies, i. 233. An older (13th-cen-
tury) form agon appears at p. 155 of the same volume. Icel. bgn,
chaff, a husk. + Dan. avne, chaff. + Swed. agn, only in pi. agnar,
husks. + Goth, ahana, chaff ; Luke, iii. 1 7. + O. H. G. agana, M. H. G.
agene, agen, chaff. Cf. Lat. ocas, gen. aceris, chaff, husk of corn ; Gk.
axypov, chaff, husk of corn. p. The letter-changes are rather con-
fused. The Low German forms are from a primitive ahana, preserved
in Gothic. Here ah- answers to Lat. ac-, by rule, and the root is
clearly AK, to pierce, hence, sharp, which appears in several other
words, e. g. ac-ute, ac-umen, ac-me ; the syllables -ana are a mere
suffix, equivalent to common E. dimin. -en, as seen in kitten. Thus
awn stands for ak-ana, i. e. a little sharp thing. ^f In some parts
of England (e. g. Essex) beards of barley are called ails ; here ail is
from A.S. egla, egle, a. beard of corn, a prickle, mote, Luke, vi. 41,
42. This stands, in a similar manner, for ale-la, with a like meaning
of ' a little sharp thing,' the suffix being here equivalent to the com-
mon E. dimin. -el, as in kernel, a little com. Hence awn and ail
merely differ in the suffixes ; the stem ak- is the same, [t]
AWN INXJ, a cover spread out, to defend those under it from the
sun. (Persian ?) The earliest quotation I can find is one given from
Sir T. Herbert's Travels, p. 7, in Todd's Johnson : ' Our ship became
sulphureous, no decks, no awnings, nor invention possible, being able
to refresh us.' Four editions of this work appeared, viz. in 1634,
1638, 1665, and 1667 ; in the ed. of 1665, the ref. is to p. 8. The
proper sense seems to be ' a sail or tarpauling spread above the deck
of a ship, to keep off the heat of the sun.' Origin uncertain. I sus-
pect it to be Eastern. Cf. Pers. divan, dwang, anything suspended,
dwangdn, pendulous, hanging ; awnang, a clothes-line ; Rich. Diet.,
p. 206. Hence probably, Low Lat. awanna, O. F. auvent, which
Cotgrave explains by ' a penthouse of cloth before a shop-window.'
AWORK, to work. (E.) Used by Shak., only in the phr. ' to
set a-work ; ' 2 Hen. IV, iv. 3. 124 ; Troil. v. 10. 38 ; Haml. ii. 2. 50 ;
K. Lear, iii. 5. 8. Also in Chaucer : ' I sette hem so a werke, by my
fay;' C. T. 5797. Here a probably stands for an, M. E. form of
A. S. on ; as in so many other instances. Cf. abed, asleep, &c. The
phrase ' he fell on sleep ' is similar in construction. See Work.
AWRY, obliquely, distortedly, sideways. (E.) In Shak. Tarn.
Shr. iv. i. 150. M. E. awrie (better awry), Romaunt of the Rose,
291. Awry is properly an adverb, and compounded of on and wry ;
cf. abed, asleep, Sec. ' Owthir all evin, or on wry ' = either all even or
awry ; ' Barbour's Bruce, 4. 705. p. The lit. sense is ' on the twist ; '
and thus wry is, in this phrase, a sb., though no instance of its use as
a sb. occurs elsewhere. We may conclude that it is the adj. wry (cf.
' wry nose,' ' wry neck ') used substantively to form the phrase. The
adj. wry is not in very early use, and is merely developed from the
M. E. verb wryen or wrien, to twist, now obsolete but once common.
In Chaucer, C. T. 3283, most MSS. read : ' And with her heed she
wryed fast away ; ' where Tyrwhitt prints writhed, which is not the
same word, though related to it. The M. E. wrien, to twist, is the
A. S. wrigian, to tend to, work towards, strive, Grein, ii. 473. Cf.
swa d^S aelc gesceaft, wrigctS wi) 1 his gecyndes ' = so does every crea-
ture, it wries (i. e. tends) towards its kind ; Boethius, b. iii. met. 2
(c. 25). The diminutive of the verb wry, to tend, twist, is wriggle.
Cf. Du. wriltben, wriggelen, to move about, Swed. vricka, to turn to
and fro, Dan. vrikke, to wriggle ; Skt. vrij, orig. to bend, twist. See
Wry.
AXE, AX, an implement for cutting trees. (E.) M. E. ax, eax,
ex ; also axe, exe. Spelt ax, Havelok, 1894 ; Layamon, i. 196. A. S.
eax, <fx. In Luke, iii. 9, the A. S. version has cex, where the North-
umbrian glosses have the fuller forms acasa, acase. + Icel. ox, oxi. +
Swed. yxa. + Dan. oxe. + Goth, akwisi. + O. H. G. acchus, M. H. G.
AZIMUTH.
mattock, trowel. + Gk. aflvrj, an axe. + Russ. ose. Origin uncertain ;
perhaps from a root AKS, an extended form of ^AK, to pierce ; cf.
Gk. o(ijs, sharp. And see Adze.
AXIOM, a self-evident truth. (Gk.) In Burton, Anat. of Melan.
ed. 1827, i. 316; and in Locke, On the Human Understanding, bk.
iv. c. 7. Gk.
gen. aiw/iaros, worth, quality, resolve, de-
cision ; in science, that which is assumed as the basis of demonstra-
tion, an assumption. Gk. dft6a, I deem worthy, esteem. Gk. afios,
worthy, lit. 'weighing as much as.' Gk. aytiv, to lead, drive, also
' to weigh as much.' ^AG, to drive. See Agent. Der. From
the stem a KV/WIT-, axiomat-ic, axiomat-ic-al, axiomat-ic-al-ly.
AXIS, the axle on which a body revolves. (Lat.) In Pope, Essay
on Man, iii. 313. In earlier writers, the word used is generally axle,
or axlelree, as in Marlowe's Faustus, A. ii. sc. 2. Lat. axis, an axle-
tree, axis. + Gk. afoiv, an axle. + Skt. aksha, an axle, wheel, cart. +
O. H. G. ahsa, G. achse, an axle. + A. S. eax, an axle ; Grein, i. 250.
[Curtius, i. 479, considers the Gk. stem of- as a secondary form from
VAF, to drive. Benfey likewise connects Skt. altsha, with Skt. aj, to
drive.] ^AG, to drive. Der. nxi-al. f&" Axle is the diminutive
form, but a native word ; see Axle.
AXTiTi, the axis on which a wheel turns. (E.) M. E. axel,
exel, which is common in the compound axeltree; the latter is
in Gower, C. A. i. 320, and see Prompt. Parv. p. 19. The simple
word axel generally means ' shoulder ' in early writers. ' He hit bertS
on his eaxlun ' = he bears it on his shoulders ; O. Eng. Homilies, ed.
Morris, p. 245. ' On his exle ' = on his shoulder ; Layamon, i. 96.
A. S. eaxl, the shoulder, Grein, i. 250. + Icel. oxl, the shoulder-joint ;
iixull, an axis. + Swed. and Dan. axel, a shoulder, axle, axle-tree. +
O. H. G. ahsala, G. achsel, the shoulder ; O.H.G. ahsa, G. achse, an axis,
axle. + Lat. ax-la, only used in the contracted form ala, a shoulder-
joint, a wing. p. The change in signification from ' shoulder '
to ' axis ' was no doubt due to confusion with the Old F. aissel, essel,
mod. F. essiea, from Lat. axiculus, a small axle-tree. But this did not
affect the etymology, y. The Swed. and Dan. forms for ' shoulder '
and ' axle ' are alike, and the O. H. G. ahsala, the shoulder, is a mere
diminutive of O. H. G. ahsa, axis, just as the Lat. ala (i. e. ax-la) is
a diminutive of the Lat. axis. The explanation is, no doubt, the old
one, viz. that the shoulder-joint is the axis on which the arm turns.
Hence the root is AG, to drive. See Axis. Der. axle-tree, where tree
has its old meaning of ' block," or ' piece of wood.'
AY \ interjection of surprise. (E.) Probably distinct from aye,
yes ; see below. M. E. ey, interjection. ' Why ryse ye so rath 1 ey !
ben'cite ; ' Chaucer, C. T. 3766 ; cf. 1. 10165. Modified, by confu-
sion with O. F. ay (in aymf) from A. S. ed, interj. signifying ' ay I '
chiefly used in the compound told, compounded of eu, ay, and Id, lo,
look. P: There has also probably been confusion with the O. F. hi !
in the compound helas, alas. It is hardly possible to give a clear ac-
count of the origin of ay I and eh ! nor is it of much consequence.
The Lowland Scotch hech ! corresponds to A. S. hig ! used to trans-
late Lat. o / in ./Elfric's Colloquy. ^[ The phrase ' ay me ! ' is cer-
tainly French, viz. the O. F. aymi, ah ! for me ; Burguy. Cf. Ital.
ahime, alas for me I Span, ay at mi I alas for me I Gk. oipoi, woe's me !
See also Ah !
AY, AYE, yea, yes. (E.) In Shak. frequently ; Temp. i. i. 268,
&c. ; always spelt / in old editions. The use of the word in this
form and with this sense is not found in early authors. We may
conclude that aye is but a corruption of yea. See Yea. The cor-
ruption was probably due to confusion with the interjection ay!
which is perhaps a different word. See above.
AYE, adv., ever, always. (Scand.) The phr. ' for ay ' occurs in
Iwain and Gawain, 1. 1 5 10 ; in Ritson's Met. Romances, vol. i. We also
find ' ay withouten ende,' Li Beaus Disconus, 1. 53 1 , in Ritson's M. R.,
vol. ii. [Also 'a buten ende,' Ancren Riwle, p. 396 ; where a = A.S. a'.]
Icel. ', ever. + A.S. d, aye, ever, always; Grein, i. n ; used in
various phrases, such as d forS, d on worlda fortS, d t6 worulde, &c.
It also appears in the longer forms dwa, dwo, Grein, i. 46, of which
d is merely a contraction. It is an adverbial use of a substantive
which meant ' a long time,' as shewn by the Gothic. + Goth, aim,
ever; an adverb formed from the sb. aims, time, an age, a long
period, eternity, Luke, i. 70. Cf. Lat. eeuam, an age ; Gk. aluiv, an
age, alti, dti, ever, always, aye ; Skt. eva, course, conduct. See Age.
AZIMUTH, an arc of the horizon intercepted between the meri-
dian of the place and a vertical circle passing through any celestial
body. (Arabic.) Briefly, azimuthal circles are great circles passing
through the zenith ; whereas circles of declination pass through the
poles. ' These same strikes [strokes] or diuisiouns ben cleped [called]
Azymuthz ; and they deuyden the Orisonte of thin astrelabie in 24
deuisiouns ; ' Chaucer, tr. on Astrolabe, ed. Skeat, pt. i. sect. 19.
Properly, azimuth is a plural form, being equivalent to Arabic as-
samiit, i. e. ways, or points (or quarters) of the horizon ; from n!
ackes, mod. G. axt (with excrescent /). -f- Lat. ascia (for acsia), an axe. I samt, sing., the way, or point or quarter of the horizon ; cf. ' Arab
AZOTE.
samt, a road, way, quarter, direction ; ' Palmer's Pers. Diet. col. 360.
From the same Arabic word is derived the E. zenith. See Zenith.
AZOTE, nitrogen. (Gk.) Modern. So called because destructive
to animal life. Gk. d-, negative prefix; and fwrixos, fit for pre-
serving life. Gk. foa>, I live. ' The Gk. faa stands for Siaa, and its
most natural derivation is from the root pi, Zendji, to live ; ' Curtius,
ii. 96. So in Fick, i. 74, who gives ^ GI, and derivatives. From
the same root we have Gk. Plot, life, Lat. uiuere, to live ; also E.
quick, vivid, vital, &c. ; as also zoo-logy. Cf. Skt. jiv, to live. See
Quick.
AZURE, adj., of a light blue colour. (Arabic.) M. E. asvr, Joseph
of Arimathie, ed. Skeat, 11. 194, 198. 'Clad in asure;' Chaucer,
Queen Anelida, 1. 233. O. F. azur, azure ; a corrupted form, standing
for /azur. The initial I seems to have been mistaken for the definite
article, as if the word were Fazur ; we see the opposite change in
F. lierre, ivy, a corruption of thierre, from Lat. hedera, ivy. Low
Lat. lazur, an azure- coloured stone, known also as lapis lazuli ; also,
the colour itself. Arabic l&jward, lapis lazuli, azure ; Palmer's Pers.
Diet. col. 509. So called from the mines of Lajwurd ; see Marco
Polo's Travels, ed. Yule, [t]
BADINAGE.
47
B.
BAA, to bleat like a sheep. (E.) Chapman uses baaing in his tr.
of Homer, Iliad, bk. iv. 1. 463 ; see quotation in Richardson s. v.
bleat. Shak. has the verb to ba, Cor. ii. 1. 12, and the sb. baa, 2 Gent. i.
i. 98. An imitative word, and may be considered as English. Cf.
G. ba, the lowing of sheep.
BABBLE, to gossip, prate. (E.) M. E. babelen, to prate ; Ancren
Riwle, p. 100 ; to mumble, say repeatedly, P. Plowman, B. v. 8.
Though not recorded in A.-S. MSS., it may be considered as an
English word, being found in O. Low German. 4- Du. babbelen, to
chatter. + Dan. bable, to babble. + Icel. babbla. + G. bappeln, bappern,
to babble ; Grimm's Diet. p. The suffix -/<? is frequentative, and the
verb means ' to keep on saying ba ba' syllables imitative of the efforts
of a child to speak. Cf. F. babiller, to chatter. Der. babble, sb.,
babble-meat, babbl-ing, babbl-er, A. V. Acts, xvii. 18. [t]
BABE, an infant. (C.) M. E. babe, Gower, C. A. i. 290 ; bob,
Towneley Myst. p. 149 ; the full form being baban, Ancren Riwle, p.
134 ; and even Levins has : 'Babbon, pupus, 163. 12. Welsh, Gaelic,
Irish, Cornish, baban. + Manx bob, baban, a babe, child. ' This is a
mutation of maban, dimin. of miib, a son ; but [also] used primarily in
Cornish and Welsh, as is the case in other instances ; ' Lexicon
Comu-Britannicum, by R. Williams. W. miib, a. son. + Gael., Irish,
and Manx mac, a son, the young of any animal. [The forms mab
and mac are modifications of Early Welsh maqvi, a son ; Rhys, Lect.
on Welsh Philology, pp. 23, 4i9.]+Goth. magus, a boy. ^MAGH,
to augment ; Fick, i. 708. See May. 5T Instead of babe being
formed from the infantine sound ba, it has been modified from maqvi ;
probably by infantine influences. Baby is a diminutive form ; like
lassie from lass. Der. bab-y, baby-ish, baby-hood.
BABOON, a large ape. (F. or Low Lat.) Probably borrowed,
in its present form, from F. babouin. The form bavian in the Two
Noble Kinsmen, is Du. baviaan. Other spellings, babion, babian,
may be modifications of M. E. babewine ; Mandeville's Travels, ed.
Halliwell, p. 210 ; Prompt. Parv. p. 20. The last is from Low Lat.
babewynus. ' In an English inventory of 1295, in Ducange, we read
" Imago B. V. . . cum pede quadrato stante super quatnor paruos
babewynos ; " and the verb bebuinare signified, in the I3th century, to
paint grotesque figures in MSS. ; ' Brachet. Remoter origin unknown.
BACCHANAL, a worshipper of Bacchus. (L., - Gk.) Properly,
an adjective. ' Unto whom [Bacchus] was yearely celebrated the feast
bacchanal ; ' Nicolls, Thucydides, p. 50 (R.) ' The Egyptian Baccha-
nals,' i.e. revels, Shak. Ant. ii. 7. no. 'The tipsy Bacchanals,' i. e.
revellers, Mids. Nt. Dr. v. 48. Lat. Bacchanalis, adj., devoted to
Bacchus. Lat. Bacchus, the god of wine. Gk. Bditxos, the god of
wine ; also spelt "laxxos, and said to be so named from the shouting
of worshippers at his festival. Gk. l&x flv < to shout ; a verb apparently
formed by onomatopoeia, to express an interjectional lax I Der.
Bacch an al-i an .
BACHELOR, a young man. (F., - L.) M. E. bacheler, Chaucer,
Prol. 80; Rob. of Glouc. pp. 77, 228, 453. O.F. bacheler. Low
Lat. baccalarius, a farm-servant, originally a cow-herd ; from baccalia,
a. herd of cows; which from bacca, a cow, a Low Lat. form of vacca
(Brachet). [Cf. F. brebis from Lat. veruex.] Lat. vacca is the Skt.
vas/i, a cow ; which Fick interprets as ' the lowing animal ; ' cf. Skt.
vach, to speak. ^ WAK, to speak ; Fick, i. 204. Der. bachelor-
ship. ^T The usual derivation, from W. bach, little, is possible;
see Errata. [#]
BACK, a part of the body. (E.) M. E. bak, A. S. bate (in common
use). + Icel. bak. ft. Fick suggests <J BHAG, to turn ; i. 154 ; iii.
198. Y. M. E. derivatives are : bacbon, backbone ; bacbiten, to back-
bite (P. Plowman, B. ii. So) ; bacward, backward (Layamon, ii. 578).
Der. back-bite, back-bit-er, back-bit-ing, back-bone, back-side, back-slide,
back-slid-er, back-slid-ing, back-ward, back-awards, back-ward-ness.
BACKGAMMON, a kind of game. (Danish ?) Spelt baggamon
in Howell's Letters, ii. 66 (Todd's Johnson). A quotation from
Swift in the same diet, has the spelling backgammon. It is backgam-
mon in Butler's Hudibras, c. iii. pt. 2; ed. Bell, ii. 163. The game
seems to have been much the same as that formerly called ' tables.'
P. Origin unknown. Mr. Wedgwood guesses it to mean ' tray-game,'
i. e. game played on a tray or board ; cf. Dan. bakke, a tray (see
Basin), and gammen, game. In any case, we may be sure that
the latter part of the word signifies ' game,' and is nothing but the
very common M. E. word gamen, a game. See Game ; and see
Blot. ^f A common etymology is from W. bach, little, and
common, a conflict, given in Todd's Johnson; but, in Welsh, the
more usual position of the adjective is after its substantive. It is
a worthless guess, [t]
BACON, swine's flesh prepared for eating. (F.,-O. G.) M. E.
bacon, Chaucer, C. T. 5799. O. F. bacon. Low Lat. ace. baconem,
from nom. baco; from a Teutonic source. O. Du. baken, bacon
(Oudemans). O. Du. bak, a pig (Oudemans). Cf. M. H. G. backe,
0. H. G. pacho, pahho, a flitch of bacon, [t]
BAB, evil, wicked. (C. ?) M. E. bad, badde ; Chaucer has badder,
1. e. worse, C. T. 10538. Not in use much earlier in English. Rob.
of Glouc. has badde, evil, p. 108, 1. 1 7 ; and this is perhaps the earliest
instance. p. The word has hitherto remained unaccounted for ; it is
clear that the G. hose, Du. boos, bad, evil, is too unlike it to help us.
The Pers. bad, wicked, has a remarkable resemblance to the Eng.
word, but can hardly have been known to Rob. of Glouc. -y- I think
we may rather account for it by supposing it to be Celtic. The
Cornish bad, foolish, stupid, insane, occurs in the miracle-play of the
Resurrectio Domini, 11. 1776, 1886 (fifteenth century). Mr. R.
Williams says : ' this word is not extant in this sense in Welsh, but
is preserved in the Armoric bad, stupidity.' He might have added
that it is plainly the Gael, baodh, vain, giddy, foolish, simple ; booth,
foolish, stupid, profane, wicked, wild, careless ; with numerous deriv-
atives, such as baoth-b/ieus, immorality, misbehaviour. This account
seems sufficient. 8. May we go so far as to connect the word
further with the Lat. ped-us*, bad, supposed by Corssen to be the
root of Lat. peior (Jted-ior), worse, and pessimus (ped-limus), worst?
If so, the root is PAD, to fall, [t] f The nearest Teutonic form is
the Goth, bauths, deaf, dumb, insipid (said of salt); but I see no
clear proof that E. bad is connected with it. On the contrary, the
Goth, bauths, deaf, is obviously the Gael, bolhar, deaf; and Fick
(i. 156) also cites Skt. badhira, deaf, from ^ BHADH, to bind. Der.
bad-ly, bad-ness. The words worse, worst, are from a different root.
BADGE, a mark of distinction. (Low Lat., O. Low G.) Occurs
in Spenser, F. Q. i. I. a. The Prompt. Parv. has : ' Bage, or bagge,
or badge, of armys, ianioYum.' Low Lat. bagea, bagia, 'signum,
insigne quoddam ; ' Ducange. Low Lat. baga, a ring, collar for
the neck (and prob. ornament), a word of O. Low G. origin ; as is seen
by comparison with O. Saxon bog (also spelt bag), a ring ; see bdg-gebo
in gloss, to Heliand, ed. Heyne. This word is cognate with A. S.
bedh, a ring, ornament. ^ BHUGH, to bow, bend ; see Fick, i. 162 ;
iii. 213.
BADGER, the name of an animal. (F..-L.) Spelt bageard in
Sir T. More, Works, p. 1 1 83 g ; but the final d is there excrescent,
o. In M. E., the animal had three familiar names, viz. the brock, the
gray, and the bawson, but does not seem to have been generally called
the badger. P. The name is a sort of nickname, the true sense
of M. E. badger or bager being a ' dealer in corn ; ' and it was, pre-
sumably, jocularly transferred to the animal because it either fed, or
was supposed to feed, upon corn. This fanciful origin is verified by
the fact that the animal was similarly named blaireau in French, from
the F. ble, com ; see blaireau in Brachet. 7. The M. E. badger stands
for bladger, the/ having been dropped for convenience of pronunciation,
as in baberlipped (P. Plowman, B. v. 190) compared with blabyrlyppyd
(Digby Mysteries, p. 107). O. F. bladier, explained by Cotgrave as
'a merchant, or ingrosser of com.' Low Lat. bladarius, a seller of
corn. Low Lat. bladum, com; a contraction of abladum, abladium,
used to denote ' com that has been carried,' ' com gathered in ; '
these words being corruptions of Lat. ablatum, which was likewise
used, at a late period, to denote 'carried corn. ' Lat. ablatum, neut.
of ablattis, carried away. Lat. ab ; and latus, bome, carried ; a cor-
ruption of an older form tlatus, pp. of an old verb tlao, I lift. ^ TAL,
to lift; Fick, i. 601. [t]
BADINAGE, jesting talk. (F., - L.) Modern, and mere French ;
F. badinage, jesting talk. F. badiner, to jest. Prov. badiner, to jest
48
BAFFLE.
BALDERDASH.
(Brachet). A secondary form from Prov. bader, to gape ; see baye r in
Brachet. Lat. badare, to gape ; nsed by Isidore of Seville. Probably
an imitative word ; from the syllable ba, denoting the opening of the
mouth. Cf. babble, q. v.
BAFFLE, to foil, disgrace. (Scand.) The history of the
word is recorded by Hall, Chron. Henry VIII, anno 5. Richardson
quotes the passage to shew that to bajfull is ' a great reproach among
the Scottes, and is used when a man is openly periured, and then they
make of him an image paynted reuersed, with hys heles vpwarde, with
his name, wondering, cryenge, and blowing out of [i. e. at] hym with
homes, in the moost despitefull manner they can.' The word is
clearly a corruption of Lowland Scotch bauchle, to treat contemptu-
ously ; see the poem of Wallace, ed. Jamieson, viii. 724. For change
of ch iojf, cf. tough, rough, &c. (3. Bauchle is a verb, formed by suffix
-le, from adj. bauch, tasteless, abashed, jaded, Ike. This was probably
borrowed from Icel. bdgr, uneasy, poor, or the related sb. bdgr, a
struggle ; from which is formed, in Icelandic, the vb. bcegja, to push,
or metaphorically, to treat one harshly, distress one, or, in a word,
to baffle. ^f Fick (iii. 198) gives a theoretical Teutonic form baga,
strife, to account for Icel. bdgr, a struggle; M.H.G. bdgen, O. H.G.
pagan, to strive, to brawl ; O. Sax. bag, boasting.
BAG, a flexible case. (E.) M.E. bagge, P. Plowman, B. prol. 41 ;
Ancren Riwle, p. 168. O. Northumbrian Eng. met-b<slig (Lindisfame
MS.) or met-bielg, i.e. meat-bag (Rushworth MS.), a translation of Lat.
pera, Luke, xvii. 35. + Goth, balgs, a wine-skin. + G. balg, a skin.
P. It is often considered as a Celtic word, but it is really a word common
to the Celtic and Teutonic branches, and connecting the two. Cf.
Gaelic balg, sometimes bag, of which Macleod and Dewar say that it
is ' a common Celtic vocable.' y. The M. E. form is doubtless due
to the influence of Icel. baggi, a bag, formed from balgi by the
assimilation so common in Icelandic. The older form is clearly balg-,
from the root appearing in bulge. See Bulge. Bag is a doublet of
belly, q. v. ; and the pi. bags is a doublet of bellows, q. v. Der. bag,
vb., bag-gy, bag-pipe (Chaucer, C. T. 567), bag-piper, [t]
BAGATELLE, a trifle; a game. (F., Ital.) A modern word.
F. bagatelle, a trifle; introduced in the i6th cent, from Ital. bagat-
tella, a trifle (Brachet). ^f Diez thinks it is from the same root as
baggage. Bagattella he takes to be the dimin. of Parmesan bagata, a
little property ; and this to be formed from the Lombard baga, a
wine-skin, cognate with E. bag. See Baggage (i), Bag. [t]
BAGGAGE (i), travellers' luggage. (F..-C.) M.E. baggage,
bagage ; occurring in the piece called Chaucer's Dream, by an anony-
mous author, 1. 1555 ; and in Hall, Chron. Rich. Ill, an. 3. O. F.
bagage, a collection of bundles, from O. F. bague, a bundle. From a
Celtic root, appearing in Breton beac'h, a bundle, W. batch, a burden,
Gael, bag, balg, a wallet ; cognate with E. bag. See Bag. ^f Diez
also cites Span, baga, a rope used for tying bundles ; but this Span,
word is (perhaps) itself from the same Celtic root. It again appears
in the Lombard baga, a wine-skin, a bag.
BAGGAGE (2), a worthless woman. (F.) Corrupted from O. F.
bagasse. Cotgrave explains bagasse by ' a baggage, quean, jyll, punke,
flirt.' Burguy gives the forms baiasse, bajasse, bagasse, a chamber-
maid, light woman. Cf. Ital. bagascia, a worthless woman, p. Etym.
doubtful. Perhaps originally a camp-follower; and derived from
O. F. bague, a bundle, of Celtic origin ; see above.
BAIL, security; to secure. (F., Lat.) Shak. has both sb. and
verb ; Meas. iii. 2. 77, 85. o. Bail as a verb is the O. F. bailler,
introduced as a law-term. O. F. bailler, to keep in custody. Lat.
baiulare, to carry about or take charge of a child. Lat. baialus, a
porter, a carrier. Root obscure. ]3. Bail as a substantive is the
O. F. bail, an administrator, curator ; whence ' to be bail.' Lat.
baiulus, as above.
BAILIFF, a deputy, one entrusted with control. (F., L.)
Chaucer has bailif; Prol. 603. O. F. baillif (Cotgrave) ; written as
bailliuus or ballinus in Low Latin. O. F. bailler, to keep in custody.
See above.
BAILIWICK, the jurisdiction of a bailiff. (F. and E.) Fabyan
speaks of 'the office of ballywycte;' Rich. II,an. 1377. Ahybridword;
from M.E. bailie, short for bailif (see above), and M.E. mite, A.S. wice
or wice, office, duty, function, &c. The M. E. uiite occurs in O. Eng.
Homilies, ii. 91,1. 19, ii. 183,1.1; St. Juliana, p. 24; Layamon.l. 2975 .-,
&c. ; see Stratmann. The A. S. word occurs in the pi. wican or wican
in the A. S. Chron. an. 1 1 20, and an. 1 137 ; see Earle's note at p. 370
of his edition. See also yElfric's Horn. i. 242, 1. 13, and ii. 592. p. 28.
This sb. is probablya derivative of A.S. wican ; see Week and Weak.
BAILS, small sticks used in the game of cricket. (F.,- L. ?) The
history of the word is obscure. Roquefort gives O. F. bailies, in the
sense of barricade, palisade, with a quotation from Froissart : ' II fit
charpenter des bailies et les asseoir au travers de la rue ; ' which I
suppose to mean, he caused sticks to be cut and set across the street.
Perhaps from Lat. baculus, a stick, rod, nsed in many senses ; cf. F.
baillon, a gag, from Lat. bactilonem, a deriv. of baculus (Brachet).
But the history of the word remains dark. [#]
BAIRN, a child. (E.) M. E. barn, P. Plowman, A. ii. 3. -A.S.
beam, Grein, i. 103. + Icel. barn, a child. + Swed. and Dan. barn, +
Goth. barn. + Skt. bhruna, an embryo ; bharna, a child. ^ BH AR,
to bear. See Bear.
BAIT, to make to bite. (Scand.) M. E. baiten, to feed, Chaucer,
Troilus, i. 192. ' And shoten on him, so don on bere Dogges, that
wolden him to-tere, Thanne men doth the bere beyte ' = and rushed
upon him like dogs at a bear, that would tear him in twain, when
people cause the bear to be baited ; Havelok, 1838. To bait a bear is
to make the dogs bite him. To bail a horse is to make him eat.
Icel. beita, to make to bite, the causal of Icel. bita, to bite. See Bite.
Der. bait, sb., i. e. an enticement to bite, [t]
BAIZE, a coarse woollen stuff. (F., L.) An error for bayes,
which is a plural form ; viz. the pi. of the F. baye. F. ' baye, a lie,
fib, ... a cozening trick, or tale ; also, a berry ; also, the cloth
called bayes,' &c. ; Cotgrave ; cf. F. bai, bay-coloured. p. That
the -ze is no part of the original word, and that the word is
closely connected with bay, i. e. bay-coloured, reddish brown, is
clear by comparison. Cf. Du. baai, baize ; Swed. boi, bays, baize
(Tauchnitz) ; Dan. bai, baize. Also Span. bayo, bay, bayeta, baize ;
; Ital. bajo, bay, chesnut-coloured ; bajetta, baize. See Bay (i).
| &r Hecart, cited by Wedgwood, guessed it to be named from its
! being dyed with ' graines d' Avignon ; ' from F. bale, Lat. bacca, a
berry. But note the difference between Bay (i) and Bay (2).
Perhaps the Portuguese is the clearest ; it has 6010, bay-coloured,
baela, baize ; but baga, a berry, [f]
BAKE, to cook by heat. (E.) M. E. baten, Chaucer, Prol. 384.
A. S. bacan, pt. t. hoc, pp. bacen ; Levit. xxvi. 26 ; Exod. xii. 39. +
Dn. batten. + Icel. bata. + Swed. bata. + Dan. bage. + O. H. G.
pachan ; M. H. G. bachen ; G. bacten. + Gk. <t>wy(ir, to roast ; see
Curtius, i. 382.- V BHAG, to roast ; Fick, i. 687. ^f Not con-
nected with Skt. pack, which is allied to E. coot, q. v. So too Rus-
sian peche means to ' cook,' not ' bake.' Der. bat-er, bat-ing, bak-
er-y, bate-house.
BALANCE, a weighing-machine. (F., Lat.) Shak. has balance,
Mids. Nt. Dr. v. 324 ; the pi. form used by him is also balance,
Merch. iv. I. 255. M.E. balance, Ayenbite of Inwyt, pp. 30, 91.
F. balance, ' a ballance, a pair of weights or ballances ; ' Cot. Lat.
ace. bilancem, from nom. bilanx, having two scales; see Brachet.
Lat. bi-, double (for bis, twice) ; and lanx, a platter, dish, scale of a
balance ; prob. so named because of a hollow shape ; from the same
root as Lake. See Fick, i. 748. Der. balance, verb.
BALCONY, a platform outside a window. (Ital.) Milton has
balcone's (sic) as a plural ; Areopagitica, ed. Hales, p. 24. ' The
penult is long with Sherbume (1618-1702), and with Jenyns (1704-
87), and in Cowper's John Gilpin ; Swift has it short ; see Richard-
son ; ' Hales. Ital. balcone, an outjutting corner of a house, also
spelt balco (Florio). Ital. palco orpalcone, a stage, scaffold, also occurs.
p. Hence Diez well suggests a derivation from O. H. G. balcho, palcho,
a scaffold, cognate with Eng. balk, a beam, rafter. See Balk.
The term, -one is the usual Ital. augmentative ; cf. balloon. ^f The
word has a remarkable resemblance to Pers. biildkhdna, an upper
chamber, from Pers. bald, upper, and thdna, a house (Palmer, col.
68, 212); but the connection thus suggested is void of foundation,
and the sense hardly suits.
BALD, deprived of hair. (C.) M. E. balled, ballid, a dissyllable ;
P. Plowman, B. xx. 183. Chaucer has : ' His head was balled, and
schon as eny glas ; ' Prol. 198. The final -d thus stands for -ed, like
the -ed in spotted, and serves to form an adj. from a sb. 'The ori-
ginal meaning seems to have been (i) shining (2) white, as a bald-
faced stag ; ' note in Morris's Glossary. A bald-faced stag is one with
a white streak on its face ; cf. Welsh bai, adj., having a white streak
on the forehead, said of a horse ; bolt, whiteness in the forehead of a
horse. Cf. also Gk. <j>aXajcpos, bald-headed ; <f>a\apvs, having a spot
of white, said of a dog, </>oAi<$s, white, (faXripos, shining. Gael, and
Irish bai or ball, a spot, mark, freckle ; whence the adj. ballach, spotted,
speckled. + Bret, bai, a white mark on an animal's face. + Welsh
ball, whiteness in a horse's forehead. B. Cf. also Lith. balu, balti,
to be white; Fick, ii. 422, iii. 208. The root is probably bhd, to
shine ; whence also the O. Irish ban, white. See Curtius, i. 369, 370.
Der. bald-ness (M. E. ballednesse or ballidnesse, Wyclif, Levit. xiii. 42),
bald-hend-ed.
BALDERDASH, poor stuff. (Scand.) Generally nsed now to
signify weak talk, poor poetry, &c. But it is most certain that it
formerly was used also of adulterated or thin potations, or of frothy
water ; and, as a verb, to adulterate drink so as to weaken it. ' It
is against my freehold, my inheritance, . . To drink such balderdash, or
bonny-clabber ; ' Ben Jonson, New Inn, Act i ; see the whole passage.
' Mine is such a drench of balderdas': ; ' Beaum. and Fletcher, Woman's
BALDRIC.
Prize, iv. i;. ' What have yon filled us here, balderdash ? ' Chapman,
May-day, iii. 4. ' Can wine or brandy receive any sanction by being
balderdashed with two or three sorts of simple waters ? ' Mandeville,
on Hypochond. Dis. 1 730, p. 279 (Todd's Johnson). ft. To dash is,
in one sense, to mix wine with water (see Webster's Dictionary), and
this accounts for the latter part of the word. Dash is Scandinavian ;
and we may therefore look to Scandinavian for the other part of the
word. We find Dan. balder, noise, clatter ; Swed. dial, ballra, to
bellow, also to prattle, tattle ; Icel. baldrast, ballrast, to make a clat-
ter. The Dan. daske is to slap, to flap ; and dask is a slap, a dash.
Hence balderdash was most probably compounded (very like slap-dash)
to express a hasty or unmeaning noise, a confused sound ; whence,
secondarily, a ' hodge-podge,' as in Halliwell ; and generally, any
mixture. Still, if more were known of the word's history, its ety-
mology would be all the clearer. The Dan. balder has an excrescent
d ; the older form is shewn by Icel. ballra-sk, which is from the same
source as bellow. See Bellow and Dash.
BALDRIC, BALDRICK, a girdle, belt. (F.,-O. H. G.)
M. E. baudric, bawdrilt. Chaucer, Prol. 116 ; bau'derylte. Prompt. Parv.
p. 27. But a form baldric must have co-existed ; Sbak-Jj^baldrick,
Much Ado, i. i. 244. O. F. baldric*, a form which r^^^pue pre-
ceded the forms baldret, baldrei, given by Burguy ; cf.flBW^at. bald-
ringus in Ducange. O. H. G. balderich, a girdle ; (not given by
Wackemagel, but cited in Webster, E. Miiller, Koch, and others ;)
formed with suffixes -er and -it, from O. H. G. balz, palz, a belt, allied
to E. belt. See Belt.
BALE (i), a package. (F.,-M. H. G.) ' Bale of spycery, or
other lyke, bulga ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 22. F. bale, a ball ; also, a pack,
as of merchandise ; Cot. Lpw Lat. bala, a round bundle, package.
Probably merely an adaptation of M. H. G. balle, a ball, sphere,
round body. The Swed. bal (as well as F. bale above, which Cot-
grave gives as a variant of balle) means, likewise, both a ball and a
bale. See Ball, [t]
BALE (2), evil. (E.) Shak. has baile (ist folio), Cor. i. i. 166 ;
and baleful, Romeo, ii. 3. 8. M. E. bale, Havelok, 325 (and very
common); balu, Layamon, 1455, 259. A. S. bealu, bealo, balu,
Grein, i. 101. + Icel. bol, misfortune. + Goth, balws*, evil ; only in
comp. balwa-wesei, wickedness, balweins, torment, balwjan, to torment.
+ O. H. G. balo, destruction ; lost in mod. G. The theoretical Teut.
form is balwa, Fick, iii. 209. ^f Fick compares Lat. fallere, but
this seems to be wrong, as explained in Curtius, i. 466. Der. bale-
ful, bale-ful-ly.
BALE (3), to empty water out of a ship. (Dutch?) Not in early
use. We find : ' having freed our ship thereof [of water] with baling; '
Hackluyt 's Voyages, v. ii. pt. ii. p. 109. It means to empty by
means of bails, i. e. buckets, a term borrowed from the Dutch or
Danish; more probably the former. Du. balie, a tub; whence balien,
to bale out (Tauchnitz, Dutch Diet. p. 23). + Dan. balle, bailie, a tub.
+ Swed. balja, a sheath, scabbard ; a tub. + G. balje, a half-tub
(nautical term) ; Fliigel's Diet. (3. By comparing this with Swed.
balg, balj, a pod, shell, G. balg, a skin, case, we see that bail is,
practically, a dimin. of bag. Probably pail is different from bail.
See Bag.
BALK (i), a beam ; a ridge, a division of land. (E.) Not much
in use at present ; common in old authors. M. E. halite. ' Halite in
a howse, irabs ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 2 2 ; balbes, rafters, Chaucer, C. T.
3625; ' ballte of lond, separaison ; ' Palsgrave. A. S. balca, a heap ;
in the phr. ' on balcan legan " = to lay in heaps, Boeth. xvi. 2 ; which
explains Shak. 'balked,' laid in heaps, I Hen. IV, i. I. 61. + O. Saxon
ballto, a beam ; Heliand, 1. 1 708. + Du. bolt, a beam, rafter, bar. +
Icel. bdlltr, a partition. + Swed. ballt, a beam, partition. + Dan.
bj&lke, a beam. + G. ballten, a beam, rafter. + Gael, bale, a boundary,
ridge of earth between two furrows (perhaps borrowed from E. or
Scandinavian). B. Balk stands for bar-It, derivative of the form bar
as seen in M. H. G. bar, O. H. G. para, a balk, beam, enclosed field ;
see Fick, i. 694 ; Curtius, s. v. <papos. The original idea is ' a
thing cut ; ' hence either a beam of wood, or a trench cut in the
earth ; cf. Gk. <t>apaff, a ravine, <papoai, I plough, tpapaos, a piece ;
from the y BHAR, to cut, cognate with E. bore, to pierce. The
idea of ' ridge ' easily follows from that of trench, as the plough
causes both at once ; in the same way as a dylte means (i) a trench,
and (2) a rampart. See Bar, Bore, [t]
BALK (2), to hinder. (E.) Shak. has batted, Tw. Nt. iii. 2. 26.
' Ballryn or ouerskippyn, omitto ; ' Prompt. Parv. And again, ' Balltyn,
or to make a balke in a londe, form ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 22. A balle
also means a bar, a beam, see above ; and to ballt means to bar one's
way, to put a bar or barrier in the way ; cf. Icel. bdlltr, a beam of
wood, also a piece of wood laid across a door ; also, a fence (Cleasby
and Vigfusson). The force of the verb is easily understood by read-
ing the articles on Balk (i), Bar, Barrier.
BALL (i), a dance. (F., L.) Used by Dryden, tr. of Lucretius,
BALUSTER.
49
b. it. 1. 29. F. bal, a dance ; from O. F. baler, to dance. Low Lat.
ballare, to dance. + Gk. /SoAAii', to dance; Fick, ii. 177. Of
uncertain origin ; the connection with Gk. 06\\eiv, to throw, is not
clearly made out. See Ballet, Ballad.
BALL (2), a spherical body. (F..-G.) M. E. balle, Alisaunder,
6481 ; Layamon, ii. 307. -O. F. balle. 'M.. H. G. balle, O. H. G.
palld, polio, a ball, sphere. + Icel. bollr, a ball, globe. The root is
probably seen in our verb to bulge ; see Bulge. From the same
source, ball-oon, ball-ot ; and cf. bole, bowl, bolt, bolster ; boil, boiled, &c.
BALLAD, a sort of song. (F.,-Prov.,-LowLat.) TA.E.balade,
Gower, C. A. i. 134. F. ballade, of which Brachet says that it
'came, in the I4th century, from the Provencal ballada.' Ballada
seems to have meant a dancing song, and is clearly derived from Low
Lat. (and Ital.) ballare, to dance. See Ball (i). ^f In some authors
the form ballat or ballet occurs ; in this case, the word follows the
Ital. spelling ballata, ' a dancing song,' from Ital. ballare, to dance.
See ballots and ballatry in Milton's Areopagitica ; ed. Hales, pp. 8, 24.
BALLAST, a load to steady a ship. (Dutch.) Ballasting occurs
in Cymbeline, iii. 6. 78 ; balast or ballast in Hackluyt's Voyages, i. 594 ;
ii. pt. ii. 1 73. Du. ballast, ballast ; ballasten, to ballast. (Many of our
sea-terms are Dutch.) + Dan. ballast, ballast ; ballasle, to ballast ; also
spelt baglast, baglaste. + Swed. barlast, a corrupted form, the O. Swed.
being ballast (Ihre). B. The latter syllable is, as all agree, the
Du., Dan., and Swed. last, a burden, a word also used in English in
the phr. ' a last of herrings ; ' see Last. The former syllable is dis-
puted ; but, as the Swed. is corrupt, we may rely upon the Danish
forms, which shew both the original baglast and the later form ballast,
due to assimilation. The Dan. bag means ' behind, at the back, in
the rear ; ' and we find, in the Swed. dialects, that the adj. baltlasst, i.e.
back-loaded, is used of a cart that is laden heavily behind in com-
parison with the front (Rietz). Hence ' ballast ' means ' a load be-
hind,' or ' a load in the rear ; ' and we may conclude that it was so
called because the ballast was stowed more in the after part of the ship
than in front, so as to tilt up the bows ; a very sensible plan. See
Back. C. Another etymology is given in the Worterbuch der
Ostfriesischen Sprache, by J. ten D. Koolman. The E. Friesic word
is also ballast, and may be explained as compounded of bal (the same
word with E. bale, evil), and last, a load. In this case ballast = bale-
load, i. e. useless load, unprofitable lading. This view is possible,
yet not convincing ; it does not account for the Dan. baglast, which
looks like an older form. [*]
BALLET, a sort of dance. (F.) Modem ; from F. ballet, a little
dance ; dimin. of F. bal, a dance. See Ball (i).
BALLOON", a large spherical bag. (F., G.) Formerly bnlmutie,
baloon : see quotations in Richardson from Burton, Anat. of Melan-
choly, pt. ii. sec. 2, and Eastward Hoe, Act i. sc. i. In both in-
stances it means a ball used in a game resembling football. Not
from Span, balon, a football, but from F. ballon; the ending
-on is augmentative ; the sense is ' a large ball.' See Ball (2).
JS" The game of baloon is better known by the Italian name pallone,
which Diez says is from the O. H. G. form palld, polio, the earlier
form of G. ball, a ball.
BALLOT, a mode of voting, for which little balls were used. (F.)
' They would never take their balls to ballot [vote] against him ; '
North's Plutarch, p. 9 2 7 (R.) F. ballotler, to choose lots (Cotgrave) ;
from ballotte, balotte, a little ball used in voting (Cotgrave), a word
used by Montaigne (Brachet). The ending -otte is diminutive. See
Ball (2).
BALM, an aromatic plant. (F., Gk.) The spelling has been
modified so as to bring it nearer to balsam ; the spelling balm occurs
in Chapman's Homer, b. xvi. 624 (R.), but the M. E. form is barmie
or bawme ; Chaucer, Ho. of Fame, 596 ; spelt bame, Ancren Riwle,
p. 164; spelt balsme, Gower, C. A. iii. 315. The derivative enbawme
occurs in P. Plowman, B. xvii. 70. O. F. bavsme. Lat. balsamum.
Gk. &&\aa.iinv, the fragrant resin of the balsam-tree ; from f)6.\aa-
/ios, a balsam-tree. Der. balm-y. Doublet, balsam, [t]
BALSAM, an aromatic plant (Timon, iii. 5. 1 10). See Balm.
BALUSTER, a rail of a staircase, a small column. (F., Ital.,
Gk.) Evelyn (Of Architecture) speaks of ' rails and balusters ; '
Dryden has ballustred, i. e. provided with balusters, Art of Poetry,
canto i. 1. 54; Mason has balustrade, English Garden, b. ii (R.) F.
balustre ; Cotgrave has : ' Balustres, ballisters, little, round, and short
pillars, ranked on the outside of cloisters, terraces ; ' &c. He also
has : ' Balustre, Balance, the blossome, or flower of the wild pom-
granet tree. 'Ital. balauslro, a baluster, small pillar; so called from
a fancied similarity in form to that of the pomegranate flower. Ital.
balausto, balavsta, balaustra, the flower of the wild pomegranate tree.
Lat. balaustium. Gk, QaXavonov, the flower of the wild pome-
granate ; Dioscorides. Allied, I suppose, to Gk. @a\avos, an acom,
a fruit, date, &c., cognate with Lat. glans, an acorn ; Fick, i. 569,
Curtius, ii. 76. The derivation is from the European GAL, to cause
50
BALUSTRADE.
to fall, to cast (Gk. 0a\\fiv, to cast, Skt. gal, to trickle down, fall
away). ^ GAR, to fall away; cf. Skt. gri, to eject, gara, a fluid.
See Fick, i. 73, 568. Der. balustr-ade, q. v. ^f The Span, baraus-
tre, a baluster, stands alone, and must be a corruption of balaustre.
Mr. Wedgwood supposes the contrary, and would derive baraustre
from vara, a rod. But he does not account for the termination -austre.
BALUSTRADE, a row of balusters. (F.,-Ital.) Modern.
Borrowed from F. balustrade. Ital. balaustrala, furnished with balus-
ters, as if pp. of a verb balaustrare, to furnish with balusters. See
Baluster.
BAMBOO, a sort of woody Indian reed. (Malay.) 'They raise
their houses upon arches or posts of bamboos, that be large reeds ; '
Sir T. Herbert, Travels, p. 360. Malay bambu, the name of the
plant ; Marsden's Malay Diet., p. 47. [t]
BAMBOOZLE, to trick, cajole. (A cant word.) The quota-
tions point to the original sense as being to cajole by confusing the
senses, to confuse, to obfuscate. It occurs in Swift, Hist, of John
Bull, and in Arbuthnot, who talks of ' a set of fellows called banterers
and bamboozlers, who play such tricks." In the Taller, no. 31, is
the remark : ' But, sir, I perceive this is to you all bamboozling,' i. e.
unintelligible trickery. The word to bam, i. e. to cheat, is, apparently,
a contraction of it, and not the original ; but this is uncertain. It is
obviously a cant word, and originated in thieves' slang. Webster
and the Slang Dictionary assign it to the Gipsies, ^f In Awdelay's
Fraternity of Vagabonds, ed. Furnivall, the phrase ' bene bouse '
means ' good drink,' bene being a common slang word for good, and
bouse the same for drink. At p. 86 of that work is the saying that ' bene
bouse makes nase nabes,' i. e. that a good drink makes a drunken
head. Could bamboozle have meant ' to treat to a good drink ? ' Of
course, this is but a guess.
BAM", a proclamation ; pi. BANNS. (E.) M. E. baa, Rob. of
Glouc. p. 187. Cf. M. E. bannien, banaen, to prohibit, curse ; Laya-
mon, ii. 497 ; Gower, C. A. ii. 96. [Though the Low Lat. bannum
and O. F. ban are found (both being derived from the O. H. G. ban-
nan, or pannen, to summon, from the sb. ban or pan, a summons), the
word is to be considered as E., the G. word being cognate.] A. S.
gebann, a proclamation, in Mlfric's Horn. i. 30. Cf. ' J>5 het se
cyng abannan lit ealne }>e6dscipe ' = then the king commanded to
order out (assemble) all the population ; A. S. Chron. A. D. 1006.
+Du. ban, excommunication ; bannen, to exile. + Icel. and Swed.
bann, a ban ; banna, to chide. + Dan. band, a ban ; bande, to curse.
P. Fick connects ban with Lat. fama, fart, from ^ BHAN, to speak,
i. 156. Cf. Skt. bhan, to speak, related to bhdsh, to speak. See
Bandit, Banish, Abandon. ^f Hence pi. banns, spelt banes
in Sir T. More, Works, p. 434 g.
BANANA, the plantain tree, of the genus Musa. (Span.) Borrowed
from Span, banana, the fruit of the plantain or banana-tree ; the tree
itself is called in Spanish banana. Probably of West-Indian origin.
BAND (i), also BOND, a fastening, ligature. (E.) M. E. bond,
band. Prompt. Parv. p. 43 ; Ormulum, 19821. A. S. bend, a modifi-
cation of band. Mat. xi. 32. + O. Friesic band (which shews the true
form). + Du. band, a bond, tie. + Icel. and Swed. band. + Dan.
baand. + Goth, bandi. + G. band; O. H. G. pant. + Skt. bandha, a
binding, tie, fetter; from Skt. bkand, to bind. See Bind. Der.
band-age, band-box. But quite unconnected with bondage, q. v.
BAND (2), a company of men. (F., G.) Not found in this
sense in M. E. Shak. has : ' the sergeant of the band ; ' Com. of
Errors, iv. 3. 30 ; also banding as a pres. pt., I Hen. VI, iii. I. 81.
F. ' bande, a band ; also, a band, a company of soldiers, a troop, or
crue;' Cot. G. bande, a gang, set, band. G. binden, to bind. See
Bind. Der. band, vb. ; band-ed, band-ing, band-master ; and see
bandy. ^ Thus band, a bond, and band, a company, are ultimately
the same, though the one is E., and the other F. from G.
BANDIT, a robber ; prop, an outlaw. (Ital.) Bandite occurs in
Comus, 1. 426, and bandetto in Shak. 2 Hen. VI, iv. I. 135. Borrowed
from Ital. bandito, outlawed, pp. of bandire, to proscribe. Low Lat.
bandire, to proclaim ; formed (with excrescent d) from bannire, with
the same sense. Low Lat. bannum, a proclamation. See Ban,
Banish.
BANDOG, a large dog, held in a band or else tied up. (E.)
Originally band-dog. Sir T. More, Works, p. 5860, has bandedogges.
Prompt. Parv. p. 43, has ' Bondogge, or bonde dogge, Molosus ; '
and Way in a note, quotes ' A bande doge, Molosus ; ' Cath. Angl.
So also : ' Hie molosus, a banddogge,' Wright's Vocab. i. 187 ; also
spelt bonddoge, id. p. a 5 1 . 'A bandogge, canis catenarius ' = a chained
dog; Levins, Manip. Vocab. p. 157.
BANDY, to beat to and fro, to c
See Band (i) and Dog.
bandy, to contend, Tit. And. i. 312 ; but the older sense is to beat to
and fro, as in Romeo, ii. 5. 14, It was a term used at tennis, and
was formerly also spelt band, as in 'To band the ball;' G. Turbervile,
To his Friend P., Of Courting and Tenys. The only difficulty is to
BANNER.
account for the final -y ; I suspect it to be a corruption of the F.
bander (or bande), the F. word being taken as a whole, instead of
being shortened by dropping -er in the usual manner. F. bander, to
bind, fasten with strings ; also, to handle, at tennis ; ' Cotgrave. He
also gives : ' louer a bander et a racier centre, to bandy against, at
tennis ; and, by metaphor, to pursue with all insolence, rigour, ex-
tremity.' Also : ' Se bander centre, to bandie or oppose himselfe
against, with his whole power ; or to joine in league with others
against.' Also : ' Us se bandent a faire un entreprise, they are plot [t] ing
a conspiracie together.' B. The word is therefore the same as that
which appears as band, in the phrase 'to band together.' The F.
bander is derived from the G. band, a band, a tie, and also includes
the sense of G. bande, a crew, a gang ; and these are from G. binden,
cognate with E. bind. See Bind.
BANDY-LEGGED, crook-legged. (F. and E.) Swift (in R.)
has : ' Your bandy leg, or crooked nose ; ' Furniture of a Woman's
Mind. The prefix bandy is merely borrowed from the F. bands, bent,
spoken of a bow. Bandi is the pp. of F. bander, explained by Cot-
grave as ' to bend a bow ; also, to bind, ... tie with bands.' He has
here invj^ithe order; the right sense is (i) to string a bow; and
(2) to bl^^Hty stringing it. G. band, a band. G. binden, to bind.
See Bincr^^^f Observe that the resemblance of bandy to E. bent
is deceiving, since the word is not English, but French ; yet it hap-
pens that bandi is the F. equivalent of bent, because bend is also
derived from bind. See Bend, [f]
BANE, harm, destruction. (E.) M. E. bane, Chaucer, C. T. 1099.
A. S. bana, a murderer. + Icel. 6am', death, a slayer. + Dan. and
Swed. bane, death. + Goth, banja, a wound. + Gk. (puvos, murder ;
tpovfvs, a murderer; from Gk. ^/*EN; Curtius, i. 372. </ BHAN,
to kill (?) ; see Fick, i. 690. Der. bane-fid, bane-ful-ly.
BANG (i), to beat violently. (Scand.) Shak. has bang'd; Tw.
Night, iii. 2. 24. Icel. bang, a hammering. + Dan. bank, a beating ;
banke, to beat. + O. Swed. bdng, a hammering, ^f Perhaps related
to Skt. bhanj, to split, break, destroy; see Fick, s. v. bnag, i. 155,
who cites O. Irish bong, to break.
BANG (2), a narcotic drug. (Persian.) Bang, the name of a
drug, is an importation from the East. Pers. bang, an inebriating
draught, hashish; Palmer's Pers. Diet. col. 93. Cf. Skt. bhangd,
hemp ; the drug being made from the wild hemp (Webster). The
Skt. bhangd is a fern, form of the adj. bhanga, breaking, from bhanj,
to break. ^f Prob. introduced by the Portuguese ; ' they call it in
Portuguese banga ; ' Capt. Knox (A. D. 1681), in Arber's Eng. Gamer,
i. 402.
BANISH, to outlaw, proscribe. (F..-O. H. G.) M. E. banishen,
Chaucer, Kn. Tale, 1728. O. F. banir, bannir (with suffix -ish due to
the -iss- which occurs in conjugating a F. verb of that form ; answer-
ing to the Lat. inchoative suffix -isc-, -esc-). Low Lat. bannire, to
proscribe; from a Teutonic source. O. H. G. bannan, pannan, to
summon. O. H. G. ban, pan, a proclamation. See Ban. Der.
banish-ment.
BANISTERS, staircase railings. (F., - Ital., - Gk.) Modem.
A corruption of balusters ; see Baluster.
BANK (i), a mound of earth. (E.) M. E. banke, P. Plowman,
B. v. 521. The early history of the word is obscure; the A. S. bane
(Somner) is a probable form, but not supported. Still we find boncke
in Layamon, 25185, and bankes in Ormulum, 9210. + Icel. baltlti (for
banki), a bank. + O. H. G. panch, a bank ; also, a bench. ^f The
word is, in fact, a doublet of bench. The oldest sense seems to have
been ' ridge ; ' whence bank, a ridge of earth, a shelf of earth ; and
bench, a shelf of wood, used either as a table or a seat. See Bench.
(Perhaps further connected with back, q. v.) [t]
BANK (2), a place for depositing money. (F., G.) Bank is in
Udall, on Luke, c. 19. F. banyue, a money-changer's table or bench ;
see Cotgrave. M. H. G. bane, a bench, table. See Bench ; and see
above. Der. bank-er, q. v. ; bank-rupl, q. v. ; bank-rupl-cy.
BANKER, a money-changer. (F., with E. suffix.) Banker
occurs in SirT. More, Works, p. 1385!!. It is formed from bank, with
E. suffix -er. Cf. ' Banker, scamnarium, amphitaba ; ' Prompt. Parv.
BANKRUPT, one unable to pay just debts. (F.) M. E. banke-
roupte. Sir T. More, Works, p. 881 f. The word has been modified
by a knowledge of its relation to the Lat. ruptus, but was originally
French rather than Latin. The true French word, too, was ban-
queroultier (Cotgrave), formed from banqueroutte, which properly
meant 'a breaking or becoming bankrupt;' i.e. bankruptcy. The
latter was introduced into French in the i6th cent, from Ital. banco
rotla (Brachet). Ital. banco, a bench ; and rotla, broken. M. H. G.
bane, a bench ; and Lat. ruplus, broken, pp. of rumpere, to break. See
Bank (2), and Bench; also Rupture. ^f The usual account
is that a bankrupt person had his bench (i. e. money-table) broken.
BANNER, a flag, ensign. (F.,-G.) M. E. banere, Ancren
Riwle, p. 300. O. F. baniere ; cf. Prov. bandiera. Low Lat. banderia.
BANNERET.
a banner. Low Lat. bandum, a standard ; with suffix -eria. M. H. G.
band or bant, a band, strip of cloth ; hence, something bound to a
pole. M. H. G. bindan, to bind. See Bind. Cf. also Span, banda,
a sash, a ribbon (also from G. band) ; and perhaps Goth, bandwo, a
signal, bandvia, a token ; from the same root.
BANNERET, a knight of a higher class, under the rank of a
baron. (F., G.) F. banneret, which Cotgrave explains as ' a Ban-
neret, or Knight banneret, a title, the priviledge whereof was to have
a banner of his own for his people to march and serve under,' &c.
Properly a dimin. of banner. See above, [t]
BANNOCK, a kind of flat cake. (C.) Lowland Sc. banned. -
Gael, bonnach, a cake. Gael, bonn, a base, foundation, the sole of the
foot or shoe, &c. ; with suffix -ach, used (like -y in E. stony) to form
adjectives from substantives, &c. ^[ This resolution of the word
is strict, but partly proceeds by guess, on the supposition that the flat
cake was named from resembling a flat sole of a shoe ; cf. Lat. solea,
(i) the sole, (2) a certain flat fish. The Gael, bonn na coise means
' the sole of the foot ; ' bonn broige, ' the sole of a shoe.'
BANNS, a proclamation of marriage. (E.) Theplural of
Ban, q. v. ^^fc
BANQUET, a feast. (F., G.) Banquet occurs in^JK Chron.
Henry V, an. 2. The more usual form in old authorsisoanto. F.
banquet, which Cotgrave explains as ' a banket ; also a feast,' &c.
The word has reference to the table on which the feast is spread (or,
as some say, with less likelihood, to the benches of the guests), and
is a dimin. of F. bane, a bench, a table, with dimin. suffix -et.
M. H. G. bane, a bench, a table. See Bench.
BANTAM, a kind of fowl. (Java.) The bantam fowl is said to
have been brought from Bantam, the name of a place in Java, at the
western extremity of the island.
BANTER, to mock or jeer at ; mockery. (F. ?) ' When wit
hath any mixture of raillery, it is but calling it banter, and the work
is done. This polite word of theirs was first borrowed from the
bullies in White Friars, then fell among the footmen, and at last
retired to the pedants ; but if this bantering, as they call it, be so
despicable a thing,' &c. ; Swift, Tale of a Tub; Author's Apology.
Banterer occurs A. D. 1709, in the Taller, no. 12. Origin un-
known ; apparently slang. ^f The etymology from F. badiner is
incredible. Rather I would suppose it to have been a mere cor-
ruption of bandy, a term used in tennis, and so easily transferred to
street talk and slang. Cf. F. bander, to bandy, at tennis ; Cotgrave
adds : ' Jouer a bander et a racier centre, to bandy against, at tennis ;
and by metaphor, to pursue with all insolence, rigour, extremity.'
See Bandy, [t]
BANTLING, an infant. (E.) Occurs in Drayton's Pastorals,
eel. 7 ; where Cupid is called the ' wanton bantling ' of Venus. A
corruption of handling, no doubt, though this form has not been
found, owing to the fact that it must soon have been corrupted in
common speech ; cf. partridge from F. perdrix, and see Matzner,
Gramm. i. 129, for the change from d to /. Dandling means ' one
wrapped in swaddling bands ; ' formed from band, q. v., by help of
the dimin. suffix -ling, which occurs in fondling, nursling, firstling,
sapling, nestling, &c. See Band, and Bind.
BANYAN, a kind of tree. (Skt.) Sir T. Herbert, in describing
the religion of ' the Bannyans ' of India, proceeds to speak of ' the
bannyan trees,* which were esteemed as sacred; ed. 1665, p. 51.
The bannyans were merchants, and the bannyan-trees (an English,
not a native, term) were used as a sort of market-place, and are
(I am told) still so used. Skt. banij, a merchant ; banijya, trade, [t]
BAOBAB, a kind of large tree. (W. African.) In Arber's Eng.
Garner, i. 441. The native name ; in Senegal.
BAPTIZE, f. to christen by dipping. (F.,-Gk.) Formerly
baptise was the commoner form ; it occurs in Rob. of Glouc., ed.
Heame, p. 86. [The sb. baptiste occurs in the Ancren Riwle, p. 160 ;
and baptisme in Gower, C. A. i. 189.] O. F. baptiser. Lat. baptizare.
Gk. /Sairriff iv ; from P&wrfiv, to dip. See ^ GAP in Fick, i. 69 ;
and Curtius, ii. 75- Der. baptist (Gk. Ba-miarTjs, a dipper) ; baptism
(Gk. $dwTia/M, a dipping) ; and bap/ist-er-y.
BAR, a rail, a stiff rod. (F.,-C.) M. E. barre, Chaucer, Prol.
1075 ; Havelok, 1794. O. F. barre, of Celtic origin. Bret, barren,
a bar ; bar, barr, the branch of a tree. + W. bar, a bar, rail. + Gael,
and Irish barra, a bar, spike. + Com. bara, verb, to bar. [Cf. also
O. H. G. para, M. H. G. bar, a beam ; M. H. G. barre, a barrier. Diez
prefers the Celtic to the Teutonic origin.] p. The original sense
is, probably, ' a thing cut,' a shaped piece of wood ; from ^ BHAR,
to cut, pierce, bore, whence also E. bore. See further under Bore,
and Balk. Der. barricade, q. v., barrier, q. v. ; barrister, q. v. ;
prob. barrel, q. v. ; and see embarrass.
BARB ( i ), the hook on the point of an arrow. (F., L.) Merely
the Lat. barba, a beard. Cotgrave has : ' Barbele, bearded ; also,
full of snags, snips, jags, notches ; whence flesche barbelee, a bearded
BARK.
51
or barbed arrow.' F. barbe. Lat. barba, the beard. See Barbel,
Barber, and Beard.
BARB (2), a Barbary horse. (F., - Barbary.) Cotgrave has:
' Barbe, a Barbery horse.' Named from the country.
BARBAROUS, uncivilized. (L., - Gk.) M. E. barbar, barbarit,
a barbarian; Wyclif's Bible, Col. iii. II, i Cor. xiv. u. Afterwards
barbarous, in closer imitation of the Latin. Lat. barbarus. Gk.
ffapflapos, foreign ; cf. Lat. balbus, stammering. p. The name was
applied by Greeks to foreigners to express the strange sound of their
language ; see Curtius, i. 362 ; Fick, i. 684. Der. barbar-ian, bar-
bar-ic, barbar-it-y, barbar-ise, barbar-ism, barbar-ous-ness.
BARBED, accoutred ; said of a horse. (F., - Scand.) Shak.
has: 'barbed steeds;' Rich. Ill, i. I. 10. Also spelt barded, the
older form; it occurs in Berners' tr. of Froissart, vol. i. c. 41. Cot-
grave has : ' Barde, m. -ee, f. barbed, or trapped as a great horse.'
F. barde, horse-armour. Icel. barf, a brim of a helmet ; also, the
beak or armed prow of a ship of war; from which sense it was easily
transferred so as to be used of horses furnished with spiked plates on
their foreheads. ^f This Icel. word bari is cognate both with
E. barb (i) and E. beard; see Cleasby and Vigfusson. Hence the
spellings barbed and barded are both correct.
BARBEL, a kind of fish. (F..-L.) ' Barbylle fysch, barbell
fische, barbyllus;' Prompt. Parv. p. 24. O. F. barbel, F. barbeau.
Cotgrave has both forms, and defines barbeau as ' the river barbell . . .
also, a little beard.' Lat. barbellus, dimin. of barbus, a barbel ; cf.
barbula, a little beard, dimin. of barba, a beard. ^f The fish is so
called because it is furnished, near the mouth, with four barbels or
beard-like appendages (Webster). See Barb (i).
BARBER, one who shaves the beard. (F..-L.) M. E. harbour,
Chaucer, C. T. 2025 (Kn. Ta.).-O. F. barbier, a barber. -F. barbe,
the beard, with suffix of agent. Lat. barba, the beard ; which is cog-
nate with E. beard; Fick, i. 684. See Beard.
BARBERRY, BERBERRY, a shrub. (F.,- Arabic.) Cot-
grave has : ' Herberts, the barbarie-tree.' The Eng. word is borrowed
from French, which accounts for the loss of final s. The M. E. bar-
baryn (Prompt. Parv.) is adjectival. Low Lat. berberis, the name of
the shrub. Arab, barbdris, the barberry-tree ; Richardson's Diet.,
p. 256. Cf. Pers. barbari, a barberry ; Turkish barbaris, a gooseberry ;
ibid. fl" This is an excellent example of accommodated spelling ;
the change of the two final syllables into berry makes them signifi-
cant, but leaves the first syllable meaningless. The spelling berberry
is the more logical, as answering to the French and Latin. Berbery
would be still better ; the word cannot claim three r's.
BARBICAN, an outwork of a fort. (F.,- Low Lat.) M. E.
barbican, King Alisaunder, ed. Weber, 1. 1591 ; Gawain and the Grene
Knight, ed. Morris, 1. 793. O. F. barbacane (Roquefort). Low Lat.
barbacana, an outwork ; a word of unknown origin. [Not A. S.]
^f Brachet says that it was adopted from Arabic barbai-khaneh, a ram-
part, a word which is not in Richardson's Arab, and Pers. Diet., and
which appears to have been coined for the occasion. Diez derives it
from Pers. bdld-lthdna, upper chamber, which is far from satisfactory.
BARD, a poet. (C.) Selden speaks of ' bardish impostures ; ' On
Drayton's Polyolbion ; Introduction. Borrowed from the Celtic ;
W. bardd, Irish bard, Gaelic bard, a poet ; so too Com. bardh, Bret.
barz. P. Perhaps the word orig. meant ' speaker ; ' cf. Skt. bhdsh,
to speak. Der. bard-ic.
BARE, naked. (E.) M. E. bar, bare, Owl and Nightingale, 547.
A. S. bier, bare, Grein, i. 77. + Icel. berr, bare, naked. + O. H. G.
par (G. bar), bare. + Lith. basas, bosvs, bare-footed. B. The older
form was certainly bas-; and it probably meant 'shining;' cf. Skt.
Was (also bhd), to shine. See Fick, iii. 209, 210. Der. bare-ness,
bare-faced, bare-headed, bare-footed.
BARGAIN, to chaffer. (F.) M. E. bargayn, sb., Chaucer, Prol.
282 ; Robert of Brunne, tr. of Langtoft, p. 270. O. F. bargaigner,
barginer, to chaffer. Low Lat. barcaniare, to change about, shift,
shuffle. Origin uncertain ; Diez and Burguy refer the Low Lat. form,
without hesitation, to Low Lat. barca, a barque or boat for merchan-
dise, but fail to explain the latter portion of the word. See below.
BARGE, a sort of boat. (F., - Gk.) M. E. barge, Chaucer, Prol.
410 ; Robert of Brunne, tr. of Langtoft, p. 169. O. F. barge. Low
Lat. bargea, bargia, barga ; from a form bari-ca ; which is probably
a dimin. from Lat. tan's, a flat Egyptian row-boat (Propertius).
Gk. /3apis, a flat Egyptian row-boat. Perhaps of Egyptian origin ;
Mahn cites a Coptic bari, a small boat. B. The word appears to
be closely related to barb or barque ; but it is remarkable how widely
spread the latter word is. Cf. Gael, barca, a boat ; Icel. barti, a
small ship. However, the Icel. word is a borrowed one ; and so,
perhaps, is the Gaelic. See below, [f]
BARK (i), BARQUE, a sort of ship. (F.,-Gk.) These are
mere varieties of the same word as the above. Hackluyt has barlte,
Voyages, vol. ii. p. 2 2 7 ; which is clearly borrowed from F. barque. Cot-
2
52
BARK.
grave has 'Barque, a barke, little ship, great boat.' Low Lat. barca,
a sort of ship. ^f Brachet points out that the F. barque, though
derived from Lat. barca (a little boat, in Isidore of Seville), was not
derived immediately, but through the Span, or Ital. barca. For
further details, see Barge, [t]
BARK (2), the rind of a tree. (Scand.) M. E. barke, P. Plow-
man, B. xi. 251 ; bark, Legends of Holy Rood, p. 68.-Swed. bark,
rind. + Dan. bark. + Icel. borkr (from the stem bark-). ^f It is
tempting to connect these with Icel. bjarga, to save, protect ; Goth.
bairgan, to hide, preserve ; but the connection is not quite clear.
BARK (3), to yelp as a dog. (E.) M. E. berke, Will, of Palerne,
ed. Skeat, 1. 35. A. S. beorcan, Grein, i. 106 ; borcian, i. 132. + Icel.
berkja, to bark, to bluster. . p. By the metathesis of r (common in
English, see Bride), the word is easily seen to be a variant oibrecan, to
break, to crack, to snap, used of a sudden noise ; cf. the cognate Lat.
fragor, a crash. y. That this is no fancy is sufficiently shewn by the
use of A. S. brecan in the sense of ' to roar,' Grein, i. 137 ; cf. Icel.
braka, to creak as timber does. Hence we also find M. E. brake used
in the sense ' to vomit ; ' as in ' Brakyn, or castyn, or spewe, Vomo,
evomo ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 47. See Break. Fick suggests a con-
nection with Skt. barh, to roar as an elephant (i. 151), which is, after
all, less likely, [t]
BARLEY, a kind of grain. (E.) M. E. barli, Wycl. Exod. ix.
31; barli), Ormulum, 15511. A. S. bterlic, A. S. Chron., an. 1124;
formed from A. S. bere, barley (Lowland Scottish bear), and lie, put
for lee, which for ledc, a leek, plant. + Welsh barlys, barley; which
compare with bara, bread, and llysiau, plants (collectively) ; a name
imitated from the A. S. + Lat./ar, corn. See bharas in Fick, i. 692.
[The Gothic has the adj. barizeins, made of barley, which could only
come from a sb. baris, barley, the same word with the A. S. bere.}
See Farina, Leek, and Garlic.
BARM (i), yeast. (E.) M. E. berme, Chaucer, C.T. 12741.- A. S.
beorma, Luke, xiii. 21. + Du. berm. + Swed. barma. + Dan. bcerme,
dregs, lees. + G. bdrme, yeast. B. Cf. Lat. fermentum, yeast ; from
feruere, to boil ; E. brew. The root is not BHAR, to bear, but BHUR,
to be unquiet, to start, of which there may have been an older form
bhar. See Fick, i. 163 ; Curtius, i. 378, who connects feruere with
<t>plap, a well, and with E. bourn, a spring. See Bourn, Brew.
BARM (2), the lap. (E.) Nearly obsolete ; M. E. barm, barme,
Prompt. Parv. p. 25. A. S. bearm, the lap, bosom; Grein, i. 103. +
Icel. barmr. + Swed. and Dan. barm. + Goth, barms. + O. H. G.
barm, parm. ^ BHAR, to bear. See Bear.
BARN, a place for storing grain. (E.) M. E. berne, Chaucer,
C. T. 12997. A. S. bern, Luke, iii. 17 ; a contracted form ofber-ern,
which occurs in the Old Northumbrian version of the same passage ;
thus the Lindisfarne MS. glosses Lat. ' aream ' by ' ber-em vel bere-
flor.' A compound word ; from A. S. bere, barley, and ern, a house
or place for storing, which enters into many other compounds ; see
Grein, i. 228. See Barton, Barley. Der. barn-door.
BARNACLE (i), a species of goose. (Lat. ?) ' A barnacle,
bird, chelonalops ; ' Levins, 6. 2. Ducange has ' Bernacce, aves aucis
palustribus similes,' with by-forms bernacelce, bernescnee, bernestee, and
bernicha. Cotgrave has ' Bernaque, the fowle called a barnacle.' p.
The history of the word is very obscure ; but see the account in Max
Muller's Lectures on the Science of Language, 8th ed. ii. 602. His
theory is that the birds were Irish ones, i. e. aves Hibernicce or Hiber-
niculce ; that the first syllable was dropped, as in Low Lat. bernagium
for hybernagium, Sec. ; and that the word was assimilated to the name
of a shell-fish. See Barnacle (2).
BARNACLE (2), a sort of small shell-fish. (Lat.) Spelt
bernacles by Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Errors, bk. vi. c. 28. 1 7. Lat. ber-
nacula, probably for pernacula, dimin. ofperna; see this discussed in
Max Muller, Lect. on the Science of Language, 8th ed. ii. 584. Lat.
perna, used by Pliny, Nat. Hist. 32.55: ' Appellantur et pernte conch-
arum generis, circa Pontias insulas frequentissimse. Slant velut
suillo crure longe in arena defixse, hiantesque, qua limpitudo est,
pedali non minus spatio, cibum venantur.' Gk. trlpva, lit. a ham
^f Mr. Wedgwood compares Gael, bairneach, a limpet ; Welsh brenig.
a limpet ; and proposes the Manx bayrn, a cap, ' as the etymon.'
R. Williams says, however, that Corn, brennic, limpets, is regularly
formed from iron, the breast ; from the shape, [f]
BARNACLES, spectacles ; also, irons put on the noses of horses
to keep them quiet. (F., Prov., L.) 'Barnacles, an instrument
set on the nose of unruly horses ;' Baret ; and see Levins. Apparently
corrupted from prov. F. berniques, used in the dialect of Berri (see
Vocab. du Berri) instead of O. F. bericles, used by Rabelais to mean
a pair of spectacles (see Cotgrave). See the word discussed in Max
Muller, Lect. on the Science of Language, 8th ed. ii. 583. The O.F
bericle is, again, a diminutive of Provencal berille. Lat. beryllus
beryl, crystal ; of which spectacles were made ; cf. G. brille, spec-
tacles. See Beryl, [t]
BARROW.
BAROMETER, an instrument for measuring the weight of the
air. (Gk.) Not in early use. It occurs in Glanvill, Ess. 3 (R.).
Boyle has barometrical ; Works, vol. ii. p. 798 ; and so Johnson,
iambler, no. 117. Either Englished from F. barometre, or at once
made from the Gk. Gk. fiapo-, put for /Sapos, weight ; and i*(Tpov, a
measure. The Gk. flapvs, heavy, is cognate with Lat. grauis, heavy ;
Curtius, i. 77. See Grave and Mete. Der. barometr-ic-al.
BARON, a title of dignity. (F..-O. H. G.) M. E. baron, Rob.
of Glouc. p. 125 (see Koch, Eng. Gram. iii. 154); barun, Old Eng.
Homilies, ed. Morris, ii. 35. F. baron (Norman F. barun, see Vie de
5t. Auban, ed. Atkinson, 1. 134, and note to 1. 301). p. The final -on
s a mere suffix, and the older form is bar ; both bar and baron mean-
ing, originally, no more than ' man ' or ' husband.' Diez quotes
From Raynouard the O. Provencal phrase ' lo bar non es creat per
la femna, mas la femna per lo baro ' = the man was not created for the
woman, but the woman for the man.' O. H. G. bar, a man ; origi-
nally, in all probability, a bearer, porter (cf. Low Lat. baro in the
sense of vassal, servant) ; cf. G. suffix -bar, bearing ; from ^ BHAR,
to cany. See Bear. Der. baron-age, baron-y, baron-et, baron-et-cy.
BARJHCHE, a sort of carriage. (G., Ital.) The word is not
roperlj^^Bkii ; but G. barutsche modified so as to present a French
appearanc^irhe German word is borrowed from Ital. baroccio, com-
monly (and more correctly) spelt biroccio, a chariot. P. Originally,
biroccio meant a two-wheeled car, from Lat. birotus, two-wheeled ; with
the ending modified so as to resemble Ital. carroccio, a carriage, from
carro, a car. Lat. 61-, double ; and rota, a wheel, allied to Skt.
ratha, a wheeled chariot. ^f The F. form is brouette, a dimin. of
beroue*, standing for Lat. birotus. See Brouette in Brachet. [t]
BARRACKS, soldiers' lodgings. (F., - Ital., - C. ?) A modem
word; Rich, quotes from Swift's Letters and Blackstone, Comment, bk.
i. c. 13. F. baroque, a barrack, introduced in i6th century from Ital.
baracca, a tent (Brachet). P. Origin undetermined. Koch (iii. pt. ii.
p. 99) suggests the base BAR, quoting Ducange, who says, ' barrte
dicuntur repagula ac septa ad munimentum oppidorum et castrorum,
vel ad eorum introitus ac portas posita, ne inconsultis custodibus in
eas aditus quibusvis pateat." The original barracks were, if this be
admitted, quarters hastily fortified by palisades. This supposition
is made almost certain when we remember that bar (q. v.) is a Celtic
word ; and that the termination -ak (answering to Bret, -ek, Gael, -ach)
is also Celtic. The Bret, bar is the branch of a tree ; whence barrek,
full of branches, branching. So Gael, barr, a top, spike ; barrack,
top branches of trees, brushwood ; barrachad, a hut or booth (pre-
sumably of branches). See Bar.
BARREL, a wooden cask. (F., - C.) M. E. bard, Chaucer, C. T.
Group B, 1. 3083 (ed. Tyrw. 13899). Spelt barell. King Alisaunder,
ed. Weber, 1. 28. O.F. bareil, a barrel. B. Brachet says ' origin
unknown ; ' Diez and Scheler suppose the derivation to be from O. F.
barre, a bar ; as if the barrel were looked upon as composed of bars
or staves. Barrel seems to be also a Celtic word ; cf. W. baril, Gael.
baraill, Irish bairile, Manx barrel, Com. balliar ; and this strengthens
the suggested derivation, as we also find W. bar, Gael, barra, a bar,
and Corn, bara, to bar. See Bar.
BARREN, sterile. (F.) M. E. barein, Chaucer, C. T. 1977 ;
barain, Ancren Riwle, p. 158. O.F. baraigne, brehaigne (F. bre-
haigne), barren. ^ Etym. unknown ; the usual guess is, from
Breton brec'han, sterile ; but there is little to shew that this is a
true Celtic word, or that the spelling brehaigne is older than baraigne.
BARRICADE, a hastily made fortification ; also, as a verb, to
fortify hastily. (F., Span.) ' The bridge, the further end of which
was barricaded with barrells ;' Hackluyt.Voyages, vol. ii. pt.ii. p. 143.
F. barricade, in Cotgrave barriquade, which he explains as ' a barri-
cade, a defence of barrels, timber, pales, earth, or stones, heaped up,
or closed together,' &c. B. The F. verb was barriyuer, formed
directly from barrique, a large barrel. But the F. sb. is clearly a
mere borrowing from the Span, barricado, and the Span, spelling ap-
pears in English also ; e. g. ' having barricadoed up their way ; '
Hackluyt, Voyages, iii. 568. The Span, barricado (also barricada) is
formed as a pp. from a vb. barricare, which from barrica, a barrel.
Probably from Span, barra, a bar. See Bar ; and cf. Barrel, [t]
BARRIER, a boundary. (F..-C.) M. E. barrere, in Lydgate,
Siege of Thebes, pt. iii. 1. 223. F. barriere, a barrier. O. F. barrer,
to bar up. O. F. barre, a bar, from a Celtic source. See Bar.
BARRISTER, one who pleads at the bar. (Low Lat.) The
earliest quotation is from Holland, Plutarch, p. 138. Formed from the
sb. bar, with suffixes -ist- and -anas ; see Haldemann's Affixes, pp. 1 1 8,
172. This would give Low Lat. barristarius ; Spelman quotes it in
the form barrasterius, which seems less correct. See Bar.
BARROW (i), a burial-mound. (C.I) Sherwood, in his index
to Cotgrave, has : ' A barrow, a hillock, monceau de terre.' M. E.
bergh, a hill, P. Plowman, B. vi. 70. ' Hul vel beoruh,' i. e. a hill or
barrow, Wright's Vocab. i. 192. A. S. beorh, beorg, (i) a hill, (2) a
BARROW.
grave-mound ; Grein, i. 106. A. S. beorgan, to hide, protect. See
Bury. ^f We find also Icel. bjarg, a large stone, a precipice. It
is most probable that the A. S. beorg in the sense of ' grave-mound '
was really an adaptation of some Celtic word ; cf. Gael, barpa, a
conical heap of stones, a cairn, barrow ; also barrack, high-topped,
heaped up ; evidently from Gael, barr, a top, point, a common Celtic
root, as seen in Com., W., and Bret, bar, a top.
BARROW (2), a wheelbarrow. (E.) M. E. barout, barowe,
Prompt. Parv. pp. 25, 105. A.S. berewe (an unauthorised form) ; see
Bosworth, Lye, Somner. Evidently formed, like arrow, with suffix
-ewe ; from the stem her- ; i. e. from the verb beran, to bear, carry ;
so that the signification is ' a vehicle.' See Bear, Bier.
BARTER, to traffic. (F.) M. E. bartryn, to chafler; Prompt.
Parv. O. F. bareter, barater ; thus Cotgrave has ' Barater, to cheat,
couzen, beguile . . . also, to truck, scourse, barter, exchange.' O. F.
sb. barat, which Cotgrave explains by ' cheating, deceit ; also a bar-
ter, &c.' See note to Vie de Seint Auban, 1. 995. B. The sug-
gestion of Diez, connecting barat with the Gk. vpaafftiv, to do, is
valueless. The common meaning of baret in M. E. is ' strife ; ' yet
the Icel. bardtta, strife, does not seem to be a true Scandinavian
word ; and it is more reasonable to suggest a Celtic origin ; cf. Gael.
hair, strife; Welsh bar, wrath; barog, wrathful; Bret, bar, that
which comes with violence ; baramzer, a hurricane ; barrad, the same
as bar ; barradarne, a tempest, [t]
BARTON, a courtyard, manor ; used in provincial English and
in place-names and surnames. (E.) A compound word ; from Old
Northumbrian bere-tun, which occurs as a gloss for Lat. aream in the
Lindisfame MS., Matt. iii. 12. From A. S. here, barley ; and tun, a
town, enclosure. See Barley, Barn, and Town.
BARYTA, a heavy earth. (Gk.) Modern. So named from its
weight. Gk. papvrris, weight. Gk. ffapii-i, heavy; cognate with
Lat. grauis. See Grave. Der. baryt-es, sulphate of baryta (unless
baryta is derived from barytes, which looks more likely) ; baryt-ic.
BARYTONE, a grave tone, a deep tone ; used of a male voice.
(Ital., Gk.) Also spelt baritone. An Italian musical term. Ital.
baritono, a baritone. Gk. flapv-s, heavy (hence deep); and rovos,
tone. The Gk. fiapvs is the Lat. grauis, grave. See Grave and
Tone.
BASALT, a kind of rock. (F., - L.) F. basalte. - Lat. basaltes. a
dark and very hard species of marble in Ethiopia, an African word.
Pliny, Nat. Hist. 36. 7 ; cf. Strabo, 17, p. 818 (Webster).
BASE (i), low, humble. (F..-L.) M. E. bass, Cower, C. A.
i. 98 ; base. Sir T. More, Works, p. 361 d. F. bos, m. basse, fern.
Low Lat. bassus (Brachet). B. Probably of Celtic origin ; cf. W.
bos, shallow, low, flat; Com. bas> shallow, esp. used of shallow
water ; Bret, baz, shallow (used of water). Also Com. basse, to fall,
lower, abate ; W. basu, to make shallow, to lower. C. However,
Diez regards bonus as a genuine Latin word, meaning ' stout, fat *
rather than 'short, low;' he says, and truly, that Bassus was a Lat.
personal name at an early period. Der. base-ness, base-minded, &c. ;
a-base, a-base-ment ; de-base; base-ment (F. sou-bassement, Ital. bassa-
mento, lit. abasement). And see Bass (i).
BASE (2), a foundation. (F., L.,-Gk.) M.E. bos, baas; Chaucer,
on the Astrolabie, ed. Skeat, 11.41. 2; ii.43. 2. F. base. Lat. basis.
Gk. flaais, a going, a pedestal. </ BA, to go, where ft stands for
g; cf. Skt. ga, to go (Curtius). - V GA or GAM, to go ; Fick, i. 63.
Der. base-less, base-line. Doublet, basis.
BASEMENT, lowest floor of a building. (F.,-Ital.) Appears
in F. as soubassement, formerly sousbassement ; a word made in the
1 6th cent., from sous, under, and bassement, borrowed from Ital. bas-
samento, of which the lit. sense is 'abasement' (Brachet). Thus it
belongs to the adj. base, not to the sb. See Base (i).
BASENET, BASNET, a light helmet. (F.) M. E. basenet,
Spenser, F. Q. vi. I. 31. O. F. bacinet, a helmet ; so called because
formed like a small basin. O. F. bacin, a basin, with dim. suffix -el.
See Basin.
BASHFUL, shy (Tempest, iii. i. 81). See Abash.
BASEL, a kind of plant. (F.,-Gk.) 'Basil, herb, basilica;'
Levins, 124. 7. Spelt basill in Cotgrave. It is short for basilic, the
last syllable being dropped. F. basilic, 'the herb basill;' Cot.
Lat. basilicum, neut. of basilicus, royal, Gk. QaaiXiKus, royal; from
Gk. ffaffiXtus, a king. ^ The G. name kiinigsiraut, i. e. king's
wort, records the same notion, [t]
BASIL, a bevelled edge ; see Bezel.
BASILICA, a palace, a large hall. (L.,-Gk.) Lat. basilica
(sc. domus, house), royal ; fern, of basilicus, royal. Gk. /SatriXi/cds,
royal. Gk. &aat\tvs, a king. See below.
BASILISK, a kind of lizard or snake. (Gk.) 'The serpent
called a basilis/te ;' Holland's Pliny, bk. viii. c. 21. Gk. 0a<ri\i<r/(6s,
royal ; from a white spot, resembling a crown, on the head (Pliny).
Gk. /3a<7i\ei, a king ; lit. ' leader of the people ; ' Curtius, i. 452.
BASTARD.
53
BASIN, a wide open vessel. (F., C.) M. E. bacin, basin ; Seven
Sages, ed. Weber, 1. 2242 ; (used in the sense of helmet) Alisaunder,
1- 2 333'~O. F. bacin; alluded to by Gregory of Tours, who cites it as
a word of rustic use ; ' paterae quas vulgo bacchinon vocant.' p. This
remark, and the arguments of Diez, prove that the word is not of
German, but of Celtic origin, signifying ' a hollow ; ' cf. Gaelic bac, a
hollow, also a hook, crook ; W. bach, a hook ; Bret, bait, bag, a shal-
low flat-bottomed boat, still preserved in F. bac, a ferry-boat, a trough,
and in Du. bat, a tray, trough, Dan. bakke, a tray.
BASIS, a foundation (Beaum. and Fletcher, Valentinian, iv. 4).
See Base (a).
BASK, to lie exposed to warmth. (Scand.) M. E. baslte. Pals-
grave has ' I baste, I bathe in water or in any licour.' p. It is
certainly formed, like busk, from an Old Danish source, the -sk being
reflexive. The only question is whether it means 'to bake oneself
or 'to bathe- oneself.' All evidence shews that it is certainly the
latter ; yet both words are from the same root. f. Chaucer uses
bathe hire, i. e. bathe herself, in the sense of bask ; Nonne Prestes
Tale, 1. 446 ; and see Gower, C. A. i. 290 ; and the quotation above.
Wedgwood quotes a phrase in a Swedish dialect, at basa sig i solen,
to bask in the sun ; also solen baddar, the sun bums ; solbase, the
heat of the sun ; badfisk, fishes basking in the sun ; and other like
phrases ; see basa, to warm, in Rietz. 8. Besides, the soft sound 9
would easily fall out of a word, but bakask would be less compressible.
The derivation is then from an O. Scand. badask, to bathe oneself,
now represented by Icel. baDast, to bathe oneself, with the common
corruption of final -sk to -st. See Bath, and Busk.
BASKET, a vessel made of flexible materials. (C.) M. E. basket ;
Chaucer, C. T. i386o.-W. basged, a basket. + Corn, basced. +
Irish basceid. + Gael, bascaid. Noted as a Celtic word by Martial,
xiv. 99, and by Juvenal, xii. 46, who Latinise the word as bascauda.
^f It is suggested that W. basged is from W. basg, a plaiting,
network; a word which I suspect to be allied to E. bast. See
Bast.
BASS (i), the lowest part in a musical composition. (F.) Shak.
has base, generally printed bass ; Tarn, of Shrew, iii. 1 . 46. Cotgrave
has : ' Bass, centre, the base part in music.' Sherwood has : ' The
base in musick, basse, basse-contre.' F. basse , fern, of bos, low ; cf.
Ital. basso. See Base (i). Der. bass-relief (Ital. bassorilievo).
BASS (2), BARSE, BRASSE, (E.) ; BREAM, (F.) ; names
of fish. However applied, these are, radically, the same word.
We make little real difference in sound between words like pass and
parse. A. 'A barse, fishe, tincha;' Levins, 33. 13. M.E. bace, a
fish ; Prompt. Parv. p. 20 ; see Way's note. A. S. bars = perca, lupus,
a perch, JElfric's Glossary ; Bosworth. + Du. boars, a perch ; braiem,
a bream. 4- G. bars, barsch, a perch ; brassen, a bream ; Fliigel's G.
Diet. i?heO.H.G. form vras prahsema ; M. H. G. 6rafom. B. Breem
occurs in Chaucer, Prol. 350. O.F. bresme (F. brime}. M. H. G.
brahsem (G. brassen). ^f The form bane bears some resemblance
to perch, but the words are different. The latter is of Gk. origin, and
appears to be from a different root.
BASSOON, a deep-toned musical instrument. (F.,-Ital.) Not
in early use. Borrowed from F. basson, a bassoon. Ital. bassone, a
bassoon ; formed, by augmentative suffix -one, from 6asso, bass. See
Bass (i), Base (i).
BAST, the inner bark of the lime-tree, or matting made of it. (E.)
M.E. bast; 'bast-Ire, tilia' (i. e. a lime-tree), Vol. of Vocabularies,
ed. T. Wright, p. 192. A.S. bast, a lime-tree, Lye's Dictionary.
Cf. Icel., Swed., Dan., and G. bast, bast. ^f Fick suggests the
yBHADH, to bind. See Bind ; and see Baste (3). OS* Some-
times corrupted to bass.
BASTARD, a child of parents not married ; illegitimate, false.
(F., G.) 'Wyllam bastard,' i.e. William the Conqueror; Rob.
of Glouc. p. 295. O. F. bastard, bastart, of which the etymology has
been much disputed. [The remarks in Burguy shew that the word
is to be divided as bast-ard, not as bas-tard ; that the old guess of a
deriv. from W. bos, base, and tardh, issue, is wrong ; also, that the
word is certainly not Celtic.] B. The ending -ard is common in
O. F. (and even in English, cf. cow-ard, drunk-ard, the E. suffix having
been borrowed from French). This suffix is certainly O. H. G., viz.
the O. H. G. -hart, hard, first used as a suffix in proper names, such
as Regin-hart (whence E. reynard), Eber-hart (whence E. Everard).
In French words this suffix assumed first an intensive, and secondly, a
sinister sense ; see examples in Pref. to Brachet's Etym. F. Diet. sect.
196. C. It appears to be now ascertained that O. F. bastard meant
' a son of a bast ' (not of a bed), where bast is the mod. F. bat, a pack-
saddle, and Low Lat. bastum, a pack-saddle. See Brachet, who
quotes : ' Sagma, sella quam vulgus bastum vocat, super quo com-
ponuntur sarcina; ; ' and refers to M. G. Paris, Histoire poetique de
Charlemagne, p. 441. for further information. ^f The word was
very widely spread after the time of William I, on account of his
54
BASTE.
exploits, and found its way into nearly all the Celtic dialects, and into
Icelandic. In Cleasby and Vigfusson's Icel. Diet., s. v. bastardr in
Appendix and s. v. basingr, an explanation of the word is attempted ;
but the remarks on bastardr in the body of the Dictionary, to the
effect that the word does not seem to have been originally a native
Icel. word, are of more weight. The O. F. bast, a packsaddle, was
probably so named because covered with woven bast ; see Bast, [fl
BASTE (i), vb., to beat, strike. (Scand.) We find ' basting and
bear-baiting;' Hudibras, pt. ii. c. I (R.) Icel. beysta (also beyrstd),
to beat. + Swed. bosta, to thump. ; cf. O. Swed. basa, to strike (Ihre).
p. Of obscure origin. Fick connects Icel. beysta with Icel. bauta and
E. beat ; but this is uncertain. See Box (3).
BASTE (2), to pour fat over meat. (Unknown.) It occurs in
Gammer Gurton's Needle, i. I ; and in Shak., Com. Errors, ii. 2. 59.
'To baste, linire;' Levins, 36. 22. Origin unknown. Some connect it
with baste, to beat, as if basting was done with a piece of stick.
BASTE (3), to sew slightly. (F..-O. H. G.) M.E. hasten,
bastyn ; Prompt. Parv. p. 26 ; Rom. of the Rose, 1. 104. O. F. bastir,
to put together, form; also, to build (F. batir). M. H. G. bestan, to
bind. O. H. G. bast, the inner bark of the lime-tree. So also Dan.
baste, to tie, to bind with bast, to pinion ; from Dan. bast, bast. See
Bast.
BASTILE, a fortress. (F..-O.H.G.) Chiefly used of the
hostile in Paris. O. F. bastille, a building. O. F. bastir, to build.
See Baste (j).
BASTINADO, a sound beating ; to beat. (Span.) Shak. has
bastinado as a sb. ; K. John, ii. 463. Span, bastonada, a beating with
a stick. Span, baston, a stick, staff, baton. See Baton.
BASTION, part of a fortification. (F.,-Ital.) The word
occurs in Howell, bk. i. letter 42 ; and in Goldsmith, Citizen of the
World (R.) F. bastion, introduced in the i6th century from Ital.
bastione (Brachet). Ital. bastire, to build. See Baste (3).
BAT (i), a short cudgel. (C.) M. E. batte. Prompt. Parv. p. 26 ;
botie, Ancren Riwle, p. 366; Layamon, 21593. Irish and Gaelic
bat, bata, a staff, cudgel ; cf. Bret, bataraz, a club. Perhaps this fur-
nishes the root of Lat. batuere ; see note to Beat. Der. bat-let (with
dimin. suffix -let=-el-et), a small bat for beating washed clothes;
Shak., As You Like It, ii. 4. 49. Also bat, verb ; Prompt. Parv.
^f Lye gives an A. S. bat, but without a reference ; and it was
probably merely borrowed from O. British. Cf. pat.
BAT (2), a winged mammal. (Scand.) Corrupted from M. E.
batte. The Prompt. Parv. has ' Batte, flyinge best [beast], vesper-
tilio.' Wyclif has bade, Levit. xi. 19. Dan. batte, only used in the
comp. a/tenbakke, evening-bat. For change of Jt to /, cf. mate from
M. E. make. ft. Batte stands for an older blatte, seen in Icel. leir-
blaka = a ' leather-flapper,' a bat. - Icel. blaka, to flutter, flap, f The
A. S. word is hreremtis, whence prov. Eng. reremouse, rearmouse.
BATCH, a quantity of bread. (E.) A batch is what is baked at
once ; hence, generally, a quantity, a collection. M. E. bacche ;
' bahche, or bakynge, or batche, pistura ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 21. Here
batche is a later substitution for an older bacche, where cch is for ch-ch,
giving bach-che, equivalent to an older bak-ke ; clearly a derivative of
M. E. baten, to bake. See Bake.
BATE (i), to abate, diminish. (F..-L.) Shak. has bate, to
beat down, diminish, remit, &c. ; in many passages. We find too :
' Batyn, or abaten of weyte or mesure, subtraho ; ' Prompt. Parv. p.
26. M. E. bate, Langtoft, p. 338. Merely a contraction of abate,
borrowed from O. F. abatre, to beat down. See Abate.
BATE (2), strife. (F..-L.) Shak. has ' breeds no bate;' t Hen.
IV, ii. 4. 271 ; also bate-breeding, Ven. and Adonis, 655. ' Batyn, or
make debate, jurgor ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 26. M. E. bat, bate, Cov.
Myst.p.i2; Gawain and the Grene Knight, 1. :46i. Bosworthhas:
' Bate, contentio,' but it is an uncertain word, and the true A. S. word
for battle is beadu. B. Hence it is generally conceded that bate is
a mere contraction or corruption of the common old word debate,
used in precisely the same sense ; borrowed from the O. F. debat,
strife ; a derivative of batlre, to beat. See Batter (i).
BATH, a place for washing in. (E.) M.E. ba]>, Ormulum, 18044.
-A. S. baS (Grein). + Icel. bad. + O. H. G. bad, pad. + O. Swed.
bad (Ihre). The O. H. G. appears to have a still older source in the
verb bdhen, pden, or pdwen, to warm (G. bdhen, to foment) ; cf. Lat.
fouere, to warm. The original sense of bath would, accordingly, ap-
pear to be a place of warmth; and the Lat. fouere is allied to Gk.
(pvrjttv, and to E. bake ; Fick, ii. 1 74. See Bake ; and see Bask.
BATHE, to use a bath. (E.) The A. S. batiian, to bathe, is a
derivative from baf$, a bath ; not vice versa. The resemblance to Skt.
bad or vdd, to dive and emerge, is probably a mere accident.
BATHOS, lit. depth. (Gk.) Ludicrously applied to a descent
from the elevated to the mean in poetry or oratory. See the allusion,
in Appendix I to Pope's Dunciad, to A Treatise of the Bathos, or the
Art of Sinking in Poetry. Gk. /Sdflos, depth; cf. Gk. /SafliJs, deep.
BAUBLE.
V GABH, to be deep ; Fick, i. 69 ; Curtius, i. 75. Cf. Skt. gambhan,
depth ; gabhira, deep.
BATON, BATOON, a cudgel. (F.) Spelt balloon in Sir T.
Herbert's Travels, ed. 1665, p. 149 ; and in Kersey's Diet. F. baton,
a cudgel. O. F. baston. Low Lat. ace. basionem, from baslo, a stick ;
of unknown origin. Doublet, batten (2). Diez suggests a connection
with Gk. fiaSTafav, to support.
BATTALION, a body of armed men. (F.,-Ital.) Milton has
it ; P. L. i. 569. F. bataillon, introduced, says Brachet, in the i6th cent,
from Ital. battaglione. Ital. battaglione, formed from Ital. battaglia,
a battle, by adding the augment, suffix -one. See Battle.
BATTEN (i), to grow fat ; to fatten. (Scand.) Shak. has batten
(intransitive), Hamlet, iii. 4. 67 ; but Milton has ' battening our flocks,'
Lycidas, 1. 29. Strictly, it is intransitive. Icel. ba'.na, to grow better,
recover ; as distinguished from bata, trans., to improve, make better.
+ Goth, gabatnan, to profit, avail, Mark, vii. 1 1 , in trans. ; as dis-
tinguished from boljan, to avail, Mark, viii. 36. Both Icel. batna and
Goth, gabatnan are formed from the Gothic root BAT, good, preserved
in the E. better and best. See Better, ^f The M.E. form would have
been batnen ; hence the final -en in mod. E. batten answers to the former
n of the Moeso-Gothic suffix -nan, added to stems to form passive or
neuter verbs, [t]
BATTEN (2), a wooden rod. (F.) ' Batten, a scantling of wood,
2, 3, or 4 in. broad, seldom above I thick, and the length unlimited ; '
Moxon ; in Todd's Johnson. Hence, to batten down, to fasten down
with battens. A mere variant of ballon or baion. See Baton.
BATTER ( i ), to beat. (F..-L.) M.E. batren, P. Plowman, B.
iii. 198. F. battre, to beat. Lat. batere, a popular form of batuere,
to beat. See Battle. Der. batter (2), batter-y, baiter-ing-ram.
BATTER (2), a compound of eggs, flour, and milk. (F..-L.)
M. E. batour. Prompt. Parv., p. 2 7. O. F. bature, a beating. See
above. So called from being beaten up together ; Wedgwood. So,
too, Span, batido, batter, is the pp. of batir, to beat.
BATTERY, a beating ; a place for cannon. (F., - Lat.) Cotgrave
has : ' Baterie (also Batterie), a beating ; a battery ; a place for
battery.' - F. batlre, to beat. See Batter (i). [t]
BATTLE, a combat. (F..-L.) M. E. bataille, bataile, Chaucer,
Leg. of Good Worn. 1627. O. F. bataille, meaning both (i) a fight,
(2) a battalion. Lat. batalia, a word which in common Latin answered
to pugna; see Brachet. Lat. batere, a popular form of batuere, to
beat. Fick gives a European form bhatu, a fight, battle (i. 690) ; this
accounts for the batu- of Lat. batuere, and for the A. S. beadu, a fight.
Der. batlal-ion, q. v.
BATTLEDOOR, a bat with a thin handle. (South F. or Span.)
M. E. 'batyldoure, a wasshynge betylle,' i. e. a bat for beating clothes
whilst being washed, Prompt. Parv. p. 27. a. A corrupted form.
It is supposed that the word was borrowed from the Span, baiidor, or
more likely the Provencal (South French) batedor, meaning exactly a
washing-beetle, a bat for clothes. Once imported into English, the
first two syllables were easily corrupted into battle, a dimin. of bat,
leaving -door meaningless. Cf. crayfish. Note provincial Eng. battler,
a small bat to play at ball with ; batiling-slone, a stone on which wet
linen was beaten to cleanse it ; balling-slock, a beating-stock ; Halli-
well. P. Formed from F. batlre, Span, batir, to beat ; the suffix
-dor in Span, and Prov. answers to the Lat. -lor, as in ama-tor, a
lover. See Beetle (2).
BATTLEMENT, a parapet for fortification. (F.) M. E. baiel-
ment, Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, B. 1458. 'Batylment of a walle, propug-
naculum ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 2 7. The history of the word is imperfectly
recorded ; it seems most probable that it represents an O. F. bastille-
menl, formed from O. F. basliller, to fortify. Roquefort quotes the
j phrase ' mur bastille,' i. e. fortified or embattled wall, from the Roman
de la Rose. Cf. mod. F. bailment, a building, from batir, O. F. bastir,
to build ; of which verb the O. F. bastiller is also a derivative. See
Baste (3) ; and see Embattle.
BAUBLE (i), a fool's mace. (C. ?, with E. suffix.) This seems to
be a different word from bauble, a plaything, and appears earlier in
English. M. E. babyll, babvlle, bable, explained in Prompt. Parv. p.
20, by ' librilla, pegma.' Palsgrave has : ' Bable for a fool, maroite.'
' As he that with his babel plaide ; ' Gower, C. A. i. 2 24. p. See Way's
note in Prompt. Parv., shewing that librilla means a stick with a
thong, for weighing meat, or for use as a sling ; and pegma means a
stick with a weight suspended from it, for inflicting blows with. It
was no doubt so called from the wagging or swinging motion with
which it was employed ; from the verb ' bablyn, or babelyn, or waveryn,
librillo ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 20. We also find, at the same reference,
' babelynge, or wauerynge, vacillacio, librillacio.' y. Were this verb still
in use, we should express it by bobble, formed, as many frequentatives
are, by adding the suffix -le ; so that to bobble would mean to bob
frequently, to keep swinging about ; cf. straggle from stray, nibble
from nip. See Bob.
BAUBLE.
BAUBLE (2), a plaything. (F.,-Ital.) Shak. has bauble in
the sense of a trifle, a useless plaything, Tarn. Shrew, iv. 3. 32. This
is probably a mere adaptation of the F. babiole, modified so as to
coincide with bauble in the sense of ' a fool's mace.' F. babiole,
' a trifle, whimwham, gugaw, or small toy, for a childe to play
with all ; ' Cot. Ital. babbola ; pi. babbole, child's toys (Diez ; s. v.
babbeo). Ital. babbeo, a simpleton; with which cf. Low Lat. babulus,
baburrus, a simpleton. These words express the notion of stuttering,
or uttering inarticulate sounds, like Gk. 0a/3a(ai, to chatter, and E.
babble, q. v. ^f Some connect the word with E. babe, which I
believe to be quite a mistake, as shewn s. v. babe.
BAWD, a lewd person. (F..-G.) M. E. baude, Chaucer, C. T.
6936 ; P. Plowman, B. iii.i 28. O.F. baud, bald, gay, pleased, wanton.
O. H. G. bald, free, bold. See Bold. Der. bawd-y, bawd-i-ness ;
baud-r-y (O. F. bauderie) ; see below. Doublet, bold.
BAWDY, lewd. (F., - G.) Merely formed as an adj. from bawd ;
see above. ^f But the M. E. baudy, dirty, used of clothes, in
Chaucer and P. Plowman, is a different word, and of Welsh origin.
Cf. W. bawaidd, dirty ; bow, dirt. The two words, having something
of the same meaning, were easily assimilated in form.
BAWL, to shout. (Scand.) Sir T. More has ' yalping [yelping]
and balling;' Works, p. 12540. Icel. baula, to low as a cow. +
Swed. bala, to roar. See Bull.
BAY (i), a reddish brown. (F..-L.) M. E. bay ; 'a stede bay'
a bay horse ; Chaucer, C. T. 2 1 59. O. F. bai. Lat. badius, bay-
coloured, in Varro. Der. bay-ard (a bay-horse) ; baize, q. v.
BAY (2), a kind of laurel-tree ; prop, a berry-tree. (F., - L.) ' The
roiall lawrel is a very tal and big tree, with leaves also as large in
proportion, and the baies or berries (baccce) that it beareth are nothing
[not at all] sharp, biting, and unpleasant in taste ; ' Holland's Pliny,
b. xv. c. 30. ' Bay, frute, bacea ; ' Prompt. Parv. F. bale, a berry.
Lat. bacca, a berry. + Lithuanian bapka, a laurel-berry ; Pick, i. 683.
BAY (3), an inlet of the sea; a recess. (F., L.) Bay occurs in
Surrey, tr. of the yEneid, bk. ii (R.) F. bate, an inlet. Lat. baia, in
Isidore of Seville ; see Brachet. + Gaelic badh, bagh, a bay, harbour.
P. From the sense of ' inlet,' the word came to mean ' a recess ' in a
building. ' Heje houses withinne the halle, . . So brod bilde in a bay,
that blonkkes myjt renne;' Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, B. 1391. [#]
BAY (4), to bark as a dog. (F., - L.) ' The dogge woulde bay ; '
Berners' Froissart, vol. ii. c. 171. Corrupted from a fuller form abay,
M. E. abayen, K. Alisaunder, 3882. F. ' abbayer, to bark or bay at ; '
Cot. Lat. ad, prefix, at; and baubari, to yelp; Lucretius, v. 1079.
See aboyer in Brachet. B. The Lat. baubari, to yelp, appears in a
simpler form in bubulare, to screech as an owl, bubo, an owl, pointing
to an earlier bubere, to utter a hollow sound ; Fick, i. 685 ; s. v. bub.
The word is doubtless imitative ; cf. babble, barbarous.
BAY (5), in phr. at bay. (F., L.) ' He folowed the chace of an
hert, and . . . broughte hym to a bay ; ' Fabyan, Chron. c. 1 27. Here
' to a bay ' is really a corruption of ' to abay ; ' cf. ' Wher hy hym
myghte so hound abaye ' = where they might hold him at bay as a
dog does ; King Alisaunder, ed. Weber, 3882 ; see also abaye in
Halliwell; and see further below. F. abois, abbois. Cotgrave says
' a stag is said rendre les abbois when, weary of running, he turns upon
the hounds, and holds them at, or puts them to, a bay.' The same is
also expressed by the phrase etre aux abois ; see aboi in Brachet. The
original sense of 0601 is the bark of a dog. Cotgrave has ' Abbay, the
barking or baying of dogs;' 'Abbois, barkings, bayings.' SeeBay(4),
to bark.
BAY-WINDOW, a window in a recess. See Bay (3).
Withyn a bay-windowe ; ' Court of Love, 1058. ^f I see no con-
nection with F. beer, as suggested by Wedgwood. The modem bow-
window, i. e. window with a curved outline, is a corrupt substitution
for bny-window ; or else an independent word. [*]
BAYONET, a dagger at the end of a gun. (F.) Used by Burke ;
Select Works, ed. E. J. Payne, i. in, 1. 15. Introduced in the i?th
century, from F. baionnttie, formerly bayonette. So called from Bay-
onne, in France, where they are said to have been first made, about
1650-1660. It was used at Killiecrankie in 1689, and at Marsaglia
by the French, in 1693. See Haydn, Diet, of Dates, [t]
BAZAAR, a market. (Pers.) Spelt buzzar by Sir T. Herbert, in
his Travels, where he speaks of ' the great buzzar or market ; ' ed.
1665, p. 4 [. Pers. bazar, a market. See Palmer's Pers. Diet. col. 65.
BDELLIUM, a precious substance. (Hebrew.) In Gen. ii. 12, it
is joined with ' gold ' and ' onyx-stone ; ' in Numb. xi. 7, manna is
likened to it in colour. It is not known what it is. In Holland's
Pliny, xii. 9, it is the gum of a tree. At any rate, the word is made
from the Hebrew beddlach, whatever that may mean, [t]
BE-, prefix. (E.) A. S. be-, prefix ; in very common use. It some-
times implies ' to make,' as in be-numb, to make numb. ' It some-
times serves to locate the act, and sometimes intensifies ; ' Affixes of
English Words, by S. S. Haldeman, p. 49 ; q. v. Behead means to
BEARD.
55
deprive of the head ; beset, to set upon, attack ; besiege, to sit by, to
invest with an army ; bemire, to cover with mire. Cf. becalm, bedim,
bedeck, bedrop ; also become, befall, i. e. to come upon, to fall upon.
Also used as a prefix of prepositions ; as in before, between. Beside
by the side of. Below = by low, on the lower side of; so also beneath,
on the nether side of. The A. S. be- or bi- (M. E. be-, bi-) is a short
or unaccented form of the prep, bi, E. by. See By.
BE, to exist. (E.) M. E. been, Prompt. Parv. 30. -A. S. beon, to
be (passim). + Du. ben, I am. + G. bin, I am. + Gael, bi, to exist. -f-
W. byw, to live, exist. + Irish bu, was. + Russian buite, to be ; bu-du,
I shall be. + Lat. fore, pt. t.fui. + Gk. <pvnv, aor. i<pw. }- Skt. bhu,
tobe.-VBHU, to exist, [t]
BEACH, the ground rising from the sea. (Scand.) Not found in
early authors. Rich, quotes from Hackluyt, Voyages, i. 355. Swed.
backe, an ascent. + Dan. baklte, rising ground. + Icel. bakki, a ridge ;
also, a bank of a river. The Itk in Icel. stands for nk ; and the
word is really another form of bank. See Bank. Der. beach, verb;
beach-y. [t]
BEACON, a sign, signal. (E.) M. E. betene, P. Plowman, B.
xvii. 262. A. S. bedcen, a sign, signal, standard (Grein) ; also spelt
been. + M. H. G. bouchen; O. H. G. pauhhan, a sign. See Beck,
Beckon. ^f If the original sense was a fire-signal, the most
probable root is ^ BHA, to shine ; cf. Gk. mfxuiaKtiv, to shew, which
Curtius deduces from the same root.
BEAT), a perforated ball, used for counting prayers. (E.) The
old sense is ' a prayer ; ' and the bead was so called because used for
counting prayers ; and not vice versa. M. E. bede, a bead ; Chaucer,
Prol. 109. ' Thanne he hauede his bede seyd ' = when he had said his
prayer; Havelok, 1385. A. S. bed, a prayer; gen. used in the form
gebed (cf. G. gebet), Grein, i. 376. + Du. bede, an entreaty, request ;
gebed, a prayer. + O. H. G. beta, M. H. G. bete, G. gebet, a prayer,
request. These are derived words from the verb ; viz. A. S. biddan,
Du. bidden, O. H. G. pittan (G. bitten), to pray. See Bid (i). The
Gothic is different ; the vb. bidjan being made from the sb. bida.
Der. bead-roll, beads-man.
BEADLE, properly, one who proclaims. (E.) M. E. bedel,
P. Plowman, B.ii. 77--A.S. bydel, an officer, Luke, xii. 58.+O.H.G.
putil, a beadle. A. S. beddan, to bid, to proclaim ; bead- becoming
byd-, when the suffix -el is added. + O. H. G. piotan, to bid. See
Bid (2). [*]
BEAGLE, a small dog, for hunting hares. (Unknown.) M. E.
begele; Hall's Chron. Hen. VI, an. 27. Of unknown origin. The
index to Cotgrave has 'Beagle, petite chienne.' Cf. ' Begle, cani-
cula ; ' Levins, 53, 43. ^f It has been suggested that it is connected
with Gael, beag, little ; of which there is no proof whatever, [t]
BEAK, a bill, point. (F., - C.) M. E. belie, Chaucer, Leg. of Good
Worn. 148. F. 6ec. Low Lat. beccus, quoted by Suetonius as of
Gaulish origin (Brachet) ; obviously Celtic. Breton bet, a beak. +
Gael, beic, a point, a nib, the bill of a bird. + Welsh pig, a point,
pike, bill, beak. See Peak, Peck, and Pike.
BEAKER, a sort of cup. (O. Low G., - L., - Gk.) M. E. byker,
biker ; Prompt. Parv. p. 35. Way notes that the word occurs as
early as A.D. 1348. Old Sax. bikeri, a cup ; Kleine Altniederdeutsche
Denkmaler, ed. Heyne, 1 867, p. 103. + Icel. bikarr, a cup. + Du. better.
+ G. becher. + Ital. bicchiere. ft. It appears in Low Lat. as bicarium,
a wine-cup ; a word formed from Gk. &IKOS, an earthen wine-vessel,
whence also the dimin. forms Umiov, Ptxioiov. y. The Gk. fiiKot is
of Eastern origin (Liddell). Doublet, pitcher, [t]
BEAM (i), a piece of timber. (E.) M. E. beem, bem, beam;
Layamon, 2848; A. S. beam, a tree; Grein, p. 105. + O. H. G.
paum, a tree. + Icel. badmr, a tree. + Goth, bagms, a tree. B. Fick,
(i. 161) compares Skt. bhuman, earth, Gk. <t>v/ia, a growth ; from the
root BHU, to exist, grow.
BEAM (2), a ray of light. (E.) A particular use of the word
above. The ' pillar of fire ' mentioned in Exodus is called in A. S.
poetry byrnende beam, the burning beam ; Grein, p. 105. Der. beam-y,
beam-less.
BEAN", a kind of plant. (E.) M. E. bene, Chaucer, C. T. 3774. -
A. S. bean (Lye, Bosworth). + Icel. baun. + O. H. G. puna. + Russ.
606'. + Lut.faba. + 'W.Jfaen, a bean ; pl.J^a. Fick gives a European
form bhabd ; i. 690.
BEAR (i), to carry. (E.) M. E. beren, here, P. Plowman, B. ii.
80. A. S. beran (Grein). + Goth, bairan. + Lat./erre. + Gk. tyepiiv.
+ Skt. bhri, to bear. ^ BHAR, to carry. Der. bear-able, bear-er,
bear-ing.
BEAR (2), an animal. (E.) M. E. here, Chaucer, C. T. 1640.-
A. S. bera, ursus (Grein). + Icel. bera, bjrirn. + O. H. G. pen. + Lat.
/era, a wild beast.-}- Skt. bhalla, a bear. Fick suggests y' BHUR, to
rage; whence E. fury. Der. bear-ish. [t]
BEARD, hair on the chin. (E.) M. E. berde, herd ; Chaucer.
Prol. 332. A. S. beard, Grein, i. 102. + Du. board, + Icel. bart, a
56
BEAST.
brim, verge, beak of a ship, &c. -J- Russ. borodd. + W. and Com.
barf. + Lat. barba, the beard. See Fick, i. 684, s. v. bardhd. Cf.
Irish bearbli, Gael, bearr, to shave. Der. beard-ed, beard-less, [f]
BEAST, an animal. (F..-L.) M. E. beste, Chaucer, C. T. 1978 ;
beaste. Old Eng. Homilies, i. 277. O. F. beste (F. bete). Lat.
bestia, an animal. Der. beast-like, beast-ly, beast-li-ness, besl-i-al (Lat.
bestialis), best-i-al-i-ty, best-i-al-ise.
BEAT, to strike. (E.) M. E. beten, bete, P. Plowman, B. xiv. 19.
A. S. bedtan, to beat; Grein, i. 106.+ Icel. baula, to beat.+O. H. G.
pozan, to beat. Teutonic ^ BUT, to beat, push, drive; Fick, iii.
214. See But. Der. beat, sb., beat-er. ^f The resemblance to F.
battre, Lat. batuere, seems to be accidental; at any rate, it is not
to be built upon. See Bat (i).
BEATIFY, to make blessed. (F.-L.) Bp. Taylor has ' beati-
fied spirits ; ' vol. i. ser. 8. F. beatifier, ' to beatific ; to make blessed,
sacred, or happy ; ' Cot. Lat. beatificare, to make happy. Lat.
bea/i-, for beatus, happy ; and facere, to make, the stem fac- turning
into fie- in composition. Beatus is a pp. of beare, to make happy,
to bless, from the same source as bene, well, and bonus, good ; see
Bounty. Der. beatific, beatific-al, beatific-al-ly, beatific-at-ion.
BEATITUDE, happiness. (F..-L.) Used by Ben Jonson, An
Elegy on my Muse (R.) ; Milton, P. L. iii. 62. F. beatitude, ' beatitude,
happiness ; ' Cot. Lat. beatitudinem, ace. from nom. beatitudo, happi-
ness. Lat. beatus, happy. Lat. beare, to bless. See Beatify.
BEAU, a fine, dressy man. (F., L.) Sir Cloudesley Shovel is
represented on his tomb ' by the figure of a beau ; ' Spectator, no. 27.
F. beau, comely (Cotgrave) ; O. F. bel. Lat. bellus, fine, fair ; sup-
posed to be a contracted form of benulus, dimin. of benus ; another
form of bonus, good. See Bounty. Der. From the F. fern, form
belle (Lat. bella) we have E. belle.
BEAUTY, fairness. (F.,-Lat.) M.E. beanie, Chaucer. C.T.
2387. O.F. biaute, bealteit, belief. 'Low Lat. ace. bellitatem; from
nom. bellitas. Lat. belli-, for bellus, fair, with suffix -tat-, signifying
state or condition. See Beau. Der. beaule-ous (bewteous in Sir T.
More, Works, p. 2 g), beaute-ous-ly, beaute-ous-ness, beauti-ful, beauti-
ful-ly, beauti-fy.
BEAVER (i), an animal. (E.) M. E. bever, in comp. bever-hat,
Chaucer, Prol. 272. A. S. befer, gloss io fiber ; M\i. Gloss, ed.
Somner (Nomina Ferarum).+ Du. bever.+ Icel. 6;o'rr.+ Dan. haver.
+ Swed. bdfver. + G. biber.+ Russian bobr'.-{- Lat. fiber, a beaver.
Cf. Skt. babhru, a large ichneumon ; Fick, i. 379.
BEAVER (2), the lower part of a helmet. (F.) Shak. has
beaver, Hamlet, i. 2. 230. F. baviere, meaning 'the bever of an hel-
met ; ' and, primarily, a child's ' bib, mocket, or mocketer, put
before the bosom of a slavering child ; ' Cot. Thus, the lower part
of the helmet was named from a fancied resemblance to a child's
bib. F. haver, to foam, froth, slaver; Cot. F. have, foam, froth,
slaver, drivell ; Cot. Perhaps of Celtic origin ; cf. Bret, babouz, slaver.
^f The derivation from Ital. bevere, to drink, is quite unfounded.
The spelling beaver is due to confusion with ' beaver hat."
BECALM, to make calm. (Hybrid ; E. and F.) Becalmed is in
Hackluyt's Voyages, vol. i. p. 168 ; and in Mirror for Magistrates,
p. 196. Formed by prefixing E. be- to calm, a word of F. origin.
See Be- and Calm.
BECAUSE, for the reason that. (Hybrid ; E. and F.) Formerly
written hi cause, P. Plowman, B. iii. 99 ; also be cause and by cause.
Be, hi, and by are all early forms of the prep. by. Cause is of F.
origin. See By and Cause.
BECHANCE, to befall, happen. (Hybrid ; E. and F.) In
Shak. Merch. i. I. 38. From be-, prefix, q. v., and chance, q. v.
BECK (i), a nod or sign ; as a vb. to 'make a sign. (F., C.)
The sb. is not found in early writers ; it occurs in Surrey's tr. of
Virgil, yEneid, iv. (R.) It is clearly formed from the verb, which is
older, and occurs in Chaucer, C. T. 1 23 29. F. becquer, ' to pecke, or
bob with the beake ;' Cot. - F. bee, beak. See Beak.
BECK (2), a stream. (Scand.) M. E. bek, Prompt. Parv. p. 29;
Legends of Holy Rood, p. 82. [Not properly an A. S. word, but
Scandinavian.] Icel. bekkr, a stream, brook. + Swed. back, a brook.
+ Dan. btek. + Du. beet. + G. bach. (Root unknown.)
BECKON", to make a sign. (E.) M. E. be'cnen, Ormulum, 223.
A.S. bedcnian, to signify by a sign. A. S. beiicen, a sign, with the
addition of the suffix -tan, used to form verbs from sbs. See Beacon.
f Not allied to Beck, [t]
BECOME, to attain to a state ; to suit. (E.) M. E. hecuman,
bicuman ; as, ' and bicomen hise men ' = and became his servants, Have-
lok, 1. 2256; 'it bicumeth him swithe wel' = it becomes (suits) him
very well, O. Eng. Bestiary, ed. Morris, 1. 735. See the large collec-
tion of examples in Matzner, p. 224, s. v. bicumen. A.. S. becuman, to
arrive, happen, turn out, befal (whence the sense of ' suit ' was later
developed), Grein, i. 81 ; bicuman, i. 113. + Goth, bihviman, to come
upon one, to befal ; i Thes. v. 3. + O. H. G. pijueman, M. H. G.
BEECH.
bekomen, to happen, befal, reach, &c. ; whence mod. G. bequem, fit,
apt, suitable, convenient, p. A compound of prefix be-, and A. S.
cuman, to come. See Come. Der. becom-ing, becom-ing-ly.
BED, a couch to sleep on. (E.) M.E. bedde, Chaucer, Prol. 295.
-A. S. bed, bedd. + Icel. Mr. + Goth, badi, a bed. + O. H. G. petti,
a bed. p. Fick refers it to the root of bind, viz. */ BHADH, to
bind ; i. 689. Der. bed, verb ; bedd-ing ; bed-ridden, q. v. ; bed-stead,
q.v. ; bed-chamber (Shak. Cymb. i. 6. 196), bed-clothes (All's Well, iv.
3. 287), bed-fellow (Temp. ii. 2. 42), bed-hangings (2 Hen. IV, ii. I.
158), bed-presser (i Hen. IV, ii. 4. 268), bed-right (Temp. iv. 96),
bed-room (Mids. Nt. Dr. ii. 2. 51), bed-time (Mids. Nt. Dr. v. 34), bed-
wort (Troil. i. 3. 205). [t]
BEDABBLE, BEDAUB, BEDAZZLE. From the E.
prefix be-, and dabble, daub, dazzle, q. v. Shak. has bedabbled, Mids.
Nt. Dr. iii. 2. 443 ; bedaubed, Rom. iii. 2. 55 ; bedazzled, Tarn. Shrew,
iv. 5. 46.
BEDEW, to cover with dew. (E.) Spenser has bedeawd, F. Q.
i. 12. 16. It occurs in the Ayenbite of Inwyt : ' bedeaweth the herte ; '
p. 1 1 6. From be-, prefix, q. v. ; and dew, q. v.
BEDIGHT, to array. (E.) ' That derely were bydy } th ; ' Sir
Degrevant, 647. From be-, prefix, q. v. ; and dight, q. v.
BEDIM, to make dim. (E.) In Shak. Temp. v. I. 41. From be-,
prefix, q. v. ; and dim, q. v.
BEDIZEN, to deck out. (E. ?) Not in early use. The quota-
tions in Richardson shew that the earlier word was the simple form
dizen, from which bedizen was formed by help of the common prefix
be-, like bedeclt from deck. See Dizen.
BEDLAM, a hospital for lunatics. (Proper name.) A corrup-
tion of Bethlehem. ' Bethlehem hospital, so called from having been
originally the hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem, a royal foundation
for the reception of lunatics, incorporated by Henry VIII in 1547 ; '
Haydn, Diet, of Dates. M. E. bedlem, as in the phrase ' in bedlem
and in babiloyn* ' = in Bethlehem and Babylon ; P. Plowman, B. v.
534; according to three MSS., where other MSS. read bethleem.
Der. bedlam-ite. [f]
BEDOUIN, a wandering Arab. (F.,-Arab.) Modem; yet we
find a M. E. bedoyne, Mandeville, p. 35. Borrowed from F. bedouin,
which is from Arab, badawiy, wild, rude, wandering, as the Arabs in
the desert. Arab, badw, departing for the desert, leading a wandering
life. Arab, root badawa, he went into the desert ; see Rich. Diet.,
pp. 251, 252.
BEDRIDDEN, confined to one's bed. (E.) M. E. bedreden,
used in the plural ; P. Plowman, viii. 85 ; bedrede, sing. Chaucer,
C. T. 735 1 . A. S. bedrida, beddrida, glossed by clinicus (Bosworth).
A. S. bed, a bed, and ridda, a knight, a rider ; thus the sense is a bed-
rider, a sarcastic term for a disabled man. ^f Prof. Earle, in his
Philology of the Eng. Tongue, p. 23, suggests that bedrida means
'bewitched,' and is the participle ofbedrian, to bewitch, a verb for
which he gives authority. But it is not shewn how the participle
took this shape, nor can we thus account for the spelling bedd-
rida. ft. Besides which, there is a term of similar import, spelt
bedderedig in the Bremen Worterbuch, i. 65, which can only be ex-
S'ained with reference to the Low-G. bedde, a bed. y. Again, an
. H. G. pettiriso, M. H. G. betterise, mod. G. beltrise, is given in
Grimm's Ger. Diet. i. 1 738, which can likewise only be referred to
G. belt, a bed. B. In short, the suggestion can hardly be accepted,
but it seemed best not to pass it over. If there be any doubt about
the termination, there can be none about the first syllable. I may
add that we find also M. E. bedlawer for ' one who lies in bed,' which
is said, in the Prompt. Parv. p. 28, to be a synonym for bedridden.
See Prompt. Parv. p. 28, note 4. [t]
BEDSTEAD, the frame of a bed. (E.) M. E. bedstede, Prompt.
Parv. p. 28. A.S. bed, a bed ; and stede, a place, stead, station. So
called from its firmness and stability; cf. sled-fast, i.e. stead-fast.
See Bed and Stead.
BEE, an insect. (E.) M.E. bee, pi. bees and been, both of which
occur in Chaucer, C.T. 10518, 10296. A.S. bed, bi, Grein, p. 109.
f- Icel. by. + O. H. G. pia. + Skt. bha, a bee ; a rare word, given in
Bothlingk and Roth's Skt. Dictionary. Prob. of onomatopoetic
origin. Cf. Irish beach, a bee.
BEECH, a kind of tree. (E.) M. E. beech, Chaucer, C. T. 2925.
A. S. bece, an unauthenticated form, but rendered probable by the
existence of the adj. bicen, E. beechen, for which a reference is given in
Bosworth ; but the usual A.S. form is hoc. [6BP The A. S. i is the
mutation of 6 ; thus btjc produces bicen, adj., whence the corrupt sb.
bece.] + Icel. hot, a beech-tree, rare ; commoner in the collective
form beyti, a beech wood. -\- Swed. hot. + Dan. bug. + Du. betili. +
G. buche (O. H. G. puohha). + Russian buk'. + Lat. fagus. + Gk.
0ij-yds. These forms point to an orig. bhdga, possibly meaning a tree
with esculent fruit ; cf. Skt. bhalish, to eat ; from ^ BHAG, to eat;
Fick, 1.687. See Book. Der. beech-en, adj. ( = A. S. bicen.). [t]
BEEP.
BEEF, an ox ; the flesh of an ox. (F., - L.) M. E. beef, Chaucer,
C. T. 7332. O. F. boef, buef. Lat. ace. bovem, an ox ; nom. bos. +
Gael, bb, a cow. + Skt. go, a cow. + A. S. cu, a cow. Thus the
word beef is co-radicate with cow. See Cow. Der. beef-eater, q. v.
BEEF-EATER, a yeoman of the guard. (Hyb.) 'Pensioners and
beefeaters' [of Charles II.], Argument against a Standing Army, ed.
1697, p. 16 ; qu. in N. and Q. 5 S. viii. 398. An eater of beef; but
why this designation was given them is not recorded, ^f In Todd's
Johnson is the following notable passage. ' From beef and eat, be-
cause the commons is Acs/when on waiting. Mr. Steevens derives it
thus. Beefeater may come from beaufetier, one who attends at the
side-board, which was anciently placed in a beaufet. The business of
the beefeaters was, and perhaps is still, to attend the king at meals.
This derivation is corroborated by the circumstance of the beefeaters
having a hasp suspended to their belts for the reception of keys.'
This extraordinary guess has met with extraordinary favour, having
been quoted in Mrs. Markham's History of England, and thus taught
to young children. It is also quoted in Max Muller's Lectures, 8th
ed. ii. 582, but with the substitution of buffetier for beaufetier, and
buffet is explained as ' a table near the door of the dining-hall.' I
suppose it is hopeless to protest against what all believe, but I must
point out that there is not the faintest tittle of evidence for the
derivation beyond the ' hasp suspended to their belts.' I do not find
beaufetier nor buffetier, but I find in Cotgrave that buffeteurs de vin were
' such carmen or boatmen as steal wine out of the vessels they have
in charge, and afterwards fill them up with water.' Mr. Steevens
does not tell us what a beaufet is, nor how a sideboard was ' anciently
placed in ' it. On this point, see Buffet, sb. When the F. buffetier
can be found, with the sense of ' waiter at a side-board ' in reasonably
old French, or when the E. beefeater can be found spelt differently
from its present spelling in a book earlier than Ike lime of Mr. Steevens,
it will be sufficient time to discuss the question further. Meanwhile,
we may note that Ben Jonson uses eater in the sense of ' servant ; ' as
in ' Where are all my eaters 1 ' Silent Woman, iii. 2. Also, that the
expression ' powderbeef lubber ' occurs in the sense of ' man-servant,"
where powder-beef certainly means salt-beef; see 'Powder, to salt,' in
Nares. A rich man is spoken of as having ' confidence of [in] so
many powdrebeefe lubbers as he fedde at home ; ' Chaloner, transla-
tion of Prayse of Follie, 2nd edit. 1577, G v. (ist ed. in 1549.) See
Notes and Queries, 5 S. viii. 57. Cf. bread-winner, a sb. of similar
formation, [f]
BEER, a kind of drink. (E.) M. E. here, Prompt. Parv. p. 31 ;
her, King Horn, ed. Lumby, 1. 1112. A. S. bear, beer, Grein, i. 112.
+ Du. bier. + Icel. bjorr. + G. bier (O. H. G. bior). f a. The
suggestion that it is connected with the Lat. bibere is unlikely;
since that would make this common Teutonic word a mere loan-word
from Latin. Moreover, the Latin sb. is polus, which could hardly
turn into beer. Both polus and bibere are referred to the root pa, to
drink ; see Curtius, i. 348. A Teutonic word from that root would
begin with/. (3. The suggestion that beer is connected with barm (i)
is more reasonable. It means ' fermented drink,' from the same root
as ferment. See Barm (i), Ferment.
BEESTINGS ; see Biestinga.
BEET, a plant. (Lat.) M. E. bete, in a vol. of Vocabularies, ed.
T. Wright, p. 190. A.S. bete, gen. betan, fern, sb., in Cockayne's
Leechdoms ; but certainly borrowed from Lat. beta, used by Pliny.
BEETLE (i), an insect. (E.) M. E. bityl, Prompt. Parv. p. 37.
-A.S. bitel, betel; as in 'fa blacan betlas,' the black beetles ; MS.
Colt. Jul. A. 2, 141 (Bosworth).- A. S. bitan, to bite ; with suffix -el
of the agent. Thus beetle means ' the biting insect ;' cf. 'Mordiculus,
bitela,' JE\f. Gloss. (Nomina Insectorum) ; showing that the word
was understood in that sense. See Bite, and Bitter.
BEETLE (2), a heavy mallet. (E.) M. E. betylle, betel. Prompt.
Parv. p. 34; Ancren Riwle, p. 1 88. A.S. bytel, bytl; Judges iv. 21.
A. S. bedtan, to beat; with suffix -/ or -el of the agent. See Beat.
Der. beetle-headed, i. e. with a head like a log, like a Woci-head, dull.
BEETLE (3), to jut out and hang over. (E.) ' The summit of
the cliff That beetles o'er his base into the sea;' Hamlet, i. 4. 71.
Apparently coined by Shakespeare. By whomsoever coined, the idea
was adopted from the M. E. bilelbrowed, beetle-browed, having pro-
jecting or sharp brows, P. Plowman, B. v. 90 ; also spelt bitter-
browed, id., footnote. The sense is ' with biting brows,' i. e. with
brows projecting like an upper jaw. The M. E. bitel, biting, sharp,
occurs in the Ormulum, 10074, as an epithet of an axe ; and in
Layamon, ii. 395, as an epithet of steel weapons. The insect called
the beetle is similarly named ; see Beetle (i). The variant bitter has
the same sense ; see Bitter. The word is from the A. S. bitel, lit.
biting or biter, also, a beetle ; from A. S. bitan, to bite, with the
suffix -el, used to form both substantives and adjectives, so that bitel
may be used as either. See Bite. Der. bee!l-ing ; cf. beetle-browed,
which is really the older expression.
BEGUINE.
57
BEFALL, to happen. (E.) M. E. befallen, hi/alien, in common
use ; Havelok, 2981. A. S. befeallan, Grein, i. 83. + O. Sax. bifallan.
+ O. Fries, bifalla. + Du. bevallen, to please. + O. H. G. bifallan,
cited by Matzner; Wackemagel gives M. H. G. bevallen. O. H. G.
pivallan. From be-, prefix; and fail. ^ This is one of the original
verbs on which so many others beginning with be- were modelled.
BEFOOL, to make a fool of. (E. and F.) M. E. befolen, Gower,
C. A. iii. 236. E. prefix be-, and M. E./o/,a fool; see Fool.
BEFORE, prep., in front of; adv., in front. (E.) M. E. bifore,
before, biforen, beforen ; in common use ; spelt biforen, Layamon, iii.
131. A. S. beforan, biforan, prep, and adv., Grein, i. 83, 84, 115.
A. S. be-, hi-, prefix, see Be- or By ; and foran, before, prep, and
adv., Grein, i. 315. A.S./oron is a longer form (-an being originally
a case-ending) from fore, prep, and adv., before, for; Grein, i. 321.
See Fore, For. Cf. O. Sax. biforan, before ; M. H. G. bevor, bevore;
O. H. G. bifora, pivora, before. See below.
BEFOREHAND, previously. (E.) In early use as an adverb.
M. E. biuorenliond, Ancren Riwle, p. 212; from biuoren, before, and
hand, hand. See Before and Hand.
BEG, to ask for alms. (E.) Cf. M. E. beggar, beggere, a beggar ;
a word which was undoubtedly associated in the I4th century, and
even earlier, with the word bag, as seen from various passages in
P. Plowman, C. Pass. i. 41, 42, x. 98 ; P. Plowman's Crede, 1. 600,
&c. In the Ancren Riwle, p. 168, we read : Hit is beggares rihte
uorte [/or to~\ beren bagge on bac.' Yet the word is never spelt
baggere, which tends to shew that the word was forced out of its
true form to suit a popular theory. This being so, it is probable that
the vb. beggen, to beg, was (as Mr. Sweet suggests) a contraction
of the A. S. bedecian, which occurs in Gregory's Pastoral, ed. Sweet,
p. 285, 1. 12:' Hit is swiSe wel be iSaem gecweden iiset he eft bedecige
onsumera' = ofwhom it is very well said that he will afterwards beg in
summer. B. This A.S. bed-ec-ian would become bed dan (accented on
bed-), and thence be easily contracted to beggen by assimilation. The
stem bed- corresponds to a H. German bet-, whence G. betteln, to beg,
bettler, a beggar. Moreover, bed- stands for bid-, by vowel-change ;
cf. Goth, bidagwa, a beggar; and this bid- appears in A. S. biddan, to
beg, pray, beseech ; whence the M. E. bidder e used as synonymous
with beggare, as in P. Plowman, C. i. 41. C. Hence bed-ec-ian is
formed from bid-, with suffix -ec- (corresponding to -ag- in Goth, bid-
ag-wa) and the common infinitive suffix -ian, only used for secondary
verbs, the primary verbs ending in -an. Similarly, the G. betteln is
made from bitt-, with suffix -el-, and the verbal suffix -n of the infini-
tive. The use of the suffixes (-- in A. S., and -el- in G.) was to
give the verb a frequentative sense. Hence to beg is to ' bid often,'
to 'ask repeatedly;' a frequentative of Bid (i). Der. begg-ar (better
begg-er) ; whence beggar-ly, beggar-li-ness, beggar-y.
BEGET, to generate, produce. (E.) M. E. bigiten, begeten, (i) to
obtain, acquire ; (2) to beget. ' To bitten mine rihte ' = to obtain my
right; Layamon, i. 405. ' Thus wes Marlin bitten ' thus was Merlin
begotten; Layamon, ii. 237. A. S. begitan, bigitan, to acquire;
Grein, i. 86, 115. A.S. be-, hi-, prefix; and gitan, to get. See Get.
So too O. Sax. bigetan, to seize, get ; and Goth, bigitan, to find.
Der. begetl-er.
BEGIN, to commence. (E.) M. E. beginnen, biginnen, in com-
mon use. A.S. beginnan, Grein, i. 86 (though the form onginnan,
with the same signification, is far more common). From the prefix
be-, and A. S. ginnan, to begin. Cf. Du. and G. beginnen, to begin.
See Gin, verb. Der. beginn-er, beginn-ing.
BEGONE, pp. beset. (E.) In phr. woe-begone, i. e. affected or
oppressed with woe, beset with grief. Wel began occurs in the Rom.
of the Rose, 1. 580, apparently in the sense of ' glad ; ' lit. well sur-
rounded or beset. It is the pp. of M. E. began, to beset ; cf. ' wo }>e
bigo,' woe come upon thee, Reliq. Antiq. ii. 2 73. A. S. bigdn, began,
bigangan, begangan, to go about, Grein, i. 84, 115. From prefix be-,
and A. S. gdn, contracted form of gangan, to go. Cf. Du. begaan,
concerned, affected. $& In the phrase ' begone ! ' we really use
two words ; it should be written ' be gone ! ' See Go.
BEGUILE, to deceive, amuse. (Hybrid ; E. and F.) M. E.
bigilen, to beguile, Ancren Riwle, p. 328. E. prefix be-, hi- (A. S. be-,
bi-) ; and M. E. gylen, gilen, to deceive. ' As theigh he gyled were '
= as if he were beguiled; Will, of Palerne, 689. O. F. gailer, to
deceive. O. F. guile, guile, deceit. See Guile. Der. beguil-ing,
beguil-inz-ly, beguil-er.
BEGUINE, one of a class of religious devotees. (F.) The word
is rather French than English ; and, though we find a Low-Latin
form beguinus, it was chiefly used as a feminine noun, viz. F. beguine,
Low Lat. begliina. The bSguines belonged to a religious order in
Flanders, who, without taking regular vows of obedience, lived a
somewhat similar life to that of the begging friars, and lived together
in houses called beguinages. They were ' first established at Liege,
and afterwards at Nivelle, in 1207, some say 1226. The Grande
58
BEHALF.
Begvinagc of Bruges was the most extensive ; ' Haydn, Diet, of Dates.
B. Another set of ' religious ' were called Begardi ; and it has been
supposed that botli terms were formed from the same root, viz. the
word which appears in E. as bag, or from the E. beg\ Neither solution
is even possible, for bag is an English and Scandinavian form, the
German form, whether High or Low, being balg; whilst beg is an E.
corrupted form, unknown at any time on the continent. The whole
subject is rather obscure ; see the article on Beguins in the Engl. Cycl.,
Arts and Sciences division. C. Mosheim was actually reduced to
deriving the words from the G. begehren, regardless of the accent on the
word ! As a fact, the names of these orders varied, and no one seems
to have known their exact meaning. D. Yet the real solution of the
words is so easy, that it is a wonder no one has ever hit upon it. The
order arose at Liege, and begui, in the dialect of Namur, means ' to
stammer,' from which beguine would be formed by the mere addition
of -ne, to form a fem. sb. ; cf. landgrav-ine, hero-ine. Moreover, the
Namur word for ' stammerer ' as a masculine substantive is ' beguiaut,
standing, of course, for an older form beguialt, where -all is an Old Fr.
suffix that is interchangeable with -ard ; cf. Regin-ald with Reyn-ard.
This gives us an equivalent form beguiard, the original oi the above
Low Lat. begardus. These Namur words are recorded in Grand-
gagnage, Diet, de la Langue Wallonne, s. v. beketer. The Namur begui
is, of course, the F. beguer, from begue, stammering, a word of unknown
origin (Brachet). B. Why these nuns were called 'stammerers,'
we can but guess; but it was a most likely nickname to arise; it was
merely another way of calling them fools, and all are agreed that the
names were given in reproach. The form begard or beguard was
confused with a much older term of derision, viz. bigot, and this cir-
cumstance gave to the word bigot its present peculiar meaning. See
Bigot, [t]
BEHALF, interest, benefit. (E.) In M. E., only in the phrase
on (or vppon) bihalue, or behalue. Chaucer has : ' on my bihalue '
(u v), Troil. and Cress, i. 1457. So also: 'in themperours bihelue'
= on the emperor's behalf; Seven Sages, 1. 334. Here on my bihalue
is a substitution for the A. S. on healfe, on the side of (see exx. in
Grein, i. 53), by confusion with a second common phrase be healfe, by
the side of (same ref.). 0. The A. S. healf, lit. half, is constantly
used in the sense of ' side ; ' and even now the best paraphrase of ' in my
behalf ' is ' on my side.' That this explanation is correct can easily
be traced by the examples in Matzner's Old Eng. Diet., which shews
that bihalven was in common use as a prep, and adv. before the sb.
behalf came into use at all. See Layamon, vol. i. p. 349 ; ii. 58 ; iii.
65, 114, &c. See Half.
BEHAVE, to conduct oneself. (E.) Shak. has behave, refl., to
conduct oneself, 2 Hen. VI, iv. 3. 5 ; and intr. but not refl., Oth. iv. t.
1 08. Rare in early authors, but the phr. ' to leme hur to behave hur
among men ' = to teach her to behave herself amongst men, occurs in
Le Bone Florence of Rome, 1. 1567, in Ritson's Metrical Romances,
vol. iii. A. S. behcebban, to surround, to restrain, detain ; ' hi behafdon
hine,' i.e. they detained him, Luke, iv. 42. Used reflexively, it meant
to govern or control oneself, and could at last be used intransitively,
without a reflexive pronoun. It is a mere compound of the verb to
have with the A. S. prefix be-. + O. Sax. bihebbian, to surround, shut in,
but also to possess ; from bi-, prefix, and kebbian, to have. +M. H. G.
behaben (from be- and haben), to hold fast, to take possession of. See
Have. ^f Just as E. be-lief answers to glaube (i. e. ge-laube) in
German, so E. behave answers to G. gehaben, to behave oneself.
BEHAVIOUR, conduct. (E., with F. suffix.) Spelt behavoure,
Levins, 322. 45. Formed, very abnormally, from the verb to behave,
q. v. The curious suffix is best accounted for by supposing a con-
fusion with the F. avoir used substantively, a word which not only
meant ' wealth ' or 'possessions,' but also 'ability;' see Cotgrave.
It must be remembered (i) that behaviour was often shortened to
haviour, as in Shakespeare ; and (2) that havings, at least in Lowland
Scotch, had the double meaning of (a) possessions, and (4) carriage,
behaviour. See Jamieson's Scot. Diet.
BEHEAD, to cut off the head. (E.) M. E. bihefden, biheafden,
bihafden. ' Heo us wulle bihafdi ' = they will behead us, Layamon,
iii. 45. Later, spelt biheden ; ' he bihedide Joon," he beheaded John ;
Wyclif, Matt. xiv. 10. A. S. behedfdian, to behead ; Matt. xiv. 10.
A. S. be-, prefix, lit. 'by;' and hedfod, head. See Head. Cf. Du.
onthoofden, G. enthaupten, to behead.
BEHEMOTH, a hippopotamus. (Heb.) See Job, xl. 15.- Heb.
behemoth, properly a plural, signifying ' beasts ; ' but here used as
sing, to denote ' great beast ; ' from sing, behemdh, a beast. [*]
BEHEST, a command. (E.) M. E. behesle, biheste, commonly
used in the sense of ' a promise ; ' Chaucer, C. T. 4461 ; and connected
with the verb bihele, behete, to promise, Chaucer, C. T. 1856. From
be-, prefix, and hest. Cf. A. S. behas, a vow, behdt, a promise, behdlan,
to promise. ' He fela behisa behet,' he made many promises ;
A. S. Chron., anno 1093. The final / is excrescent. See Hest.
BELEMNITE.
BEHIND, after. (E.) M. E. behinde, bihinde, bihinden, after, at
the back of, afterwards ; Chaucer, C. T. 4847. A. S. behindan, adv.
and prep., afterwards, after, Grein, i. 87. From A. S. prefix be- ; and
hindan, adv., behind, at the back, Grein, ii. 76. Cf. O. Saxon bi-
hindan, adv., behind ; Heliand, 1. 3660. See Hind. Der. behind-
hand, not in early use ; made in imitation of before-hand, q. v. It
occurs in Shak. Winter's Tale, v. I. 151.
BEHOLD, to see, watch, observe. (E.) M. E. biholden, beholden,
bihplde, beholde, to see, observe, to bind by obligation ; in common
use. [The last sense appears only in the pp. beholden ; ' beholdyn, or
bowndyn, obligor, teneor;' Prompt. Parv. p. 28. Shak. wrongly has
beholding for the pp. beholden, as in Merry Wives, i. I. 283.] A. S.
behealdan, to hold, possess, guard, observe, see ; Grein, i. 87. + O.
Fries, bihalda, to keep. + O. Sax. bihaldan, to keep. + Du. behouden,
to preserve, keep. + G. behalten, to keep. From A. S. prefix be-, and
healdan, to hold. See Hold. [Cf. Lat. tueor, to see, to keep ; E.
guard, as compared with regard, &c.] Der. behold-er; also pp.
behold-en, corrupted to behold-ing.
BEHOOF, advantage. (E.) Almost invariably found in M. E.
in the dat. case behoue, bihoue [u written for i>], with the prep, to pre-
ceding it ; as in ' to ancren bihoue,' for the use of anchoresses, Ancren
Riwle, p. 90. A. S. behof, advantage, only used in the comp. behdf-
lic ; see biho/lic is, gloss to Lat. oportet in Luke, xviii. I, in the Lindis-
fame MS. (Northumbrian dialect). + O. Fries, behof, bihdf. + Du.
bekoef, commonly in the phr. ten behoeve van, for the advantage of. +
Swed. behof, want, need. + Dan. behov, need. + G. behuf, behoof.
B. The be- is a prefix ; the simple sb. appears in the Icel. hdf, mode-
ration, measure, proportion ; whence the verb hatfa, to hit, to behove.
Cf. Swed. hofva, measure ; hdfvas, to beseem. The Goth, gahobains,
temperance, self-restraint, is related on the one hand to Icel. hdf, mode-
ration, measure ; and on the other, to O. H. G. huopa, M. H. G. huobe, G.
hufe, liv.be, a measured quantity of land, a hide of land, so named from
its capacity or content ; from the ^ KAP, to hold, contain ; cf. Lat.
capax, containing, capere, to seize, orig. to contain, hold, grasp. See
Fick, iii. 63. C. The development of ideas is accordingly (i) to
hold fast, retain, (2) to restrain, moderate, (3) to fit for one's use, to
make serviceable. From the same root we have behove, have, behave.
BEHOVE, to become, befit. (E.) M. E. bihoven, behoven (writ-
ten bihouen, behouen in MSS.) ; commonly as impers. verb, bihovelh,
behoveth, Chaucer, Troil. and Cress, iv. 978 ; pt. t. bihouede, Ancren
Riwle, p. 394. A. S. bihdfian, behdjian, to need, be necessary; Grein,
i. 87, 1 16. + O. Fries, bihovia, to behove. + Du. behoeven, to be
necessary, to behove. + Swed. behofva. + Dan. behove. + G. behufen
(not in use ; but the sb. behuf, need, occurs). p. The form of these
verbs shews that they are derivatives from a substantive. Also, the
be- is a mere prefix. The simple verb appears only in the Icel. h<efa,
to aim at, to hit, to behove ; Swed. h'dfvas, to beseem. See Behoof.
BELABOUR, to ply vigorously, beat soundly. (Hybrid ; E. and
F.) 'He ... belaboured Jubellius with a cudgel ; ' North's Plutarch,
p. 964. E. prefix be-, q. v. ; and labour, q. v.
BELAY, to fasten a rope. (Du.) To belay is to fasten a rope by
laying it round and round a couple of pins. Borrowed from Du.
beleggen, to cover, to overlay, to border, to lace, garnish with fringe,
&c. ; and, as a naut. term, to belay. From prefix be- (the same as
E. prefix be-), and leggen, to lay, place, cognate with E. lay. See
Lay. fl' There is also a native E. word to belay, a compound of
be- and lay, but it means ' to besiege ' or ' beleaguer ' a castle ; see
Spenser, Sonnet 14. See Beleaguer.
BELCH, to eructate. (E.) M. E. betten, belke, Towneley Myst.
p. 314. The sb. bolke is found, in the dat. case, in P. Plowman, B.
v. 397 ; and the vb. bolken, Prompt. Parv. p. 43. A. S. bealcan, Ps.
xviii. 2 ; commoner in the derived form bealcettan, Ps. xliv. i ; Ps.
cxviii. 171. Formed from the stem bel-, which appears in bell, bell-oto,
with the addition of the formative suffix -c or -i ; cf. tal-k, from tell ;
stal-it (along), from steal. Cf. Du. bullten, to low, bellow, roar. See
Bellow.
BELDAM, an old woman. (F., L.) Ironically used for beldame,
i. e. fair lady, in which sense it occurs in Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 43.
F. belle, fair; dame, lady. Lat. bella, fair; domina, lady. Hence
beldam is a doublet of belladonna.
BELEAGUER, to besiege. (Du.) We also find the verb to
beleague ; as in 'besieging and bele aguing of cities; ' Holland's Plutarch,
p. 319 ; but this is a less correct form. Du. belegeren, to besiege;
from prefix be- (as in E.), and leger, a bed, a camp, army in encamp-
ment ; which from leggen, to lay, put, place, cognate with E. lay.
[Thus the true E. word is belay ; see Note to belay. The Du. leger
is E. lair.'] -f- G. belagern, to besiege ; lager, a camp ; legen, to lay.
+ Swed. betdgra, to besiege ; Ifiger, a bed ; lUgga, to lay. + Dan.
belatsge, to besiege ; lai^ge, to lay ; also, Dan. beleire, to besiege,
which is prob. a corruption of Du. belegeren. See Lair, Lay.
BELEMNITE, a kind of fossil. (Gk.) In Sir T. Browne, Vulg.
BELFRY.
BENISON.
59
Errors, b. ii. c. 5. s. 10. So called because shaped like the head of
a dart. Gk. /3A/mT7;s, a kind of stone, belemnite. Gk. fifof/ivov,
a. dart, missile. Gk. /SaAAfii/, to cast, throw ; also, to fall. + Skt.
gal, to drop, distil, fall. ^ GAR, to fall away ; Kick, i. 73 ; Curtius,
ii. 76.
BELFRY, properly, a watch-tower. (F., G.) Owing to a cor-
ruption, the word is now only used for ' a tower for bells' Corrupted
from M. E. her/ray, Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, B. 1187 ; berfrey. King
Alisaunder, ed. Weber, 2777. O.F. berfroit, berfreit, belefreit.
M. H. G. bercfrit, berchfrit, a watch-tower. M. H. G. here, protection
(which from bergen, to protect) ; and M. H. G. frit, /rid, O. H. G.
fridu (G.friede), a place of security (which from O. H. G.fri, cognate
with E./r). (3. The mod. G.friede means only ' peace,' but O. H. G.
fridu meant also ' a place of security,' and even ' a tower ; ' so that
bercfrit meant ' a watch-tower ' or ' guard-tower.' ^ The term was
first applied to the towers upon wheels, so much used in the siege
of towns, [f]
BELIE, to tell lies about. (E.) Much Ado, iv. 1. 148. 'Tobelye
the truth ; ' Tyndal, Works, p. 105, 1. 2. M. E. bilien, bili^en ; the
pp. bilowen occurs in P. Plowman, B. ii. 22, and in the Ancren Riwle,
p. 68. A. S. be-, prefix; and ledgan, to lie. See Lie.
BELIEVE, to have faith in. (E.) M. E. beleve, Ayenbite of
Inwyt, p. 151 ; E. E. 'bilefde, pt. t. of bilefen, Layamon, 2856*. The
prefix is A. S. be- or U-, substituted for the earlier prefix ge-. A. S.
ge-lyfan, gellfan, gelifan (Grein, i. 424), to believe. + Goth, galaubjan,
to believe, to esteem as valuable ; from galaubs, valuable, which
again is from Goth. Hubs, dear, equivalent to A. S. led/, Eng. lief. +
O. H. G. galaupjan, to believe ; whence G. glauben. See Lief. Der.
belief (M. E. bileue, O. Eng. Homilies, i. 187), believ-able, believ-er.
BELL, a hollow metallic vessel for making a loud noise. (E.)
M. E. belle, a bell; Prompt. Parv. p. 30; Layamon, 29441. A. S.
bella, Alfred's Beda, iv. 23 (Lye). A. S. bellaa, to bellow, make a
loud sound (Grein). See Bellow.
BELLADONNA, deadly nightshade. (Ital., - L.) The name is
due to the use of it by ladies to give expression to the eyes, the
pupils of which it expands. Ital. bella donna, a fair lady. Lat. bella
domina, a fair lady. Bella is the fern, of bellus, handsome ; see
Beau. Domina is the fern, of dominus, a lord ; see Don, sb. Doub-
let, beldam.
BELLE, a fair lady. (F..-L.) In Pope, Rape of the Lock, i. 8.
See Beldam, and Beau ; or see above.
BELLIGERENT, carrying on war. (Lat.) In Sterne, Tristram
Shandy, vol. vi. c. 31. Lat. belligerent-, stem of belligerens, waging
war. Lat. belli-, for bello-, stem of helium, war ; and gerens, pres.
pt. of gerere, to carry, (i) Lat. helium stands for O. Lat. duellum;
see Duel. (2) Lat. gerere, pp. gestus, appears in E. jest ; see
Jest.
BELLOW, to make a loud noise. (E.) Gower uses bellewing
with reference to the noise made by a bull ; C. A. iii. 203. The more
usual M. E. form is to bell. ' As loud as belleth wind in helle ; '
Chaucer, Ho. of Fame, iii. 713. A. S. bellan, to make a loud noise,
Grein, i. 89. + O. H. G. pellan, to make a loud noise. ^ BHAL,
to resound ; Fick, ii. 422. B. The suffix -aw is due to the g in the
derived A. S. form bylgean, to bellow, Martyr. 17 Jan. (Bosworth,
Lye) ; cf. Icel. belja, to bellow.
BELLOWS, an implement for blowing. (E.) M. E. heli, below, a
bag, used in the special sense of ' bellows.' Spelt bely in Chaucer,
Pers. Tale, Group I, 351, where Tyrwhitt reads belous. The pi. belies,
beloivcs, was also used in the same sense. ' Belou/e, or belows, follis ; '
Prompt. Parv. p. 30. The numerous examples in Matzner, s. v. ball,
shew that bellows is the pi. of belowe, another form of belly ; and
again, belly is another form of bag. A. S. btelig, a bag. Cf. G.
blasebalg = a. blow-bag, a pair of bellows. See Belly, and Bag.
BELLY, the lower part of the human trunk. (E.) M. E. bely, pi.
belies; also boli, pi. holies; P. Plowman, A. prol. 41. A. S. belg, a
bag, used, e. g. in the comp. bean-belgos, husks or shells of beans
(Bosworth). + Du. balg, the belly. + Swed. biilg, belly, bellows. +
Dan. balg, shell, husk, belly. + Gael, bolg, belly, bag. f The
words bag, belly, bilge are all one, and bellows is merely their plural ;
the original A. S. form is balig, and the original sense is bag. See
Bag.
BELONG, to pertain to. (E.) M. E. belonge, belongen, Gower,
C. A. i. 12, 121, ii. 351 ; Ayenbite of Inwyt, ed. Morris, p. 12, 1. 17.
Not found in A. S., which has only the simple verb langian, to long
after, to crave for; Grein, ii. 157. But cf. Du. belangen, to concern ;
wat belangt, as far as concerns, as for ; belangende, concerning. [The
O. H. G. pelangen, M. H. G. belangen, means to long for, crave after.]
See Long, in the sense ' to crave.'
BELOVED, much loved. (E.) M. E. beloved, Gower, C. A. i. 106.
It is the pp. of M. E. bilufien, biluvien, to love greatly ; spelt bilmien in
Layamon, i. 39. A. S. prefix be-, bi-, here used intensively ; and A. S.
lufian, to love. See Love. ^f The M. E. bilufien also means ' to
please ;' O. Eng. Homilies, i. 257; cf. Du. believen, to please.
BELOW, beneath. (E.) M. E. biloogh, adv., beneath, Allit. Poems,
ed. Morris, B. 1 16. Compounded of prep, bi, be, by ; and loogh, low,
low. See Low.
BELT, a girdle. (E.) M. E. belt ; dative belle, in Chaucer, C. T.
3931. A. S. belt (Bosworth). + Icel. belli. + Irish and Gaelic bait, a
belt, a border. + Lat. balteus, a belt ; but the close similarity of this
form to the rest shews that it can hardly be a cognate form ; perhaps
the Latin was derived from the old Celtic, [f]
BEMOAN, to moan for, sorrow for. (E.) The latter vowel has
changed, as in moan. M. E. bimenen, to bemoan ; O. E. Homilies, i.
13. A. S. bimcenan, Grein, i. 117. A. S. hi-, prefix; and nucnan, to
moan. See Moan.
BENCH, a long seat or table. (E.) M. E. benche, Chaucer, C. T.
7334. A. S. benc (Grein). + Du. bank, a bench, form, pew, shelf;
also, a bank for money. + Icel. bekkr (for benkr), a bench. + Swed.
and Dan. bank, a bench, form, pew. + G. bant, a bench ; a bank for
money. Fick gives a supposed Teutonic banlti; iii. 201. See Bank,
of which bench is a doublet. Der. bench-er.
BEND, to bow, curve. (E.) M. E. benden, bende ; ' bende bowys,
tendo,' Prompt. Parv. p. 30. A. S. bendan, to bend ; Grein, i. 90.
A. S. bend, a bond. A. S. bindan, to bind. See Bind.+Icel. benda.
+Swed. biinda, to stretch, to strain. ^f Bend means to strain a
bow by fastening the band or string. The vowel e is for a, a mutation
of a, and the vowel a is the original vowel seen in band, the pt. t. of
bindan. The present is an excellent instance of the laws of vowel-
change. We see at once that bend, with a secondary vowel , is a
derivative from (and later than) band, with the primary vowel a. Cf.
bend= a band ; Gower, C. A. iii. 1 1.
BENEATH, below. (E.) M. E. benelhi, Gower, C. A. i. 35 ;
bineo'Sen, Ancren Riwle, p. 390. A. S. beneoftan, prep., below; Grein,
i. 91. + Du. beneden, adv. and prep. From A. S. prefix be-, by ; and
neoSan, adv., below ; Grein, ii. 290. Here -an is an adverbial suffix,
and neo$- = ni$-, seen in A. S. nfSe, adv., below, and n(Ser, nether,
lower. See Nether.
BENEDICTION, blessing. (F..-L.) Shak. has both benedic-
tion and benison ; the former is really a pedantic or Latin form, and
the latter was in earlier use in English. See Benison.
BENEFACTOR, a doer of good to another. (Lat.) Benefactor
in North's Plutarch, p. 735 ; benefactour in Tyndal 's Works, p. 216,
col. i ; but the word was not French. Lat. benefactor, a doer of good.
Lat. bent, well ; and/aor, a doer, from Lat./ar, pp.factus, to do.
Der. benefact-ion, benefacl-ress.
BENEFICE, a church preferment. (F..-L.) M. E. benefice,
Chaucer, Prol. 291. F. benefice (Cot.) Low Lat. beneficium, a grant
of an estate; Lat. beneficium, a kindness, lit. well-doing. Lat.
benefacere, to benefit. Lat. bene, well ; anAfacere, to do. See Bene-
ficium in Ducange. From Lat. benefacere we have also benefic-ence,
benefic-ent, benefic-i-al, benefic-i-al-ly, benefic-i-ary ; and see benefit.
BENEFIT, a favour. (F..-L.) Rich, quotes from Elyot's
Govemour, bk. ii. c. 8 : ' And that vertue [benevolence] . . is called
than beneficence ; and the deed, vulgarly named a good lonrne, may be
called a benfite.' M. E. bienfet, which occurs with the sense of
'good action' in P. Plowman, B. v. 621 ; also bienfait, Gower, C. A.
iii. 187. O. F. bienfet (F. bienfait), a benefit. Lat. benefactum, a
kindness conferred. Lat. bene, well; ait&faclum, done, pp. offacere,
to do. ^f The word has been modified so as to make it more like
the Latin, with the odd result that bene- is Latin, and -fit (for -fet) is
Old French ! The spelling benefet occurs in Wyclif s Bible, Ecclus.
xxix. 9.
BENEVOLENCE, an act of kindness, charity. (F..-L.) He
reysed therby notable summes of money, the whiche way of the
leuyinge of this money was after named a benyuolence ; ' Fabyan,
Edw. IV, an. 1475. F. benevolence, 'a well-willing, or good will ; a
favour, kindnesse, benevolence ; ' Cot. Lat. beneuolentia, kindness. Lat.
beneuolus, kind ; also spelt benitiolus. Lat. beni-, from benus, old form
of bonus, good ; and uolo, I wish. See Voluntary. Der. From the
same source, benevolent, benevolent-ly.
BENIGHTED, overtaken by nightfall. (E.) In Dryden's
Eleonora, 1.57. Pp. of the verb benight. ' Now jealousie no more
benights her face;' Davenant, Gondibert, bk. iii. c. 5. Coined by
prefixing the verbal prefix be- to the sb. night.
BENIGN, affable, kind. (F..-L.) Chaucer has benigne. C. T.
4598. O.F. benigne (F. benin). Lat. benignus, kind, a contracted
form of benigenus ; from beni-, attenuated form of the stem of benns,
old form of bonus, good ; and -germs, born (as in indigenus), from the
verb genere, old form of gignere, to beget. y' GAN, to beget. Der.
benign-ly, benign-ant, benign-ant-ly, benign-i-ly.
BENISON, blessing. (F., - L.) Shak. has benison, Macb. ii. 4. 40 ;
Chaucer has it also, C. T. 9239. Spelt beneysun, Havelok, 1723.
60
BENT-GRASS.
0. F. beneison, beneifon, Roquefort ; beneichon, beneifun, beneison,
Bartsch, Chrestomathie Fran9aise, where references are given. Lat.
ace. benedictionem, from nom. &i<fic/io. Lat. bertedicttts, pp. of bene-
dicere, (i) to use words of good omen, (2) to bless. Lat. bene, well ;
and dicere, to speak. Doublet, benediction.
BENT-GRASS, a coarse kind of grass. (E.) ' Hoc gramen,
bent;' Wright's Vocabularies, i. 191. A.S. beonet, a form adduced
by Matzner, but not in Lye, nor Bosworth, nor Grein. + O. H. G.
pinuz, M. H. G. binez, binz, G. binse, bent-grass. Root unknown ;
there is no very clear reason for connecting it with bind, beyond
what is suggested s. v. Bin.
BENUMB, to make numb. (E.) Written benum by Turberville ;
Pyndara's Answere, st. 40 (R.) Benum is a false form, being properly
not an infin. , but a past part, of the verb benim ; and hence Gower has :
' But altogether he is benome The power both of hand and fete ' = he
is deprived of the power ; C. A. iii. 2. See Numb.
BEQUEATH, to dispose of property by will. (E.) M.E. byquelhe,
Chaucer, C. T. 2770. A.S. be-cwfSan, bi-cweftan, to say, declare,
affirm; Grein, i. 82, 113. From prefix be- or bi-, and A. S. cweftan,
to say. See Quoth.
BEQUEST, a bequeathing ; a thing bequeathed. (E.) M. E.
biqueste, Langtoft, p. 86 ; but very rare, the usual form being biquidi,
byquide, bequidt (trisyllabic), as in Rob. of Glouc., pp. 381, 384. From
prefix be-, and A. S. cwide, a saying, opinion, declaration, Grein,
1. 176. A.S. bicwelSan, to declare. See Bequeath. B. Hence
bequest is a corrupted form ; there seems to have been a confusion
between quest (of F. origin) and quide, from quoth (of E. origin). The
common use of inquest as a Law-French term, easily suggested the
false form bequest.
BEREAVE, to deprive of. (E.) M. E. bireue, bereue (u for v),
Chaucer, C. T. 12410. A. S. bireafian, beredfian, Grein, i. 92, 118.
A. S. be-, prefix ; and redfian, to rob. See Reave. Der. bereft,
short for bireued (u for v ), the pp. of bireven ; bereave-ment.
BERGAMOT, a variety of pear. (F., Ital.) F. bergamotte, in
Cotgrave, explained as ' a yellow peare, with a hard rind, good for
perry ; also, the delicate Italian small peare, called the Bergamotte
peare. 1 Ital. bergamotta, bergamot pear; also, the essence called
bergamot. Ital. Bergamo, the name of a town in Lombardy.
BERRY, a small round fruit. (E.) M. E. berye, berie (with one
r), Chaucer, prol. 207. A.S. berige, berga, Deut. xxiii. 24; where
the stem of the word is her-, put for bes-, which is for bos-. + Du.
bes, bezie, a berry. + Icel. her. + Swed. and Dan. bar. + G. beere,
O. H. G. peri. + Goth, bast, a berry. Cf. Skt. bhas, to eat ; the sense
seems to have been ' edible fruit."
BERTH, a secure position. (E.?) It is applied (i) to the place
where a ship lies when at anchor or at a wharf ; (2) to a place in a ship
to sleep in ; (3) to a comfortable official position. In Ray's Glossary
of South-Country Words, ed. 1691, we find : ' Barth, a warm place or
pasture for cows or lambs." In the Devon, dialect, barthless means
' houseless ; ' Halliwell. p. The derivation is very uncertain, but it
would appear to be the same word with birth. The chief difficulty is
to account for the extension of meaning, but the M. E. AurS, berft, or
fc'r? means (besides birth) ' a race, a nation ; ' also ' station, position,
natural place,' which comes very near the sense required. Ex. ' For
in Wr)ws sal I to fe schryue ' = confitebor tibi in nationibus, Ps. xvii
(xviii). 50 ; met. version in Spec, of Eng., ed. Morris and Skeat, p. 28.
' Jif he . . forlete his propre bur\>e ' if he abandon his own rank (or
origin) ; Chaucer, tr. of Boethius, b. iii. met. 6. ' Athalt hire burfte
i licnesse of heuenliche cunde ' = maintains her station (or conduct) in
the likeness of heavenly nature; Hali Meidenhad, p. 13, 1. 16. See
Birth. ^f It may have been confused with other words. Cf.
M. E. benve, a shady place ; Prompt. Parv. p. 33, from A. S. bearu, a
grove ; and see Burrow. It does not seem to be W. barth, a floor.
BERYL, a precious stone. (L.,-Gk.,-Arab.) In the Bible
(A. V.), Rev. xxi. 20. Spelt beril in An Old English Miscellany, ed.
Morris, p. 98. Lat. beryllus, a beryl. Gk. frjpi/XAos. p. A word of
Eastern origin ; cf. Arab, billaur or balliir, crystal ; a word given in
Palmer's Pers. Diet. col. 91. [*]
BESEECH, to ask. (E.) M. E. biseche, beseche, Gower, C. A. i.
115; but also biseke, beseke, beseken, Chaucer, Knightes Tale, 1. 60.
From the prefix be-, and M. E. sechen, seken, to seek. Cf. Du. be-
zoeken, G. besuchen, to visit ; Swed. besiita, Dan. besoge, to visit, go to
see. See Seek.
BESEEM, to be becoming. (E.) M. E. bisemen, besemen. ' Be-
cemyn, decet ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 2 7 . ' Wei bisemeS ]>e ' = it well beseems
thee ; St. Juliana, p. 55. From the prefix be-, bi- ; and the M. E.
semen, to seem. See Seem.
BESET, to set about, surround, perplex. (E.) M. E. bisetten, be-
setten, especially used of surrounding crowns, &c. with precious stones.
' With golde and riche stones Beset ; ' Gower, C. A. i. 1 27. Biset, i. e.
surrounded, Ancren Riwle, p. 378. A.S. bisettan, to surround; Grein,
BETAKE.
'i. 119. + Du. bezetten, to occupy, invest (a town). + Dan. besattle, to
fill, occupy. + Swed. besatta, to beset, plant, hedge about, people,
garrison (a fort). -f- Goth, bisatjan, to set round (a thing). + G. be-
setzen, to occupy, garrison, trim, beset. From prefix be-, hi-, and
A. S. settan, to set. See Set.
BESHREW, to imprecate a curse on. (E.) M. E. bischrewen ;
Chaucer, C. T. 6426, 6427. Wyclif uses beshrewith to translate Lat.
deprauat, Prov. ix. 9 ; A. V. ' perverteth.' Formed by prefixing be-
to the sb. shrew ; cf. bestow. See Be- and Shrew.
BESIDE, prep., by the side of; BESIDES, adv., moreover. (E.)
M. E. biside, bisiden, bisides, all three forms being used both as prep,
and adverb. ' His dangers him bisides ; ' Chaucer, C. T. prol. 404.
' Bisides Scotlonde '= towards Scotland, said of the Roman wall built
as a defence against the Scots ; Layamon, ii. 6. A. S. be sidan, used
as two distinct words ; where be means ' by,' and sidan is the dat.
sing, of sid, a side. ^f The more correct form is beside ; besides is
a later development, due to the habit of using the suffix -es to form
adverbs ; the use of besides as a preposition is, strictly, incorrect, but is
as old as the 1 2th century.
BESIEGE, to lay siege to. (Hybrid ; E. and F.) M. E. biiegm,
besegen. ' To bysegy his castel ; ' Rob. of Glouc. p. 399. Formed by
prefixing be- or hi- to the M. E. verb segen, formed from the M. E.
sb. sege, a siege. See Siege. Der. besieg-er.
BESOM, a broom. (E.) M. E. besum ; as in ' Hoec scopa, a
besum;' Wright's Vocabularies, i. 235, 276. Also besme, besawme,
Prompt. Parv. p. 33. A. S. besema, besem ; Luke, xi. 25 ; Mat. xii. 44.
+ O. Du. bessem, Oudemans ; Du. bezem, a broom. + O. H. G. p'e-
samo, M. H. G. beseme, G. besen, a broom, a rod. B. The original
sense seems to have been a rod ; or perhaps a collection of twigs or
rods. Mr. Wedgwood cites a Dutch form brem-bessen, meaning
'broom-twigs.' Du. besseaboom means 'a currant-tree;' but here
bessen may be better connected with Du. bes, Goth, baa, a berry,
E. berry. Root undetermined.
BESOT, to make sottish. (Hybrid ; E. and F.) Shak. has be-
sotted, infatuated, Troil. ii. 2. 143. From verbal prefix be-, and sot, q. v.
BESPEAK, to speak to ; to order or engage for a future time.
(E.) Shak. has bespoke, Errors, iii. i. 176. M. E. bispeten. 'And
byspekith al his deth ; ' King Alisaunder, ed. Weber, 93. A. S. besprecan,
to speak to, tell, complain, accuse; Orosius, i. 10, it. [For the
dropping of r, see Speak.] A. S. be-, prefix ; and sprecan, to speak.
Cf. O. H. G. bisprdcha, detraction.
BEST ; see Better.
BESTEAD, to situate, to assist. (Scand.) Seldom used except
in the past participle. ' Bestad, or wytheholden yn wele or wo, de-
tentus ; ' Prompt. Parv. M. E. bistad, bestad, pp. of a verb bisteden,
bestedea, to situate, to place under certain circumstances. Spelt bi-
staSet in St. Marharete, p. 3. Of old Low German origin, and ap-
parently Scandinavian. The A. S. has the simple verb tM$%an, to set,
set fast, plant ; Grein, ii. 477. Cf. Du. besteden, to employ, bestow ;
but especially Dan. bestede, to place, to inter, to bury ; with pp. bestedl,
used as our E. bestead, as in veere ilde bestedt, to be ill bestead, to be
badly off ; vtere bestedt i Nod, to be in distress, to be badly off. Simi-
larly is used Icel. staddr, circumstanced, the pp. of sledja, to stop, fix,
appoint. See Stead, [t]
BESTIAL, beast-like. (F..-L.) In Rom. of the Rose, 6718.
See Beast.
BESTOW, to place, locate, &c. (E.) M. E. bistowen, bestowen,
to place, occupy, employ, give in marriage ; Chaucer, Troilus, i. 967 ;
C. T. 3979, 5095. From the prefix be-, and M. E. stowe, a place ;
hence it means ' to put into a place." See Stow. Der. bestow-er,
bestow-al.
BESTREW, to strew over. (E.) In Temp. iv. i. 20. M. E.
bistrewen. Old Eng. Homilies, p. 5. A. S. be- or 61-, prefix; and
streowian, to strew. See Strew.
BESTRIDE, to stride over. (E.) Li Shak. Cor. iv. 5. 1 24. M. E.
bistriden, Layamon, iii. 118. A.S. bestridan (Lye). A. S. be-, prefix;
and stridan, to stride. See Stride.
BET, a wager ; to wager. (F.) Shak. has it both as sb. and verb ;
Hen. V, ii. I. 99 ; Haml. v. 2. 170. It is a mere contraction of abet,
formerly used both as a sb. and a verb. See Abet. ^f The A. S.
bad, a pledge (Bosworth), has nothing to do with it, but = Icel. bud, an
offer, and Lowland Scotch bode, a proffer ; the change from d to o
being common ; as in E. bone from A. S. ban. Again, the A. S.
betan, to better, amend, produced Scottish beet, which is quite dif-
ferent from bet. Both suggestions are wrong.
BETAKE, to enter on, take to. (Hybrid ; E. and Scand.) M. E.
bitalten, which was chiefly used in the sense of ' to entrust, deliver,
hand over to.' ' Heo sculleS eow Jiat lond bitalten ' = they shall give
you the land ; Layamon, i. 266. Hence ' to commit ;* as in : ' Ich
bitake min soule God ' = I commit my soul to God ; Rob. of Glonc.
p. 475. From A. S. prefix be- or bi-, and M. E. taken, which is a
BETEL.
Scandinavian word, from Icel. taka, to take, deliver. No doubt the
sense was influenced by the (really different) A. S. betJccan, to assign,
Grein, i. 95 ; but this was a weak verb, and would have become
beleach, pt. tense betaught.
BETEL, a species of pepper. (Port., Malabar.) Mentioned in
1681 ; see Arber's Eng. Gamer, i. 414. Port, betel, betele. Malabar
beetla-codi (Webster).
BETHINK, to think on, call to mind. (E.) M. E. bithenchen,
bithenken, bithinken ; Layamon, ii. 531. A. S. bibencan, to consider,
think about ; Grein, i. 121. A. S. hi-, prefix ; and fyencan, to think ;
see Think. + Du. and G. bedenken, to consider. + Dan. betdnke, to
consider. + Swed. betiinka, to consider.
BETIDE, to happen to, befall. (E.) M. E. billden, Ancren Riwle,
p. 278. M. E. prefix bi- or be-, and M.E. tiden, to happen ; which
from A. S. Man, to happen (Bosworth). A. S. Ad, a tide, time, hour.
See Tide.
BETIMES, in good time. (E.) Formerly betime ; the final s is
due to the habit of adding -s or -es to form adverbs ; cf. whiles from
while, afterwards lengthened to whilst ; besides from beside ; &c. ' Bi
so thow go bityme ' = provided that thou go betimes ; P. Plowman,
B. v. 647. A. S. be or bi, by ; and tima, time. See Time.
BETOKEN, to signify. (E.) M. E. bitacnen, bilocnen, bitokenen ;
Ormulum, 1716. Just as in the case of believe, q. v., the prefix fee-
has been substituted for the original prefix ge-. A. S. getdcnian, to
betoken, signify, Grein, i. 462. A. S. ge-, prefix; and tdcn, a token ;
Grein, ii. 520. See Token. [f Observe that the right spelling
is rather be/okn ; i. e. the final -en is for -n, where the n is a real part
of the word, not the M. E. infinitive ending. Cf. Du. beteeken-en,
Dan. betegn-e, Swed. beteckn-a, G. bezeichn-en, to denote.
BETRAY, to act as traitor. (E. and F.) M.E. bitraien, betraien,
Chaucer, Troil. and Cress, v. 1 247. It appears early, e. g. in Rob.
of Glouc. p. 454; in King Horn, 1251 ; and in O. Eng. Misc., ed.
Morris, p. 40. From the E. prefix be- ; and the M. E. traien, to be-
tray, of F. origin. [This hybrid compound was due to confusion
with bewray, q. v.] p. The M. E. traien is from O. F. trair (F. trahir) ;
which from Lat. tradere, to deliver. Lat. tra-, for trans, across ; and
-dere, to put, cognate with Skt. dhd, to put ; from ^ DHA, to put,
place. See Traitor, Treason. Der. betray-er, betray-al.
BETROTH, to affiance. (E.) M.E. bitreuthien, to betroth;
occurs thrice in Shoreham's Poems, ed. Wright (Percy Society), pp.
66, 70. Made by prefixing the verbal prefix bi- or be- to the sb.
treuthe, or treowthe ; which is from A. S. tredwft, troth, truth ; Grein,
i. 552. See Troth, Truth. Der. betroth-al, betroth-ment.
BETTER, BEST. (E.) 1. The M. E. forms are, for the com-
parative, both bet (Chaucer, prol. 242) and better (Chaucer, prol. 256).
The former is commonly adverbial, like Lat. mclius ; the latter ad-
jectival, Lat. melior. A. S. bet, adv.; betera, adj. (Grein, i. 95). +
Goth, batiza, adj., better ; from a root BAT, good. 2. Again, best
is short for A. S. betst (Grein, i. 96), which is an obvious contraction of
BEZEL.
61
bel-est. + Goth, batista, best ; from the same root BAT. Cognate with
Goth, bat- is Skt. bhadra, excellent ; cf. Skt. bhand, to be fortunate, or
to make fortunate. See Boot (2).
given above, as being the clearest. A. The other forms of belter
are : Du. beter, adj. and adv. ; Icel. belri, adj., betr, adv. ; Dan. bedre ;
Swed. bdttre ; G. besser. B. Other forms of best are : Du. and G.
best ; Icel. beztr, adj., bezt, adv. ; Dan. bedst ; Swed. bust.
BETWEEN, in the middle of. (E.) M. E. bytwene, bitwene, by-
tuene, Rob. of Glouc. p. 371 ; Gower, C. A. i. 9. A. S. be-tweonan,
be-tweonum, Grein, i. 96. A. S. be, prep., by ; and twednum, dat. pi. of
tweon, double, twain, as in ' bi siem tweinum,' between two seas ;
Grein, ii. 557. p. Twedn is an adj. formed from A. S. twd, two ; see
also twih, two, twi-, double, tweu-, double, in Grein. Cf. G. zwischen,
between, from zwei, two. See Twin, Twain, Two.
BETWIXT, between. (E.) Formed (with excrescent t) from
M. E. betwixe, bitwixe, Chaucer, C. T. 2133. A. S. betweox, belweohs,
betweoh, Grein, i. 96. From be, by ; and tweohs, tweoh, forms extended
from tii'ih, two, twe6-, double ; all from twd, two. + O. Friesic bitwischa,
for bitwiska, between ; from bi, by, and twisk, twiska, between, which
is ultimately from twa, two. Cf. G. zwischen, between, from O. H. G.
zvisc, zuiski, two-fold ; which from zwei, two. See Two.
BEVEL, sloping ; to slope, slant. (F.) Shak. has : 'I may be
straight, though they themselves be bevel,' i.e. crooked ; Sonnet 121.
Cotgrave has : ' Buveati, m. a kind of squire [carpenter's rule] or
squire-like instrument, having moveable and compasse branches ; or,
the one branch compasse and the other straight: some call it a
bevel!.' Now, as F. -eau stands for O. F. -el, it is clear that E. bevel
represents an O. F. buvel, or more probably bevel, which is not, how-
ever, to be found. We rind, however, the Span, baivel, a bevel, ac-
cented on the e. The etym. of the O. F. word is unknown, [t]
BEVERAGE, drink. (F..-L.) Shak. has beverage. Winter's
Tale, i. 2. 346. Cotgrave has : ' Bruvage, Breuvage, drinke, bever-
age." O. F. bovraige, drink, with which cf. O. F. beverie, the action
of drinking. O. F. bevre, boivre (see boivre in Burguy), to drink, with
O. F. suffix -aige, equiv. to Lat. -aticum. Lat. bibere, to drink ; cf.
Skt. pd, to drink. -V PA, to drink; Pick, i. 131. ^f Cf. Ital.
beveraggio, drink ; Span, brebage, drink, [f]
BEVY, a company, esp. of ladies. (F.) Spenser has : ' this bevie
of Ladies bright ; ' Shep. Kal. April, 1 18. On which E. K. has the
note t ' Bevie ; a beavie of ladies is spoken figuratively for a company
or troupe ; the term is taken of larkes. For they say a bevie of
larkes, even as a covey of partridge, or an eye of pheasaunts." Spelt
beue ( = bev) in Skelton, Garl. of Laurel, 771. F. bevie, which Mr.
Wedgwood cites, and explains as ' a brood, flock, of quails, larks,
roebucks, thence applied to a company of ladies generally.' Florio's
Ital. Diet, has : ' Beva, a beauie ' [bevy] ; and mod. Ital. beva means
' a drink.' p. Origin uncertain ; but the Ital. points to the original
sense as being a company for drinking, from O. F. bevre, Ital. bevere,
to drink. See Beverage, [f]
BEWAIL, to wail for, lament. (E. ; or E. and Scand.) M. E.
biwailen, bewailen ; K. Alisaunder, ed. Weber, 4394. From the prefix
be-, and M. E. wailen, to wail. See Wail.
BEWARE, to be wary, to be cautious. (E.) This is now written
as one word, and considered as a verb ; yet it is nothing but the two
words be ware run together ; the word ware being here an adjective,
viz. the M. E. war, for which the longer term wary has been substi-
tuted in mod. E. 'Be war therfor ' = therefore be wary, Chaucer,
C. T. Group B, 119. ' A hal felawes! belh war of swich a lape!'
= aha ! sirs, beware (lit. be ye wary) of such a jest ; Chaucer, C. T.,
B. 1629. The latter phrase cannot be mistaken ; since beth is the im-
perative plural of the verb. Cf. A. S. wter, adj., wary, cautious. See
Wary.
BEWILDER, to perplex. (E.) Dryden has the pp. bewilder 'd ;
tr. of Lucretius, bk. ii. 1. 1 1 . Made by prefixing be- to the prov. Eng.
wildern, a wilderness, shortened to wilder by the influence of the
longer form wilderness, which would naturally be supposed as com-
pounded of wilder- and -ness, whereas it is rather compounded of
wildern- and -ness, and should, etymologically, be spelt with double .
For examples of wildern, a wilderness, see Halliwell's Dictionary,
and Layamon's Brut, 1. 1 238. p. Thus bewilder (for bewildern) is ' to
lead into a wilderness,' which is just the way in which it was first
used. Dryden has : ' Bewilder'd in the maze of life * (as above) ; and
Addison, Cato, i. I, has : ' Puzzled in mazes, . . . Lost and bewildered
in the fruitless search.' y. There is thus no reason for supposing it
other than a purely native word, though other languages .possess
words somewhat similar. Cf. Du. verwilderen, to grow wild, ver-
wilderd, uncultivated ; Dan. forvilde, to lead astray, bewilder, per-
plex; passive forvildes, to go astray, lose one's way; Swed. fiirvilla,
to puzzle, confound ; Icel. villr, bewildered, astray ; villa, to bewilder,
^f The Scandinavian words shew that the peculiar sense of E. bewilder
has a trace of Scandinavian influence ; i. e. it was a Northern English
word. See Wilderness. Der. bewilder-ment.
BEWITCH, to charm with witchcraft. (E.) M. E. biwicchen,
The Gothic forms have been I bewicchen; spelt biwmched (unusual) in Layamon, ii. 597, where the
later MS. has iwicched. From prefix be- or bi-, and A. S. wiccian, to
be a witch, to use witchcraft ; Thorpe's Ancient Laws of England,
ii. 274, sect. 39. A. S. wicce, a witch. See Witch. Der. bewitch-
ment, bewitch-er-y,
BEWRAY, to disclose ; properly, to accuse. (E.) In A. V.
Matt. xxvi. 73 ; and, for numerous examples, see Eastwood and
Wright's Bible Wordbook. M. E. bewraien, biwreyen ; Chaucer has
bywreye, to disclose, reveal, C. T. 6529, and also the simple verb
wreye in the same sense, C. T. 3502. Prefix be-, and A. S. wregan, to
accuse ; ' agunnon hine wregan,' they began to accuse him, Luke,
xxiii. 2. + Icel. rccgja (orig. vrcegja), to slander, defame. + Swed.
roja, to discover, betray. + O. Fries, biwrogia, to accuse. + Goth.
wrohjan, to accuse. +G. rugen, to censure. The Goth, and Icel. forms
shew that the verb is formed from a sb., which appears as Goth.
wrdhs, an accusation ; Icel. rog, a slander ; cf. G. ritge, a censure.
See Fick, iii. 310.
BEY, a governor. (Turkish.) Modern. Turk, big (pron.
nearly as E. bay), a lord, a prince ; Rich. Diet., p. 310. Cf. Persian
' baig, a lord ; a Mogul title ; ' Palmer's Pers. Diet. col. 102.
BEYOND, on the farther side of. (E.) M. E. beyonde, biyonde,
beyeonden; Maundeville's Travels, pp. I, 142, 314. A.S. begeondan,
Matt. iv. 25. A. S. be-, and geond, giond, prep., across, beyond ; with
adv. suffix -an. See geond in Grein, i. 497. And see Yon,
Yonder.
BEZEL, the part of a ring in which the stone is set, and which
holds it in. (F., L. ?) Also spelt basil. It occurs in Cotgrave's
Diet., who explains F. biseau by ' a bezle, bezling, or scuing [i. e.
skewing] ; such a slopenesse, or slope form, as is in the point of an
iron leaver, chizle, &c.' The E. basil is generally used of the sloping
62
BEZOAE.
BIGAMY.
edge to which a chisel is ground ; the application to the ring
relates to the sloping edge or rim of metal round the stone. The F.
biseau had an older spelling bisel (noted by Roquefort), from which E.
bezel and basil are corruptions. O. F. bisel, which Roquefort explains
by ' en pente ; angle imperceptible ; ' the true sense being, apparently,
' a sloping edge.' + Span, bisel (accented on ), a basil, bezel ; the
edge of a looking-glass, or crystal plate. [Looking-glasses used to
have a slanted border, so as to be thin at the edge.] B. Origin
unknown ; but we should not pass over Low Lat. ' bisalus, lapis cui
sunt duo anguli ; ' Ducange. This looks like the same word, and as if
derived from Lat. bis, double, and a/a, a wing. The Lat. a/a, equi-
valent to ax-la, also signifies the axil of a plant, i. e. the angle formed
by a leaf where it leaves the stem. This gives the sense of ' slope,'
and the ' bezle ' seems to be the ' slope ' formed by the two faces of
anything that has a bevelled edge. C. If this be the solution, there
is a confusion between ' face ' and ' angle ; ' but the confusion is pro-
bably common. Where Into faces meet there is but one angle ; but
it is probable that many are unaware of this, and cannot tell the
difference between the two ideas indicated. In any case, we may
feel sure that (as Diez remarks) the Lat. bis, double, has something
to do with the word.
BEZOAH, a kind of stone. (F.,- Port., -Pers.) O. F. bezoar,
1 6th cent, spelling of F. bezoard, according to Brachet. Cotgrave
has : ' Bezoard, a Beazar stone.' Port, bezoar ; see Brachet, who re-
marks that the word was introduced from India by the Portuguese.
Pers. pdd-zahr, the bezoar-stone, also called zahr-ddrii ; Palmer's
Pers. Diet. coll. 107, 328. So called because it was a supposed anti-
dote against poison. Pers. pad, expelling ; and zahr, poison ; Rich.
Diet., pp. 315, 790.
BI-, prefix. (Lat.) Generally Latin ; in bias, it is F., but still from
Lat. Lat. bi-, prefix = dvi- ; cf. Lat. bellum for duellmn. Lat. duo,
two. Cf. Gk. &-, prefix, from 8uo, two ; Skt. dvi-, prefix, from dva,
two ; A. S. turi-, prefix, from tied, two. See Fick, {.625. See Two.
tf In M. E. tie prefix bi- occurs as another spelling of the prefix
be- ; see Be-.
BIAS, an inclination to one side, a slope. (F., L.) Spelt bimt
in Holland's Pliny, bk. xxvii. c. 4 (on the Aloe). F. biais, a slant,
a slope. Lat. ace. bifacem, used by Isidore of Seville in the sense
of squinting, of one who looks sidelong. (A similar loss of f occurs
in antienne from Lat. antifona or antiphona ; for the change from -acem
to -ais, cf. vrai from a theoretical form veracum as a variant of vera-
cem ; Brachet.) ^f This is not wholly satisfactory, [t]
BIB, a cloth on an infant's breast. (Lat.) Used by Beaum. and
Fletcher, The Captain, iii. 5. It must have meant a cloth for im-
bibing moisture, borrowed, half jocularly, from the M. E. bibben, to
tipple, imbibe, used by Chaucer, C. T. 4160 : ' This miller hath so
wisly bibbed ale.' This, again, must have been borrowed directly
from Lat. bibere, to drink, and may be imagined to have been also
used jocularly by those familiar with a little monkish Latin. Hence
wine-bibber, Luke, vii. 34, where the Vulgate has bibens uinum. Der.
from the same source ; bibb-er, bib-ul-ous.
BIBLE, the sacred book. (F.,-L.,-Gk.) M. E. bible, byble;
Chaucer, Ho. of Fame, iii. 244; P. Plowman, B. x. 318. F. bible.
Lat. biblia. Gk. /3i/3Ai'a, a collection of writings, pi. of 0i0\iov, a
little book ; dimin. of &'/3Ao, a book. Gk. /9t/j8\os, the Egyptian
papyrus, whence paper was first made ; hence, a book. Der.
bibl-ic-al. [t]
BIBLIOGRAPHY, the description of books. (Gk.) Modem.
From Gk. /3i/3Aj'o-, for 0tf}\iov, a book ; and ypa^fiv, to write. See
Bible. Der. bibliograph-ic-al ; and from the same source, biblio-
grapk-er.
BIBLIOLATRY, book-worship. (Gk.) Used by Byrom, Upon
the Bp. of Gloucester's Doctrine of Grace (R.) From Gk. ffiptio-,
for 0if!\tov, a book ; and Aar/xia, service ; see Idolatry.
BIBLIOMANIA, a passion for books. (Gk.) Modem. From
Gk. /9ij3Aio-, for 0i0\iov, a book ; and E. mania, also of Gk. origin ;
see Mania. Der. bibliomania-c.
BICE, a pale blue colour ; green bice is a pale green. (F.) The
true sense is 'grayish.' Borrowed from F. bise, fern, of bis, which
Cotgrave explains as ' brown, duskie, blackish.' He gives too :
'Roche bise, a hard, and blewish rocke, orquarrey, of stone.' Cf. F. bis
blanc, whitey-brown ; O. F. aztir bis, grayish blue ; vert bis, grayish
green. The word is found also in Italian as bigio, grayish. Origin
unknown ; see Diez.
BICKER, to skirmish. (C.) M. E. bikere, P. Plowman, B. xx.
78 ; bilter, sb., a skirmish, Rob. of Glouc. p. 538 ; but it is most
commonly, and was originally, a verb. Formed, with frequentative
suffix -er, from the verb pick in the original sense of to peclt, to use
the beat; cf. ' picten with his bile," i.e. peck with his beak or bill,
Ancren Riwle, p. 84, note c. The interchange of b and p is seen in
beak and peak ; and in the same page of the Ancren Riwle, 1. 3, we
have beketh hi pecks. To which add that hiked ^without the syllable
-er) occurs in the Romaunce of King Alisaunder, ed. Weber, 1. 2337,
in the sense of ' skirmished ' or ' fought.' From a Celtic source ; cf.
W. bicra, to bicker, skirmish ; pig, a pike, the beak of a bird. ^[ A
cognate word, from the same root, is seen in Du. bicltelen, to engrave
a stone, from Du. biltlten, to notch. See Beak, Pike, Pick-axe.
BID (i), to pray. (E.) [Bid, to pray, is nearly obsolete ; but
used in what is really a reduplicated phrase, viz. ' a bidding prayer.'
To ' bid beads' was, originally, to ' pray prayers.' See Bead.] M. E.
bidden, to pray, P. Plowman, B. vii. 81. A. S. biddan, to pray (in
common use). + Du. bidden, to pray. + O. H. G. pittan, G. bit/en, to
pray, request. These are strong verbs, and so are Icel. bioja, to
pray, beg, and Goth, bidjan, to pray, ask, notwithstanding the
termination in -ja or -Jan. ^f The root is obscure, and it is not at
all certain that bid, to pray, is connected either with bid, to com-
mand, or with bide. See below, [f]
BID (2), to command. (E.) [Closely connected as this word
appears to be with E. bid, to pray, it is almost certainly from a
different root, and can be traced more easily. It has been assimilated
to bid in spelling, but should rather have taken the form bead, as in
the deriv. bead-le, q.v.] M. E. bede, Chaucer, C. T. 8236. - A. S.
beodan, to command (very common). + Goth, biudan, only in comp.
ana-biudan, to command, faur-biudan, to forbid. + Skt. bodhaya, to
cause to know, inform ; causal of budh, to awake, understand. ^
BHUDH, to awake, observe; Fick, i. 162. ^f From the same
root come G. bitten, Gk. irwOavo/uu ; see Curtius, i. 325. Der.
bidd-er, bidd-ing. ["f]
BIDE, to await, wait. (E.) M. E. bide, P. Plowman, B. xviii.
307. A. S. bidan, Grein, i. 122. + Du. beiden. + Icel. bida. +Swed.
bida. + Dan. hie. + Goth, beidan. + O. H. G. pitan (prov. G. beiten).
^f Fick connects it with Lat. fidere, to trust, Gk. ireiSdv, to per-
suade ; but Curtius is against it. See Fick, iii. 211 ; Curtius, i. 325.
See also Abide.
BIENNIAL, lasting two years. (Lat.) In Ray, On the Crea-
tion, pt. i. Lat. biennalis, the same as biennis, adj., for two years.
[The second i in biennial is due to confusion with the sb. biennium, a
space of two years.] Lat. bi-, two, double ; and annalis, lasting for
a year, which becomes ennalis in composition. Lat. annus, a year.
See Annual. Der. biennial-ly.
BIER, a frame on which a dead body is borne. (E.) M. E. beere,
Prompt. Parv. 32 ; bare, Layamon, 19481. A. S. beer, Grein, i. 78.
+ Icel. 6arar. + O. H. G. bdra. -f- Lat. fer-e-trum ; Gk. <piptT/xii>.
./BHAR, to bear. See Bear.
BIESTINGS, BEESTINGS, the first milk given by a cow
after calving. (E.) Very common in provincial English, in a great
number of differing forms, such as biskins, bislins, &c. A. S. bysting,
bytt, beost ; Bosworth and Lye quote from a copy of.iElfric's Glos-
sary : ' byst, bysting, ficce meolc ' = biest, biestings, thick milk. + Du.
biest, biestings. + G. biestmilch, biestings ; also spelt biest, bienst,
piess ; as noted in Schmeller's Bavarian Diet. i. 300. p. According to
Cotgrave, the sense is ' curdled ; ' he explains ' calleboute ' as ' curdled,
or beesty, as the milke of a woman that's newly delivered.' In dis-
cussing the O. F. beter, to bait a bear [which has nothing to do with
the present word], Diez quotes a passage to shew that la mars betada,
in Proven9al, means the ' clotted ' sea, Lat. coagulatum ; and again
quotes the Romance of Ferumbras, 1. 681, to shew that sane vermelk
betatz means ' red clotted blood ; ' in Old French, sane Irestout belt.
y. It is clear that the Provencal and O. F. words have lost s before /, as
usual (cf. F. bete from Lat. bestia), and that these examples point to
an O. F. bester, Prov. bestar, to clot ; both words being probably of
Teutonic origin. 8. The original sense in O. Teutonic is perhaps
preserved in the Goth, beist, leaven. See Diefenbach, i. 291, where
numerous spellings of the word biestings are given, and compared
with the Goth. word. The origin of beist is uncertain, but it is
generally referred (like Goth, baitrs, bitter) to Goth. 4Van, to bite ;
see Bite.
BIFURCATED, two-pronged. (Lat.) Pennant, British Zoo-
logy, has ' a large bifurcated tooth ; ' Richardson. Sir T. Browne,
Vulg. Errors, b. ii. c. 6. a, has the sb. bifurcation. Low Lat. bifurca-
lus, pp. of bifurcari, to part in two directions. Lat. bifurcus, two-
pronged. Lat. bi-, double ; and/wrca, a fork, prong. See Fork.
BIG, large. (Scand. ?) M. E. big, Chaucer, Prol. 546 ; Havelok,
1774; bigg, ' rich, well-furnished,' Prick of Conscience, ed. Morris,
1460; see also Minot's Poems, p. 29. Being used by Minot and
Hampole, it was probably at first a Northern word, and of Scandi-
navian origin ; as it does not appear in Anglo-Saxon, (3. Perhaps
bigg stands for bilg, by assimilation ; cf. Icel. belgja, to inflate, puff
out, i. e. to make big ; Swed. dial, bdlgig, bulgig, big ; Rietz. The
/ appears also in the word billow ; but has been dropped in bag. See
Billow, Bulk, and Bag.
BIGAMY, a double marriage. (F., L. and Gk.) 'Bigamieis
BIGHT.
. . twie-wifing ;' Genesis and Exodus, ed. Morris, 1. 449. F. biga-
mie. Lat. bigamia. ' Bigamy (tigamia), . . is used for an impediment
to be a clerk, Anno^Edw. I. 5;' Blount's Law Dictionary. A hybrid
compound ; from Lat. prefix bi-, twice, q. v., and Gk. -ya/tta ; imi-
tated from Gk. Stya^ua, a double marriage, which is from Gk. Si-,
twice, and a form fa/ua, derived from yd^os, marriage. [The Gk.
yd^os, marriage, and Skt. jdmd, a daughter-in-law, are rather to be
referred to the root gan, to beget, than (as Benfey thinks) to the root
yam, to tame. See Fick, i. 67; Curtius, ii. 166.] ^GAN, to be-
get. Der, bigam-ist.
BIGHT, a coil of a rope ; a bay. (Scand.) A variation of bought
or bout, Cf. Dan. and Swed. bugt, used in both senses, viz. (i) the
bight of a rope ; and (2) a bay. The vowel is perhaps due to A. S.
bige or byge, a bending, comer ; ' to anes wealles byge ' = at the comer
of a wall ; Orosius, iii. 9. The root appears in the verb to bow. See
Bout, and Bow. [f]
BIGOT, an obstinate devotee to a particular creed, a hypocrite.
(F.,- Scand.) Used in Some Specialities of Bp. Hall's Life (R.)-
F. bigot, which Cotgrave explains thus : ' An old Norman word (sig-
nifying as much as de par Dieu, or our for God's sake [he means by
God] and signifying) an hypocrite, or one that seemeth much more
holy than he is ; also, a scrupulous or superstitious fellow.' a. The
word occurs in Wace's Roman du Rou, ii. 71, where we find: ' Mult
ont Franceis Normanz laidi E de mefaiz e de mediz, Sovent lor dient
reproviers, E claiment bigoz e draschiers,' i. e. the French have much
insulted the Normans, both with evil deeds and evil words, and
often speak reproaches of them, and call them bigots and dreg-
drinkers ' (Diez). The word draschiers means ' dreggers ' or ' draffers,'
drinkers of dregs, and is of Scandinavian origin ; cf. Icel. dregjar,
dregs, pi. of dregg. We should expect that bigoz would be of similar
origin. Roquefort quotes another passage from the Roman du Rou,
fol. 228, in which the word occurs again: 'Sovent dient, Sire, por
coi Ne tolez la terre as bigos ;' i.e. they often said, Sire, wherefore
do you not take away the land from these barbarians ? In this in-
stance it rhymes with vos (you). p. The origin of the word is un-
known. The old supposition that it is a corruption of by God, a phrase
which the French picked up from often hearing it, is not, after all, very
improbable ; the chief objection to it is that by is not a Scandinavian
preposition, but English, Dutch, Friesian, and Old Saxon. However,
the French must often have heard it from the Low-German races, and
the evidence of Wace that it was a nick-name and a term of derision
is so explicit, that this solution is as good as any other. Mr. Wedg-
wood's guess that it arose in the 1 3th century is disproved at once by
the fact that Wace died before A.D. 1 200. y. At the same time, it is
very likely that this old term of derision, to a Frenchman meaningless,
may have been confused with the term beguin, which was especially
used of religious devotees. See Beguin. And it is a fact that the
name was applied to some of these orders ; some Bigutti of the order
of St. Augustine are mentioned in a charter of A. D. 1518 ; and in an-
other document, given by Ducange, we find : ' Beghardus et Beguina
et Begutta sunt viri et mulieres tertii ordinis ; ' and again Bigvttce are
mentioned, in a charter of A. D. 1 499. The transference of the nick-
name to members of these religious orders explains the modern use of
the term. Der. bigot-ry. ^| Disputed ; see Errata.
BIJOU, a trinket, jewel. (F.) Modern ; and mere French.
Origin unknown.
BILATERAL, having two sides. (L.) From Lat. hi-, double ;
and la'eralis, adj., lateral. Lat. later-, stem odatus, a side.
BILBERRY, a whortleberry. (Scand. and E.) 'As blue as
bilberry;' Shak. Merry Wives, v. 5. 49. This form is due to the Dan.
bblleb&r, the bilberry ; where bar is a berry, but the signification of
bblle is uncertain. Since, however, bilberries are also called, in Dan-
ish, by the simple term bblle, the most likely sense of bblle is balls,
from Icel. b'ollr, a ball. If so, the word means ' ball-berry," from its
spherical shape. ^| In the North of England we find bleaberry or
blaeberry, i. e. a berry of a dark, livid colour ; cf. our phrase ' to beat
black and blue.' Blae is the same word as our E. blue, but is used in
the older, and especially in the Scandinavian sense. That is, blae is
the Icel. bldr, dark, livid, Dan. blaa, Swed. bla, dark-blue ; whence
Icel. bliiber, Dan. blaabeer, Swed. blabdr, a blaeberry. Hence both
bil- and blae- are Scandinavian ; but -berry is English.
BILBO, a sword; BILBOES, fetters. (Span.) Shak. has both
bilbo, Merry Wives, i. I. 165, and bilboes, Hamlet, v. 2. 6. Both
words are derived from Bilboa or Bilbao in Spain, ' which was famous,
as early as the time of Pliny, for the manufacture of iron and steel.'
Several bilboes (fetters) were found among the spoils of the Spanish
Armada, and are still to be seen in the Tower of London. See note
by Clark and Wright to Hamlet, v. 2. 6.
BILB(i), secretion from the liver. (F., L.) In Kersey's Diet., ed.
1715. F. bile, which Cotgrave explains by ' choller, gall," &c. Lat.
bills, bile, anger. Der. bili-ar-y, bili-ons.
BIN.
63
BILE (2), a boil ; Shak. Cor. i. 4. 31. M. E. byle. Prompt. Parv.
See Boil.
BILGE, the belly of a ship or cask. (Scand.) o. It means the
protuberant part of a cask or of a ship's bottom, i. e. the belly, and is
merely the Scand. form of that word, preserving the final g, which, in
the case of belly, has been replaced by >. P. Hence the vb. to
bilge, said of a ship, which begins to leak, lit. to fill its belly ; from
Dan. bdlge, to swill, Swed. dial, bdlga, to fill one's belly (Rietz).
This verb to bilge is also written to bulge ; see examples in Richardson
s. v. bulge ; and Kersey's Diet. y. Bilge-water is water which
enters a ship when lying on her bilge, and becomes offensive. See
Belly, and Bulge.
BILL (i), a chopper ; a battle-axe ; sword ; bird's beak. (E.)
M. E. bil, sword, battle-axe, Layamon, i. 74; ' Bylle of a mattoke,
ligo, marra ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 36. Also M. E. Uli, a bird's bill,
Owl and Nightingale, 79. A. S. bil, bill, a sword, axe, Grein, i. lib;
bile, a bird's bill, Bosworth. + Du. bijl, an axe, hatchet. + Icel.
bildr, bilda, an axe. + Dan. bill, an axe. + Swed. bila, an axe. + G.
bille, a pick-axe. B. The original sense is simply ' a cutting in-
strument.' Cf. Skt. bil, bhil, to break, to divide, Benfey, p. 633;
which is clearly related to Skt. bhid, to cleave. See Bite. ^ There
is a Cornish bool, an axe, hatchet ; but bill is Teutonic, not Celtic.
BILL (2), a writing, account. (F., L. ; or L.) M. E. bille, a
letter, writing ; Chaucer, C. T. 9810. Probably from an O. F. bille*,
now only found in the dimin. billet ; or else it was borrowed directly
from the Low Latin. Low Lat. billa, a writing, with dimin. billeta ;
bulleta is also found, with the same meaning, and is the dimin. of Lat.
bulla. p. It is certain that Low Lat. billa is a corruption of Lat.
bulla, meaning ' a writing,' ' a schedule ' in mediaeval times ; but esp.
and properly ' a sealed writing ; ' from the classical Lat. bulla, a stud,
knob ; later, a round seal. See Bull (2), Bullet, Bulletin.
BILLET (i), a note, ticket. (F..-L.) Shak. has the vb. to
billet, to direct to one's quarters by means of a ticket ; to quarter.
Spelt bylet. Prompt. Parv. - F. billet, dimin. of O. F. bille, a ticket,
note, writing. See Bill. B. We sometimes use billet-doux for 'love-
letter ;' see Pope, Rape of the Lock, i. 118, 138. It is mere F'rench,
and means, literally, ' sweet letter ; ' from F. billet, letter, and doux
(Lat. dulcis), sweet.
BILLET (2), a log of wood. (F.,-C.) In Shak. Measure, iv.
3. 58. Spelt bylet, Prompt. Parv. F. billette, ' a billet of wood ; also,
a little bowl ; ' Cot. Cf. F. billot, ' a billet, block, or log of wood ; '
id. Dimin. of F. bille, a log of wood ; in Cotgrave, ' a young stock
of a tree to graft on." Bret, pill, a stump of a tree. + Irish bille
oir, the trunk of a tree ; billead, billed, a billet. + Welsh pill, a shaft,
stem, stock ; pillwyd, dead standing trees. ^f Perhaps akin to bole,
and bowl, q. v.
RTTT.TA-R.-na, a game with balls. (F., - C.) Shak. has billiards,
Ant. and Cleop. ii. 5. 3. F. billard, billart, ' a short and thick trun-
cheon, or cudgell, . . a billard, or the stick wherewith we touch the
ball at billyards ; ' Cot. He also has : ' Biller, to play at billyards ; '
and ' bille, a small bowl or billyard ball ; also, a young stock of
a tree to graft on," &c. Formed, by suffix -ard, from F. bille, sig-
nifying both a log of wood and a ' billyard ball,' as explained by
Cotgrave. Of Celtic origin ; see Billet (2).
BILLION, a million of millions. A coined word, to express ' a
double million ; ' from Lat. bi-, double ; and -illion, the latter part of
the word million. So also trillion, to express ' a treble million,' or
a million times a billion, [t]
BILLOW, a wave. (Scand.) Not in very early use. Rich, quotes
it from Gascoigne, Chorus to Jocasta, Act ii. Icel. bylgja, a billow.
+ Swed. bblja. + Dan. bolge. + M. H. G. bulge, a billow, also a bag;
O. H . G. pulga. From the root which appears in E. bulge, so that a bil-
low means 'a swell,' 'a swelling wave.' See Bag, and Bulge. Der.
biUaw-y. ^[ The ending -ow often points to original g ; thus, from
bylgja is formed (by rule) an M. E. bilge, which passes into bilow ;
the double II is put to keep the vowel short. So fellow, from Icel.
felagi ; see Fellow.
BIN", a chest for wine, com, &c. (E.) M. E. blunt, bynne, Chaucer,
C. T. 595. A. S. bin, a manger, Luke, ii. 7, 16. +- Du. ben, a basket.
+ G. benne, a sort of basket. ^f 1. It is more confusing than useful
to compare the F. banne, a tilt of a cart, from Lat. henna, a car of
osier, noticed by Festus as a word of Gaulish origin. 2. Neither is bin
to be confused with the different word M. E. bing, of Scandinavian
origin, and signifying ' a heap ; ' cf. Icel. bingr, Swed. binge, a heap ;
though such confusion is introduced by the occurrence of the form
bynge in the Prompt. Parv. p. 36, used in the sense of ' chest,' like
the Danish bing, a bin. 3. The most that can be said is that the Gaul-
ish henna suggests that bin may have meant originally ' a basket made
of osiers ; ' in which case we may perhaps connect bin with E. bent,
coarse grass; a suggestion which is strengthened by the curious form
which bent takes in O. H. G., viz. pinuz or /iVn'z, with a stem pin-.
64
BINARY.
BITTERN
Grimm hazards the guess that it is connected with E. bind. See
Bent, Bind. And see Bing, a heap of com.
BINARY, twofold. (L.) In Holland's Plutarch, p. 665. -Lat.
binarius, consisting of two things. Lat. binus, twofold. Lat. hi-,
double, used as in the form bis. See Bi-, prefix.
BIND, to fasten, tie. (E.) M. E. binden, Chaucer, C. T. 4082.
A. S. bindan, Grein, i. 117. + Du. binden. + Icel. and Swed. binda. +
Dan. binde. -( O. H. G. pinion, G. binden. + Uoth. bindan. + Skt. bandh,
to bind ; from an older form badh. y' BHADH, to bind ; Fick, i.
155; Curtius gives the ^ BHANDH ; i. 124. Der. bind-ing, binder,
book-binder, hind-weed ; also bundle, bend ; probably bast, bent-grass.
BING, a heap of corn ; obsolete. (Scand.) Surrey has ' bing of
corn ' for ' heap of corn," in his translation of Virgil, Book iv. Icel.
bingr, a heap. + Swed. binge, a heap. ^f Probably distinct from
E. 6m, Dan. bins;, though sometimes confused with it. See Bin.
BINNACLE, a box for a ship's compass. (Portuguese, L.)
Modern ; a singular corruption of the older form bittacle, due to con-
fusion with bin, a chest. Only the form bittacle appears in Todd's
Johnson, as copied from Bailey's Diet., viz. ' a frame of timber in the
steerage of a ship where the compass stands.' Portuguese bitacola,
explained by 'bittade' in Vieyra's Port. Diet. ed. 1857. + Span.
bitacora, a binnacle. + F. habitude, a binnacle ; prop, an abode. Lat.
habitaculum, a little dwelling, whence the Port, and Span, is corrupted
by loss of the initial syllable. Lat. habitare, to dwell ; frequentative
of habere, to have. See Habit. ^f The ' habitaculum ' seems to
have been originally a sheltered place for the steersman.
BINOCULAR, suited for two eyes; having two eyes. (L.)
'Most animals are binocular;' Derham, Phys. Theol. bk. viii. c. 3,
note a. Coined from bin- for biuus, double ; and oculus, an eye. See
Binary and Ocular.
BINOMIAL, consisting of two ' terms ' or parts. (L.) Mathe-
matical. Coined from Lat. hi-, prefix, double ; and nomen, a name,
denomination. It should rather have been binominal.
BIOGRAPHY, an account of a life. (Gk.) In Johnson's
Rambler, no. 60. Langhome, in the Life of Plutarch, has 610-
grapher and biographical. Gk. flio-, from 0ios, life ; and ypa<t>(iv, to
write. Gk. f3ios is allied to E. quick, living ; see Quick. And see
Grave. Der. biograph-er, biograph-ic-al.
BIOLOGY, the science of life. (Gk.) Modern. Lit. a dis-
course on life.' Gk. /3i'o-, from /3ios, life; and \6fos, a discourse.
See above ; and see Logic. Der. biolog-ic-al.
BIPARTITE, divided in two parts. (L.) Used by Cudworth,
Intellectual System ; Pref. p. I . Lat. bipartilus, pp. of bipartiri, to
divide into two parts. Lat. bi-, double ; and partiri, to divide. Lat.
parii-, crude form of pars, a part. See Bi- and Part.
BIPED, two-footed ; an animal with two feet. (L.) 'A ...
biped beast ; ' Byrom, an Epistle. Also in Sir T. Browne's Vulg.
Errors, b. iii. c. 4. s. 8. The adj. is sometimes bipedal. Lit. bipes,
gen. biped-is, having two feet ; from bi-, double, and pes, a foot.
<jf So too Gk. Si-novs, two-footed, from Si-, double, and iroCs, a foot.
See Bi- and Foot, with which pes is cognate.
BIRCH, a tree. (E.) In North of England, birk ; which is per-
haps Scandinavian. M. E. birche, Chaucer, C. T. 2921. A. S. beorc,
the name of one of the runes in the Rune-lay, Grein, i. 106. Also
spelt birce (Bosworth). + Du. berlienboom, birch-tree. + Icel. bjork. +
Swed. bjort. + Dan. birk. + G. birke. -f- Russ. bereza. + Skt. bhurja, a
kind of birch, the leaves or bark of which were used for writing on
(Benfey). Der. birch-en, adj. ; cf. gold-en.
BIRD, a feathered flying animal. (E.) M. E. brid; very rarely
byrde, which has been formed from brid by shifting the letter r ; pi.
briddes, Chaucer, C. T. 2931. -A. S. brid, a bird ; but especially the
young of birds ; as in earnes brid, the young one of an eagle, Grein, i.
142. The manner in which it is used in early writers leaves little
doubt that it was originally ' a thing bred,' connected with A. S.
brfdan, to breed. See Brood, Breed. Der. bird-bolt, bird-cage,
bird-call, bird-catcher, bird-lime, bird's-eye, &c. [f]
BIRTH, a being born. (E.) M. E. birihe, Chaucer, C. T. Group B,
192 (1. 461 2). A.S. bear's (which see in Bosworth, but very rare, and the
form gebyrd was used instead, which see in Grein). + O. Friesic berthe,
berde. + Du. geboorte. + Icel. burdr. + Swed. biird. + Dan. byrd. +
O. H. G. kafurt, G. geburl. + Goth, ga-baurtks, a. birth. + Skt. bkiili,
nourishment. ^BHAR, to bear. Der. birth-day, -place, -mark, -right.
BISCUIT, a kind of cake, baked hard. (F..-L.) In Shak., As
You Like It, ii. 7. 39. ' Biscute brede, bis coctus ;' Prompt. Parv.
F. biscuit, ' a bisket, bisket-bread ; ' Cot. F. bis, twice ; and cuit,
cooked ; because formerly prepared by being twice baked. (Cnit is
the pp. of cuire, to cook.) Lat. bis coctus, where coctus is the pp. of
coqi/ere, to cook. See Cook.
BISECT, to divide into two equal parts. (L.) In Barrow's Math.
Lectures, Lect. 15. Coined from Lat. 61-, twice, and sectum, supine
of secare, to cut. See Bi- and Section. Der. bisect-ion.
v:
' BISHOP, an ecclesiastical overseer. (L.,-Gk.) M. E. bisshep
Chaucer, C. T. Group B, 1. 253. A. S. biscop, in common use; bor-
rowed from Lat. episcopus. Gk. imoitoiros, an overseer, overlooker.
Gk. M, upon; and <rom5s, one that watches. Gk. root 2Ki:iI,
co-radicate with Lat. specere, E. spy, and really standing for airex.
VSPAK, to see, behold, spy ; Curtius, i. 205 ; Fick, i. 830. See
Spy. Der. bishop-ric ; where -ric is A. S. rice, dominion, Grein, ii.
376 ; cf. G. reich, a kingdom ; and see Rich.
BISMUTH, a reddish-white metal. (G.) In Kersey's Diet., ed.
1715. It is chiefly found at Schneeburg in Saxony. The F. bismuth,
like the E. word, is borrowed from German ; and this word is one of
the very few German words in English. G. bismuth, bismuth ; more
commonly wismut, also spelt wissnmt, wissmuth. An Old German
spelling wesemot is cited in Webster, but this throws no light on the
origin of the term.
BISON, a large quadruped. (F. or L., Gk.) In Cotgrave, q. v.
Either from F. bison (Cot.) or from Lat. bison (Pliny). ftiauv, the
wild bull, bison; Pausanias, ed. Bekker, 10. 13 (about A. D. 160).
Cf. A. S. wesent, a wild ox ; Bosworth. + Icel. visundr, the bison-ox.
+ O. H. G. wisunt, G. tvisent, a bison. ^f It would seem that the
word is really Teutonic rather than Greek, and only borrowed by the
latter. E. Miiller suggests as the origin the O. H. G. when, G. weisen,
to direct, as though wisent meant ' leading the herd,' hence, an ox.
But this is only a guess.
BISSEXTILE, a name for leap-year. (L.) In Holland's Pliny,
bk. xviii. c. 25. Low Lat. bissextilis annus, the bissextile year, leap-
year. Lat. bissextus, in phr. bissextus dies, an intercalary day, so called
because the intercalated day (formerly Feb. 24) was called the sixth
day before the calends of March (March i) ; so that there were two
days of the same name. Lat. bis, twice ; and sex, six.
BISSON, purblind. (E.) Shak. has bisson, Cor. ii. i. 70 ; and, in
the sense of ' blinding,' Hamlet, ii. 2. 529. M. E. bisen, bisne, purblind,
blind ; Genesis and Exodus, ed. Morris, 11. 471, 2822. A. S. bisen,
Matt. ix. 27, in the Northumb. version, as a gloss upon Lat. caecus.
ft. Comparison with Du. bijziend, short-sighted, lit. 'seeing by' or
' near,' suggests that bisen may be a corruption of pres. pt. biseond,
in the special sense of near-sighted ; from prefix bi-, by, and sedn, to
see. Cf. G. beisichtig, short-sighted. ^f In this case the prefix
must be the prep, bi or big, rather than the less emphatic and unac-
cented form which occurs in biseon or besedn, to examine, behold ;
and the A. S. word should be bisen, with long '. See Grein, i. 121,
for examples of words with prefix bi-, e. g. bispell, an example. [#]
BISTRE, a dark brown colour. (F.) 'Sister, Bistre, a colour
made of the soot of chimneys boiled ;' Bailey's Diet., vol. ii. ed. 1731.
F. bistre ; of uncertain origin. Perhaps from G. blester, meaning
(i) bistre, (2) dark, dismal, gloomy (in prov. G.) ; Fliigel. It seems
reasonable to connect these. Cf. also Du. bijster, confused, troubled,
at a loss ; Dan. bister, grim, fierce ; Swed. bister, fierce, angry, grim,
also bistre ; Icel. bistr, angry, knitting the brows.
BIT (i), a small piece, a mouthful. (E.) M. E. bite, in phr. bite
brtzdess = a bit of bread, Ormulum, 8639. A. S. bite, or bita, a bite ;
also, a morsel, Psalm, cxlvii. 6 (ed. Spelman). + Du. beet, a bite ; also,
a bit, morsel. + Icel. biti, a bit. + Swed. bit. + Dan. bid. + G. biss,
a bite ; bissen, a bit. 0. From A. S. bitan, to bite. See Bite, [t]
BIT (2), a curb for a horse. (E.) M. E. bitt, bytt. ' Bytt of a
brydylle, lupalum;' Prompt. Parv. p. 37. A. S. bitol, a gloss on
frcenum in Ps. xxxi. 1 2 (Spelman) ; a dimin. of A. S. bite or bita, a
bite, bit ; so that this word cannot be fairly separated from the pre-
ceding, q. v. No doubt bit was used in Early Eng. as well as the
dimin. bitol, though it is not recorded. + Du. gebil. + Icel. bitill
(dimin.). + Swed. belt. + Dan. bid. + G. gebiss. Compare these
forms with those in the article above. ^f The A. S. ba^tan, to
curb (Grein, i. 78), is cognate with the Icel. beita, to bait, cause to
bite ; see Bait. It cannot therefore be looked on as the origin of
bit, since it is a more complex form.
BITCH, a female dog. (E.) M. E. biche, bicche, Wright's Vocab.
i. I87.-A.S. bicce (Bosworth). + Icel. bikkja. Cf. G. betze, a bitch.
Possibly connected with prov. E. (Essex) bigge, a teat. See Pig.[t]
BITE, to cleave, chiefly with the teeth. (E.) M.E. bite, bilen,
pt. t. bot, boot, P. Plowman, B. v. 84. A. S. bitan, Grein, i. 123. +
Du. bijlen, to bite. + Icel. bita. + Swed. bita. + Dan. bide. + O. H. G.
pizan ; G. beissen. + Goth, beitan. + Lat._/?<fer, pt. t. fidi, to cleave.
+ Skt. bhid, to break, divide, cleave. - yBHID, to cleave ; Fick, i.
1 6 o. Der. bite , sb. ; bit, bit-er, bit-ing ; bilt-er, q. v. ; bait, q. v.
BITTER, acid. (E.) M.E. biter, Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 82.-
A. S. biter, bitor, bitter, Grein, i. 120. + Du. bitter. + Icel. bitr. +
Swed. and Dan. bitter.+ O. H. G. pillar (G. bitter). + Goth, baitrs
(rather an exceptional form). B. The word merely means ' biting ; '
and is directly derived from A. S. bitan, to bite. See Bite. Der.
bitter-ly, bitter-ness, bitter-s ; also bitter-sweet, Prompt. Parv. p. 37.
BITTERN, a bird of the heron tribe. (F.,-Low L.) M.E.
BITTS.
bitoure, bytotire, Chaucer, C. T. 6554. F. butor, ' a bittor; ' Cot. Low
Lat. butorius, a bittern ; cf. Lat. bulio, a bittern, p. Thought to be
a corruption of Lat. bos laurus ; taurus being used by Pliny, b. x. c. 42,
for a bird that bellows like an ox, which is supposed to be the bittern.
More likely, of imitative origin ; see Boom (i).[t] ^T The M.E.
bitoure was no doubt corrupted from the F. butor rather than borrowed
from the Span, form bitor ; terms of the chase being notoriously
Norman. On the suffixed -n see Matzner, i. 177 ; and see Marten.
BITTS, a naval term. (Scand.) The bins are two strong posts
standing up on deck to which cables are fastened. [The F. term is
bittes, but this may have been taken from English.] The word is pro-
perly Scand., and the E. form corrupt or contracted. Swed. beting, a
bitt (naut. term) ; cf. betingbult, a bitt-pin. + Dan. beding, a slip, bitts ;
bedingsbolt, a bitt-bolt ; bedingsknte, a bitt-knee ; &c. [It has found
its way into Du. and G. ; cf. Du. beting, betinghout, a bitt ; G. bating,
a bitt ; bdtingholzer, bitts.] B. The etymology is easy. The word
clearly arose from the use of a noose or tether for pasturing horses,
or, in other words, for bailing them. Cf. Swed. beta, to pasture a
horse ; whence betingbult, lit. a pin for tethering a horse while at
pasture. So also Dan. bede, to bait ; whence beding, a slip-noose,
bedingsbolt, lit. a pasturing-pin. See Bait. ^[ The word bait is
Scand., shewing that the Du. and G. words are borrowed.
BITUMEN, mineral pitch. (L.) Milton has bituminous ; P. L.
x. 562. Shak. has the pp. bitumed, Peric. iii. I. 72. F. bitume (Cot-
grave). Lat. bitumen, gen. bilumin-is, mineral pitch ; used by Virgil,
Geor. iii. 451. Der. bitumin-ous, bitumin-ate.
BIVALVE, a shell or seed-vessel with two valves. (F., L.) In
Johnson's Diet. F. bivalve, bivalve; both adj. and sb. Lat. hi-,
double ; and ualua, the leaf of a folding-door ; gen. used in the pi.
iialuce, folding-doors. See Valve.
BIVOUAC, a watch, guard ; especially, an encampment for the
night without tents. (F., G.) Modem. Borrowed from F. bivouac,
orig. bivac. G. beiu/ache, a guard, a keeping watch ; introduced into
F. at the time of the Thirty Years War, 1618-1648 (Brachet). -G.
bet, by, near ; and vjachen, to watch ; words cognate with E. by and
watch respectively.
BIZARRE, odd, strange. (F.,- Span.) Modern. Merely bor-
rowed from F. bizarre, strange, capricious. ' It originally meant
valiant, intrepid; then angry, headlong; lastly strange, capricious;'
Brachet. Span, bizarro, valiant, gallant, high-spirited. In Mahn's
Webster, the word is said to be ' of Basque-Iberian origin.' It is
clearly not Latin. ^f Does this explain the name Pizarrol It
would seem so. [t]
BLAB, to tell tales. (Scand.) Often a sb. ; Milton has : ' avoided
as a. blab ; ' Sams. Agon. 495 ; but also blabbing ; Comus, 138. M. E.
blabbe, a tell-tale ; see Prompt. Parv. p. 37. The verb more often
occurs in early authors in the frequentative form blabber, M.E.
blaberen ; see Prompt. Parv. p. 37. ' I blaber, as a chylde dothe or
[ere] he can speke ; ' Palsgrave. Dan. blabbre, to babble, to gabble ;
an Old Norse form blabbra is cited by Rietz. + Swed. dial.
bladdra, blaffra, to prattle ; Rietz. + G. plappern, to blab, babble,
prate. + Gael, blabaran, a stammerer, stutterer ; blabhdach, babbling,
garrulous ; plabair, a babbler. ^f Partly an imitative word, like
babble ; cf. Gaelic plab, a soft noise, as of a body falling into water ;
prov. Eng. plop, the same. Cf. also Du. plof, a puff, the sound of a
puff. There is probably a relation, not only to Du. blaffen, to yelp, E.
blubber, to cry, and bluff, rude, but to the remarkable set of European
words discussed by Curtius, i. 374, 375. Cf. Gk. <t>\vos, <t>\vapos,
idle talk, <j>\uo, a chatterer ; <t>\(Saiv, a chatterer, <f>\rivapoi, idle talk.
All ' with the common primary notion of bubbling over ; ' Curtius.
See Bleb, Blob.
BLACK, swarthy, dark. (E.) M. E. blak, Chaucer, C. T. 2132.-
A. S. bloc, blcec, black, Grein, i. 1 24. + Icel. blakkr, used of the colour
of wolves. + Dan. blak, sb., ink. + Swed. black, ink ; bldclia, to smear
with ink ; Swed. dial, blaga, to smear with smut (Rietz). Cf. Du.
blaken, to burn, scorch ; Du. blakeren, to scorch ; G. blaken, to bum
with much smoke ; blakig, blakerig, burning, smoky. ^J Origin
obscure ; not the same word as bleak, which has a different vowel.
The O. H. G. pldhan (M. H. G. bltijen, G. blahen) not only meant ' to
blow,' but ' to melt in a forge-fire.' The G. blaken can be expressed
in E. by ' flare.' It seems probable that the root is that of blow, with
the sense of flaring, smoking, causing smuts. See Blow (i). Der.
black, sb. ; black-ly, black-ish, black-ness, black-en ; also blackamoor
(spelt blackmoor in Beaum. and Fletcher, Mons. Thomas, v. 2),
black-ball, black-berry, black-bird, black-cock, black-friar, black-guard,
q. v., black-ing, black-lead, black-letter, black-mail, black-rod, black-smith,
black-thorn, &c. ; also blotch (M. E. blacche), q. v.
BLACKGUARD, a term of reproach. (Hybrid; E. and F.)
From black and guard, q. v. A name given to scullions, turnspits,
and the lowest kitchen menials, from the dirty work done by them ;
and especially used, in derision, of servants attendant on the devil.
BLASPHEME.
65
ft
' They are taken for no better than rakehells, or the devil's blade
guarde ; ' Stanihurst, Descr. of Ireland. ' A lamentable case, that
the devil's black guard should be God's soldiers ; ' Fuller, Holy War,
bk. i. c. 12. 'Close unto the front of the chariot marcheth all
the sort of weavers and embroiderers ; next unto whom goeth the
black guard and kitchenry ;' Holland, Ammianus, p. 12. 'A lousy
slave, that within this twenty years rode with the black guard in the
Duke's carriage, "mongst spits and dripping-pans ; ' Webster, The
White Devil. See Trench's Select Glossary, [f]
BLADDER, a vesicle in animals. (E.) M.E. bladdre, Chaucer, C.T.
12367. A. S. blcedr, a blister ; Orosius, i. 7. + Icel. blaira, a bladder,
a watery swelling. + Swed. bldddra, a bubble, blister, bladder.+ Dan.
blare, a bladder, blister. + Du. blaar, a bladder, blister ; cf. Du. blaas,
a bladder, bubble, lit. a thing blown, from blazen, to blow. + O. H. G.
pldtrd, pldlard, a bladder. B. Formed, with suffix -r(a), from A. S.
bleed (base blad-), a blast, a blowing ; cf. Lut.Jlatus, a breath. A. S.
bldwan, to blow. + Lat.j?or, to blow. See Blow. Der. bladder-y.
BLADE, a leaf ; flat part of a sword. (E.) M.E. blade (of a sword),
Chaucer, Prol. 620. A. S. bleed, aleaf; Grein, i. 125. + Icel. blad, a
leaf. + Swed., Dan., and Du. blad, a leaf, blade. + O. H. G. plat, G.
blatt. ^f Fick refers it to a root bla, to blow, Lat. fare, iii. 219 ;
it is rather connected with E. blow in the sense ' to bloom, blossom,'
Lat.^forere ; but the ultimate root is probably the same ; see Curtius,
i. 374, where these words are carefully discussed. See Blow (2).
BLAIN, a pustule. (E.) M. E. blein, bleyn ; Prompt. Parv. p. 39 ;
Wyclif, Job, ii. 7. A. S. bligen, a boil, pustule ; Liber Medicinalis,
foil. 147, 177 ; quoted in Wanley's Catalogue, pp. 304, 305. + Du.
blein. + Dan. blegn, a blain, pimple. B. The form blegen is formed
(by suffix -en, diminutival) from the stem blag-, a variation of blow-,
seen in A. S. blawan, to blow. It means ' that which is blown up,'
a blister. The word bladder is formed similarly and from the same
root. See Bladder, and Blow ( i ). Lt]
BLAME, to censure. (F.,-Gk.) M.E. blame, Chaucer, C.T.
Group E, 1. 76 ; blamen, Ancren Riwle, p. 64. O. F. blasmer, to
blame. Lat. blasphemare, used in the sense ' to blame ' by Gregory of
Tours (Brachet). Gk. &\a.aq>Tinelv, to speak ill. Blame is a doublet
of blaspheme ; see Blaspheme. Der. blam-able, blam-abl-y, blam-
able-ness ; blame, sb. ; blame-less, blame-less-ly, blame-less-ness. []]
BLANCH (i), v., to whiten. (F.) Sir T. Elyot has blanched,
whitened ; Castle of Helth, bk. ii. c. 14 ; and see Prompt Parv. From
M.E. blanche, white, Gower, C-A. iii. 9. - F. blane, white. See Blank.
BLANCH (2), v., to blench. (E.) Sometimes used for blench.
See Blench.
BLAND, gentle, mild, affable. (L.) [The M. E. verb blanden, to
flatter (Shoreham's Poems, p. 59), is obsolete ; we now use blandish.]
The adj. bland is in Milton, P. L. v. 5 ; taken rather from Lat. directly
than from F., which only used the verb ; see Cotgrave. Lat. blandus,
caressing, agreeable, pleasing. B. Bopp compares Lat. blandus, per-
haps for mlandus, with Skt. mridu, soft, mild, gentle, E. mild, Gk. /MI-
Xi'x'os, mild ; and perhaps rightly ; see Benfey, s. v. mridu, and Curtius,
i.4II. See Mild. Der. bland-ly, bland-ness ; also blandish, q. v.
BLANDISH, to flatter. (F..-L.) In rather early use. M.E.
blandisen, to flatter; Chaucer, tr. of Boethius, bk. ii. pr. i, 1. 749.
0. F. blandir, to flatter, pres. part, blandis-ant (whence the sb. blandisse-
ment). Lat. blandiri, to caress. Lat. blandus, gentle. See Bland.
Der. blandish-ment.
BLANK, void; orig. pale. (F.,-O. H. G.) Milton has 'the
blanc moon;' P. L. x. 656. F. blanc, white. O. H. G. blanch,
planch, shining. B. Evidently formed from an O. H. G. blinchen*,
plinchen *, to shine, preserved in mod. G. blinlten, to shine ; cf. O. H. G.
blichen, to shine ; where the long i is due to loss of n. + Gk. <p\iyftv,
to shine. -VBHARG, to shine. See Bleak, and Blink. Der.
blank-ness ; also blanch, q. v. ; and blank-el, q. v.
BLANKET, a coarse woollen cover. (F., G.) Originally of
a white colour. M. E. blanket, Life of Beket, ed. W. H. Black,
1. 1167 ; and see Prompt. Parv. p. 38. -O. F. blanket (F. blanchet),
formed by adding the dimin. suffix -el to F. blanc, white. O. H. G.
blanch, planch, white. See Blank. Der. blanket-ing.
BLARE, to roar, make a loud noise. (E.) Generally used of a
trumpet ; 'the trumpet blared ;' or, ' the trumpet's blare.' [Cf.
M. H. G. bleren, to cry aloud, shriek ; G. pliirren, to roar.] By the
usual substitution of r for s, the M. E. blaren (spelt bloren in Prompt.
Parv.) stands for an older blasen, which is used by Chaucer, Ho. of
Fame, iii. 711 : 'With his blake clarioun He gan to blasen out a
soun As lowde as beloweth wynde in belle.' Cf. O. Du. blaser, a
trumpeter ; Oudemans. See further under Blaze (2). [t]
BLASPHEME, to speak injuriously. (Gk.) Shak. has blas-
pheme, Meas. for Meas. i. 4. 38. M. E. blasfemen ; Wyclif, Mark,
ii. 7. Lat. blasphemare . Gk. fi\aa<pr]iuiv, to speak ill of. Gk.
P\aa<t>rinos, adj., evil-speaking. B. The first syllable is generally
supposed to be for /3Xo^i-, from 0\a>fis, damage ; the latter syllables
' F
66
BLAST.
BLIGHT.
are due to ifrnaj. speech, from <t>rjftt, I say. Blaspheme is a doublet of
blame. See Blame and Fame. Der. blasphem-y (M. E. blasphemie,
Ancren Riwle, p. 198 ; a F. form of Lat. blasphemia, from Gk. 0\aa-
(f>Tjfjiia) ; blasphem-er, blasphem-ous, blaspliem-ous-ly [tj
BLAST, a blowing. (E.) M.E. 6/as/, Chaucer, Troilus, ed.
Tyrwhitt, ii. 1387 ; King Alisaunder, ed. Weber, 2571. A. S. Uttst,
a blowing, Grein, i. 126; (distinct from the allied blast, a blaze, a
flame.)+ Icel. bldslr, a breath. B. Formed from an A. S. blcesan *,
which does not appear ; but cf. Icel. bldsa, to blow, Du. blazen, G.
blasen, Goth, blesaa (only in the comp. vf-blesan, to puff up). A simpler
form of the verb appears in A. S. bid-wan, to blow. See Blow (i),
and see Blaze (2). Der. blast, vb. [t]
BLATANT, noisy, roaring. (E.) Best known from Spenser's
'blatant beast;' F. Q. vi. 12 (heading). It merely means bleating;
the suffix -ant is a fanciful imitation of the pres. part, suffix in French ;
blatand would have been a better form, where the -and would have
served for the Northern Eng. form of the same participle. Wyclif
has bletende for bleating, a Midland form ; Tobit, ii. 20. See Bleat.
BLAZE (i), a flame ; to flame. (E.) M. E. blase, a flame, P.
Plowman, B. xvii. 212 ; blasen, to blaze, id. B. xvii. 232. A. S. blase,
a flame; in comp. bdd-blcese, a bright light, Grein, i. 77. + Icel. blys,
a torch. + Dan. WHS, a torch ; a blaze. B. From the root of blow ;
Fick, iii. 219. See Blow (i), and cf. Blast, from the same root.
BLAZE (2), to spread far and wide ; to proclaim. (E.) ' Began
to blaze abroad the matter ; ' Mark, i. 45. M. E. blasen, used by
Chaucer to express the loud sounding of a trumpet ; Ho. of Fame,
iii. 711 (see extract under Blare). A. S. bldsan, to blow (an unau-
thorised form, given by Lye). + Icel. bldsa, to blow, to blow a
trumpet, to sound an alarm, -f- Swed. blasa, to blow, to sound. +
Dan. blase, to blow a trumpet. + Du. blazen, to blow, to blow a
trumpet. + Goth, blesan *, in comp. vf-blesan, to puff up. From the
same root as Blow; Fick, iii. 220. See also Blare, and Blazon ;
also Blast, from the same root.
BLAZON (i), a proclamation ; to proclaim. (E.) Shak. has
blason, a proclamation, Hamlet, i. 5. 21 ; a trumpeting forth, Sonnet
106 ; also, to trumpet forth, to praise, Romeo, ii. 6. 21. This word
is a corruption of blaze, in the sense of to blaze abroad, to proclaim.
The final n is due (i) to M. E. blasen, to trumpet forth, where the n is
the sign of the infinitive mood ; and (2) to confusion with blazon in
the purely heraldic sense ; see below. ^[ Much trouble has been
taken to unravel the etymology, but it is really very simple. Blazon,
to proclaim, M.E. blasen, is from an A. S. or Scand. source, see
Blaze (2) ; whilst the heraldic word is French, but from a German
source, the German word being cognate with the English. Hence
the confusion matters but little, the root being exactly the same.
BLAZON (2), to pourtray armonal bearings; an heraldic term.
(F., G.) M.E. blason, blasoun, a shield; Gawain and Grene
Knight, 1. 828. F. blason, 'a coat of arms; in the nth century a
buckler, a shield ; then a shield with a coat of arms of a knight
painted on it ; lastly, towards the fifteenth century, the coats
of arms themselves ; ' Brachet (who gives it as of unknown origin).
P. Burguy remarks, however, that the Proven9al blezo had at an
early period the sense of glory, fame ; just as the Span, blason means
honour, glory, as well as blazonry ; cf. Span, blasonar, to blazon ;
also, to boast, brag of. Y. We thus connect F. blason with the
sense of glory, and fame ; and just as Lat. fama is from /on', to
speak, it is easy to see that blason took its rise from the M. H. G.
blasen, to blow; cf. O. H. G. bldsd, a trumpet. See Blazon (i).
8. Notice O. Du. blaser, a trumpeter ; blasoen, a trumpet, also, a
blazon ; blazoenen, to proclaim. So also ' blasyn, or dyscry arrays,
describo ; ' and ' blasynge of arrays, descriptio ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 38.
Shields probably bore distinctive marks of some kind or other at a
very early period. Dor. blazon-ry.
BLEABERRY, a bilberry ; see Bilberry.
BLEACH, v., to whiten. (E.) M. E. blechen, to bleach, Ancren
Riwle, p. 324, 1. I.-A.S. blacan; Alfred, tr. of Beda, ed. Smith,
i. i.l. 20. A. S. bide; see Bleak (i).-flcel. iki'i/o.+Dan. blege.
+Swed. i/eia.+Du. bleeken.+G. bleichen. From the adj. bleat, wan,
pale. See Bleak. Der. bleach-er, bleach-er-y, bleach-ing.
BLEAK (i), pale, exposed. (E.) M.E. bleylte, 'pallidus;'
Prompt. Parv. p. 39 ; b leilt, Havelok, 470. A. S. blase, also bide,
shining, Grein, vol. i. pp. 124, I25-+O. Sax. blelt, shining, pale
(Heliand). + Icel. bleikr, pale, wan. + Dan. bleg. + Swed. blek,
pale, wan. -f- Du. bleelt, pale. + O. H. G. pleih, pale ; G. bleich.
B. The original verb appears in A. S. blican, to shine. + O. H. G.
blichen, to shine. + Gk. <p\iyitv, to bum, shine. + Skt. bhrdj, to
shine. See Curtius, i. 231 ; Benfey's Skt. Diet. From ./ BHARG,
to shine ; Fick, i. 152. Der. bleak, sb., see below ; bleach, q. v.
BLEAK (2), a kind of fish. (E.) Spelt bleek about A. D. 1 6 1 3 ; Eng.
Gamer, ed.Arber. i.i 57. Named from its Wraiorpalecolour. See above.
BLEAR ONE'S EYE, to deceive (Scand.) a.. This is closely
connected with blear-eyed. Shak. has 'bleared tline eye' dimmed
thine eye, deceived; Tarn. Shrew, v. I. 120. So too in Chaucer,
and in P. Plowman, B. prol. 74. p. The sense of blear here is
simply to ' blur,' to ' dim ; ' cf. Swed. dial, blirrii fojr augu, to quiver
before the eyes, said of a haze caused by the heat of summer (Rietz),
which is closely connected with Swed. dial, blira, Swed. plira, to blink
with the eyes. Cf. Bavarian plerr, a mist before the eyes ; Schmeller,
ii. 461. See Blear-eyed and Blur.
BLEAR-EYED, dim-sighted. (Scand.) M. E. ' blereyed, lippus ;'
Prompt. Parv. p. 39; blereighed, P. Plowman, B. xvii. 324. Dan.
pliiroiet, blear-eyed, blinking ; from plire, also blire, to blink. +
O. Swed. blira, plira, Swed. plira, to blink ; Swed. dial, blura, to
blink, to close the eyes partially, like a near-sighted person. The
O. Swed. blira, to twinkle, is probably from the same root as blink.
See Blink. p. Cf. O.H.G. prehan, with sense of Lat. lippus, weak-
sighted, dim-sighted. This last form is closely connected with
O. H. G. prehen, brehen, to twinkle, shine suddenly, glance ; [cf. E.
Mink with G. blinten, to shine, and the various uses of E. glance ;]
from the same ^ BHARG, to shine ; see Fick, iii. 206.
BLEAT, to make a noise like a sheep. (E.) M.E. bleten, used also
of a kid ; Wyclif, Tobit, ii. 20. A. S. bla-tan, to bleat, said of a sheep,
^Elfric's Gram. xxiv. 9. + Du. blaten, to bleat. + O. H. G. pldzan,
to bleat, -f- Lat. balare, to bleat. + Gk. ^Kij-^aoiuu, I bleat ; /3Xi;x^,
a bleating ; on which Curtius remarks, ' the root is in the syllable
bid, softened into bald, lengthened by different consonants ; ' i. 362.
^ BHLA, to blow, Fick, i. 703. See Blow. Der. blat-ant, q. v.
BLEB, a small bubble or blister. (E.) o. We also find the form
6/06, in the same sense. Rich, quotes blebs from More, Song of the
Soul, conclusion. Jamieson gives: 'Brukis, bylis, blobbis, and
blisteris;' qu. from Roul's Curs. Gl. Compl. p. 330. The more
usual form is blubber, M. E. blober ; ' blober upon water, bouteillis,'
Palsgrave. ' Blobure, blobyr, burbulium, Prompt. Parv. p. 40. ' At
his mouth a blubber stood of fome ' [foam] ; Test, of Creseide, by R.
Henrysoun, 1. 192. P. By comparing blobber, or blubber, with
bladder, having the same meaning, we see the probability that they
are formed from the same root, and signify ' that which is blown
up ; ' from the root of blow. See Bladder, and Blow ; also
Blubber, Blab, Blob, [t]
BLEED, to lose blood. (E.) M. E. blede, P. Plowman, B. xix.
103.- A. S. bUdan, to bleed (Grein). - A.S. Mod, blood. See Blood.
^f The change of vowel is regular; the A.S. e = o, the mutation of
6. Cf. feet, geese, from foot, goose ; also deem from doom.
BLEMISH, a stain; to stain. (F., -Scand.) M.E. blemisshen;
Prompt. Parv. ' I blemysshe, I hynder or hurte the beautye of a person ; '
Palsgrave. O. F. blesmir, blemir, pres. part, blemis-ant, to wound, soil,
stain ; with suffix -ish, as usual in E. verbs from F. verbs in -<>. O. F.
blesme, bleme, wan, pale. Icel. bldman, the livid colour of a wound.
Icel. bldr, livid, blueish ; cognate with E. blue. The orig. sense is
to render livid, to beat black and blue. See Blue.
BLENCH, to shrink from, start from, flinch. (E.) [Sometimes
spelt blanch in old authors ; though a different word from blanch, to
whiten.] M.E. blenche, to turn aside, P. Plowman, B. v. 589.
A. S. blencan, to deceive ; Grein, i. 127. + Icel. blekkja (for blenkja),
to impose upon. B. A causal form of blink; thus to blench meant
originally to ' make to blink,' to impose upon ; but it was often con-
fused with blink, as if it meant to wink, and hence to flinch. See
Blink. ^f Cf. drench, the causal of drink.
BLEND, to mix together. (E.) M. E. blenden, Towneley Mys-
teries, p. 225 ; pp. blent, Sir Gawain and the Grene Knight, 1. 1609.
A.S. blandan, Grein, i. 124. + Icel. blanda, to mix. + Swed.
blanda. -f. Dan. blonde. + Goth, blandan silt, to mix oneself with,
communicate with. + O. H. G. plantan, blanlan, to mix. p. The
stem is bland-; see Fick, iii. 221. y. The A. S. blendan means to
make blind, Grein, 1.127; this is a secondary use of the same word,
meaning (i) to mix, confuse, (2) to blind. See Blind
BLESS, orig. to consecrate. (E.) M.E. blessen, Chaucer, C. T.
Group E. 553, 1240; bletseiyn, Layamon, 32157. A.S. bletsinn,
to bless (Grein) ; bledsian. Kentish Psalter, iii. 9, v. 13 ; O. Northnmb.
bloedsia. Matt, xxiii. 39, Jo. viii. 48 ; Durham Ritual, p. 117. These
forms point to an orig. blddisdn*, to redden with blood, from blod,
blood. See Blood. 'In heathen time it was no doubt primarily used in
the sense of consecrating the altar by sprinkling it with the blood of
the sacrifice ;' H. Sweet, in Anglia, iii. I. 156 (whose solution I here
give). This is unassailably correct. Der. bless-ing, bless-ed, blessed-ness.
BLIGHT, to blast ; mildew. (E.) The history of the word is
very obscure ; as a verb, blight occurs in The Spectator, no. 457.
Cotgrave has : ' Brulttre, blight, brant-corn (an herb).' 3. The word
has not been traced, and can only be guessed at. Perhaps it is
shortened from the A. S. bltcettan, to shine, glitter, for which references
may be found in Lye. This is a secondary verb, formed from A. S.
blican, to shine, glitter ; cognate with Icel. blita, blikja, to gleam,
BLIND.
and with M. H. G. blichen, to gleam, also to grow pale. All that is
necessary is to suppose that the A. S. blicettan could have been used
in the active sense ' to make pale,' and so to cause to decay,
to bleach, to blight. And, in fact, there is an exactly corresponding
form in the O. H. G. blecchezen, M. H. G. bliczen, mod. G. blitzen, to
lighten, shine as lightning. 7. That this is the right train of thought
is made almost sure by the following fact. Corresponding to Icel.
blilta, bllkja, prop, an active form, is the passive form blikna, to become
pale ; whence M. E. blicliening, lit. pallor, but used in the sense of blight
to translate the Latin rubigo in Palladius on Husbandry, ed. Lodge,
bk. i. st. 119, p. 31. 8. This example at least proves that we must
regard the A. S. bliean as the root of the word ; and possibly there
may be reference to the effects of lightning, since the same root
occurs in the cognate O. H. G. bleccliezen, to lighten, Swed. blixt,
lightning, Du. bliksem, lightning ; cf. Du. Hit, the white pellicle on
the bark of trees ; also Swed. bliclta, to lighten. . Note also A. S.
dblicgan, to amaze, yElfric's Horn. i. 314; ii. 166 ; from the same
root. Thus the word is related to Bleach and Blink.
BLIND, deprived of sight. (E.) M. E. blind, blynd, Prompt.
Parv. p. 40. A. S. blind, Grein, i. 128. + Du. blind. 4- Icel. blindr.
.f Swed. and Dan. blind.+O.H.G. flint, G. blind. B. The theo-
retical form is blenda. Kick, iii. 121 ; from blandan, to blend, mix,
confuse; and, secondarily, to make confused, to blind. See Blend.
Not to be confused with blink, from a different root. Der. blind-fold.
BLINDFOLD, to make blind. (E.) From M. E. verb blind-
folden, Tyndale's tr. of Lu. xxii. 64. This M. E. blind/olden is a cor-
ruption of blindfelden, to blindfold, used by Palsgrave ; and, again,
blindfelden (with excrescent d) is for an earlier form blindfellen, Ancren
Riwle, p. 106. A. S. blind, blind; andfyllan, to fell, to strike. Thus
it means, ' to strike blind.'
BLINK, to wink, glance ; a glance. (E.) Shak. has ' a blinking
idiot;' M. of Ven. ii. 9. 94; also 'to blink (look) through;' Mid.
Nt. Dr. v. 178. M. E. blenke, commonly 'to shine;' Gawain and
the Grene Knight, ed. Morris, 799, 2315. A Low German word,
preserved in Du. blinlten, to shine. + Dan. blinlte, to twinkle.+ Swed.
blinka, to twinkle. B. The A. S. has only bliean, to twinkle (Grein,
i. 129), where the n is dropped ; but blincan may easily have been
preserved dialectally. So also O.H.G. blichen, to shine. - ./SHARK,
to shine. See Bleak.
BLISS, happiness. (E.) M. E. blis, Chaucer, C. T. Group B, 33.
A. S. blis, bliss (Grein) ; a contraction from A. S. blids or Wi'Ss,
happiness, Grein, i. 130. A. S. bltiSe, happy. See Blithe, Bless.
Der. bliss-ful, bliss-ful-ly, bliss-fvl-ness.
BLISTER, a little bladder on the skin. (E.) M. E. blister, in
The Flower and The Leaf, wrongly ascribed to Chaucer, 1. 408. Not
found in A. S., but Kilian gives the O. Du. bluyster, a blister. Cf.
Icel. bldstr, the blast of a trumpet, the blowing of a bellows ; also, a
swelling, mortification (in a medical sense). The Swedish blaster
means a pair of bellows. B. Blister is, practically, a diminutive of
blast in the sense of a swelling or blowing up ; cf. Swed. blasa, a
bladder, a blister. The root appears in Du. blazen, Icel. blasa, Swed.
blasa, to blow. C. The word bladder is formed, much in the same
way, from the same ultimate root. See Blast, Bladder, Blow.
Dor. blister, verb.
BLITHE, adj., happy. (E.) M.E. blithe, Chaucer, Prol. 846;
Havelok, 651. A. S. WiS, bltSe, sweet, happy; Grein, i. 130. + Icel.
blidr. + O. Saxon blflSi, bright (said of the sky), glad, happy. +
Goth, bleiths, merciful, kind.+O. H. G. Midi, glad. B. The significa-
tion ' bright ' in the Heliand suggests a connection with A. S. bliean,
to shine. The long i before S is almost a sure sign of loss of n ; this
gives blin-th, equally suggesting a connection with the same A. S.
bliean, which certainly stands for blin-can. See Blink. Der. blithe-
ly, blithe-ness, blithe-some, blithe-some-ness.
BLOAT, to swell. (Scand.) Not in early authors. The history
of the word is obscure. 'The bloat king' in Hamlet, iii. 4. 182, is
a conjectural reading ; if right, it means ' effeminate ' rather than
bloated. We find ' bloat him up with praise ' in the Prol. to Dryden's
Circe, 1. 25 ; but it is not certain that the word is correctly used.
However, bloated is now taken to mean ' puffed out,' ' swollen,' per-
haps owing to a fancied connection with blow, which can hardly be
right, p. The word is rather connected with the Icel. blotna, to become
soft, to lose courage ; blautr, soft, effeminate, imbecile ; cf. Swed.
blot, soft, pulpy ; also Swed. biota, to steep, macerate, sop ; Dan.
blod, soft, mellow. [These words are not to be confused with Du.
bloat, naked, G. Woss.] The Swedish also has the phrases liigga i
blot, to lay in a sop, to soak ; blotna, to soften, melt, relent ; blotfisk,
a soaked fish. The last is connected with E. bloater. See Bloater,
y. The root is better seen in the Lat. Jtuidin, fluid, moist ; from fluere,
to flow ; cf. Gk. if>\veiv, to swell, overflow. See Curtius, i. 375 ;
Kick, iii. 220. See Fluid.
BLOATER, a prepared herring. (Scand.) ' I have more smoke
BLOT.
67
&.
in my mouth than Would blote a hundred herrings ; ' Beaum. and
Fletcher, Isl. Princess, ii. 5. ' Why, you stink like so many bloat-
herrings, newly taken out of the chimney ; ' Ben Jonson, Masque of
Augurs, 1 7th speech. Nares gives an etymology, but it is worth-
less. There can hardly be a doubt that Mr. Wedgwood's suggestion
is correct. He compares Swed. blbt-Jisk, soaked fish, from biota, to
soak, steep. Cf. also Icel. blautr Jiskr, fresh fish, as opposed to
harSr fiskr, hard, or dried fish ; whereon Mr. Vigfusson notes that
the Swedish usage is different, blotfisk meaning ' soaked fish." Thus a
bloater is a cured fish, a prepared fish. The change from ' soaking ' to
curing by smoke caused a confusion in the use of the word. See Bloat.
BLOB, a bubble (Levins) ; see Bleb.
BLOCK, a large piece of wood. (C.) M. E. blot, Legends of the
Holy Rood, ed. Morris, p. 141, 1. 314. -W. ploc, a block; Gael.
floe, a round mass, large clod, bludgeon with a large head, block,
stump of a tree ; Irish ploc, a plug, bung (blocan, a little block) ; cf.
Ir. blogh, a fragment, O. Irish blag, a fragment. Allied to E. break,
as shewn in Curtius, ii. 159. See Break. ^f The word is Celtic,
because the Irish gives the etymology. But it is widely spread ; we
find Du. blok, Dan. blok, Swed. block, O. H. G. block, Russ. plakha,
plashka. Der. block-ode, block-house, block-head, block-tin. See Plug.
BLOND, fair of complexion. (F.) A late word. Not in Johnson.
Blonde-lace is a fine kind of silken lace, of light colour ; a blonde is a
beautiful girl of light complexion. F. 'blond, m., blonde, f., light
yellow, straw-coloured, flaxen ; also, in hawkes or stags, bright
tawney, or deer-coloured ; ' Cot. Origin unknown. p. Referred
by Diez to Icel. blandinn, mixed ; A. S blonden-feax, with hair of
mingled colour, gray-haired ; or else to Icel. blautr, soft, weak, faint.
Both results are unsatisfactory; the latter is absurd, y. Perhaps
it is, after all, a mere variation of F. blanc, from O. H. G. blanch,
white. Even if not, it is probable that confusion with F. blanc has
influenced the sense of the word.
BLOOD, gore. (E.) M.E. blod, blood, Chaucer, C. T. 1548.-
A. S. blud (Grein). + Du. bloed. + Icel. blod. + Swed. blod. + Goth.
bloth. + O. H. G. pluot, ploot. A. S. blowan, to blow, bloom, flourish
(quite a distinct word from blow, to breathe, puff, though the words
are related); cf. Lat. flarere, to flourish; see Curtius, i. 375. See
Blow (2). ^f Blood seems to have been taken as the symbol of
blooming, flourishing life. Der. blood-hound, blood-shed, blood-stone,
blood-y, blood-i-ly, blood-i-ness ; also bleed, q. v.
BLOOM, a flower, blossom. (Scand.) M. E. blome, Havelok, 63 ;
but not found in A. S. Icel. bldm, bldmi, a blossom, flower. + Swed.
blomma. + Dan. blomme. + O. Saxon blomo (Heliand). + Du. bloem.
+ O. H. G. plomd, and bluomo. + Goth, bloma, a flower. + Lat.^Jos,
a flower. Cf. also Gk. tn<j>\aivfiv, to spout forth ; from Gk. ^ *AA ;
see Curtius on these words, i. 375. The E. form of the root is blow ;
see Blow (2). ^f The truly E. word is blossom, q. v.
BLOSSOM, a bud, small flower. (E.) M. E. blosme, blossum ;
Prompt. Parv. p. 41. But the older form is blostme, Owl and
Nightingale, 437; so that a / has been dropped. A. S. blustma
[misprinted bdstma], Grein, i. 131. + Du. bloesem, a blossom. +
M. H. G. bluost, blust, a blossom. B. Formed, by adding the
suffixes -st and -ma, to the root Wo'-in A.S. bldwan, to flourish, bloom.
^[ When the suffix -ma alone is added, we have the Icel. bldmi, E.
bloom. When the suffix -st alone is added, we have the M. H. G.
bluost, blust, formed from bid-, to flourish, just as blast is formed from
bid-, to blow. See Blow, to flourish ; and see Bloom.
BLOT (i), a spot, to spot. (Scand.) M. E. blot, blotte, sb., Molten,
vb. ' Blotte vppon a boke, oblitum : Blottyn bokys, oblitero ; ' Prompt.
Parv. p. 41. Icel. blettr, a spot, stain (stem blot-). + Dan. plet, a
spot, stain, speck ; plette, to spot, to stain ; ' Dan. dial, blat, blatte,
a small portion of anything wet, blatte, to fall down ; ' Wedgwood.
[Cf. Swed. plotter, a scrawl ; plottra, to scribble. Perhaps connected
with G. platschen, to splash ; platsch, a splash ; platze, a splash, a
crash ; platz (interjection), crack ! bounce !] B. Pick cites M. H. G.
blatzen, G. platzen, to fall down with vehemence ; from stem blat- ;
iii. 221. And the stem blat- curiously reappears in the Gk. }<f>\aoov,
I tore with a noise, iro^Xdfeii/, to foam, bluster, from the y' *AAA, an
extension of ^ *AA, seen in imj>\aivnv, to spout forth. See these
roots discussed in Curtius, i. 375. The original sense of the root is
' to spout forth,' ' bubble out.'
BLOT (2), at backgammon. (Scand.) A blot at backgammon is
an exposed piece. It is obviously, as Mr. Wedgwood well points
out, the Dan. blot, bare, naked ; cf. the phrase give sig blot, to lay
oneself open, to commit or expose oneself. + Swed. blott, naked ;
blotta, to lay oneself open. + Du. Moot, naked ; blootstellen, to expose.
P. These words, remarks Mr. Vigfusson in his Icel. Diet. s. v. blautr,
were borrowed from German Woss, naked, bare, which can hardly be
admitted ; the difference in the last letter shews that the words are
cognate merely, y. All of them are connected with the Icel. blautr,
soft, moist ; cf. Lat./mV/us, fluid. See Bloat, [t]
' F 2
68
BLOTCH.
BLOTCH, a dark spot, a pustule. (E.) The sense ' pustule '
seems due to confusion with botch. The orig. form is the verb. To
blotch = to blotch or blach, i.e. to blacken ; formed from black as bleach
is formed from bleak. ' Smutted and blotched ; ' Harmar, tr. of Beza's
Sermons, p. 195 (R.) See blacchepot, a blacking-pot, and blakien, to
blacken, in Matzner; and cf. Wiltshire blotch = black, sooty ; Aker-
man's Wilts. Gloss, [t]
BLOUSE, a loose outer garment. (F.) Modern. F. blouse, a
smock-frock. O. F. bliaus, bliauz, properly the plural of bliaut,
blialt (mod. F. blaude), a vestment worn over others, made of silk,
and often embroidered with gold, worn by both sexes (Burguy).
This is the same word, though now used in a humbler sense, and
with the pi. form mistaken for the singular. The Low Lat. form is
blialdus ; see Ducange. The M. H. G. forms are blialt, bliant, blidnt.
Origin unknown. ^f The suggestion (by Mahn) that it is of
Eastern origin, deserves attention ; since many names of stuffs and
articles of dress are certainly Oriental. Cf. Pers. balydd, a plain
garment, balydr, an elegant garment; Rich. Diet., p. 289.
BLOW (i), to puff. (E.) M. E. blowen ; in Northern writers,
blow; very common; Chaucer, Prol. 567. A. S. bldwan, Grein. +
G. bldhen, to puff up, to swell, -f Lat. flare; cf. Gk. stem <p\a-, seen
in fxipKaiva, I spout forth; Curtius, i. 374. ^ BHLA, to blow ; Fick,
! 73- 5T The number of connected words in various languages
is large. In English we have bladder, blain, blast, blaze (to proclaim),
blazon, blare (of a trumpet), bleb, blister, blubber. Sec. ; and perhaps
bleat, blot, bloat ; also flatulent, inflate. And it is closely connected
with the word following.
BLOW (2), to bloom, flourish as a flower. (E.) M. E. blowe, Rob.
of Glouc. ed. Hearne, p. 352, 1. 13. A. S. bluwan, to bloom, Grein,
i. 131. +Du. bloeijen, to bloom.+O.H.G. pluon (G. bluhen). Cf. Lat.
florere, Fick, iii. 2 2 2 ; thus_/?on'sA is co-radicate with blow. See Bloom,
Blossom, Blood. From the same source are flourish, flour, flower.
BLOW (3), a stroke, hit. (E.) M. E. blowe ; ' blowe on the cheek,
jouee ; blowe with ones fyst, souffle! ; ' Palsgrave. The A. S. form
does not appear ; but we find O. Du. blauwen, to strike, Kilian ; and
Du. blouwen, to dress flax. The O. Du. word is native and genuine,
as the strong pt. t. blau, i. e. struck, occurs in a quotation given by
Oudemans. + G. bliiuen, to beat with a beetle ; (blduel, a beetle ;)
M. H. G. bluen, bliuwen, O. H. G. bliwan, pliuwan, to beat. + Goth.
bliggwan, to beat. + Lat. fligere, to beat down ; flagellum, a scourge.
Cf. also Gk. etiptiv, to crush; Curtius, ii. Sg.-^BHLAGH, to
strike, Fick, iii. 703. From the same root, blue, q. v. ; also afflict,
inflict, flagellate, flog.
BLUBBER, a bubble ; fat ; swollen ; to weep. (E.) The various
senses are all connected by considering the verb to blow, to puff, as
the root ; cf. bladder. Thus (i) blubber, M. E. blober, a bubble, is an
extension of bleb or Woo, a blister ; see extracts s. v. bleb. (2) The
fat of the whale consists of bladder-like cells filled with oil. (3) A
blubber-lipped person is one with swollen lips, like a person in the act
of blowing ; also spelt blobber-lipped, and in the Digby Mysteries, p.
107, blabyrlypped ; so that it was probably more or less confused
with blabber, q. v. (4) To blubber, to weep, is M. E. blober. Palsgrave
has: 'I blober, I wepe, je plenre.' But the older meaning is to
bubble, as in : 'The borne [bourn] blubred therinne, as it boylled had ; '
Gawain and the Green Knight, 1.2174. See Curtius, on the stems
<t>\oi, <f>A<z ; i. 374, 375. See Bleb, Bladder, Blow (i).
BLUDGEON, a thick cudgel. (Celtic ?) Rarely used ; but given
in Johnson's Dictionary. It has no written history, and the etymology
is a guess, but can hardly be far wrong. Irish blocan, a little block ;
marked by O'Reilly as a vulgar word. + Gael, plocan, a wooden
hammer, a beetle, mallet, &c. ; a dimin. of ploc, explained by Macleod
and Dewar as ' any round mass ; a large clod ; a club or bludgeon
with a round or large head ; . . . a block of wood.' Cf. W. plocyn,
dimin. of ploc, a block. pi . That is to say, bludgeon is a derivative
of block, a stumpy piece of wood. See Block, [t]
BLUE, a colour. (E. ; or rather, Scand.) The old sense is ' livid.'
M. E. Wo, livid, P. Plowman, B. iii. 97 ; Woo, ' lividus ; ' Prompt.
Parv. Icel. bldr, livid, leaden-coloured. + Swed. Wo. + Dan. blaa.
4- O. H. G. pldo, blue (G. blau). ^T The connection with Lat.
flauus or fuluus is very doubtful. Nor can we prove a connection
with Icel. bly, G. blei, lead. p. It is usual to cite A. S. bleo, blue ; but
it would be difficult to prove this word's existence. We once find
A. S. blas-hewen, i. e. blue-hued, Levit. viii. 7 ; but the word is so
scarce in A. S. that it was probably borrowed from Old Danish. In
the Scandinavian languages it is very common ; the North. Eng. blae
is clearly a Scand. form. See Bleaberry. The original sense was
' the colour due to a blow ; ' see Blow (3). Cf. the phr. ' to beat
black and blue.' Der. blu-ish, blue-bell, blue-bottle.
BLUPP, downright, rude. (Dutch?) Not in early authors.
Rich, cites ' a remarkable bluffness of face ' from The World, no. 88 ;
and the phrase ' a bluff point,' i. e. a steep headland, now shortened to
BLUSTER.
a bluff,' from Cook's Voyages, bk. iv. c. 6. p. Origin uncertain ;
but perhaps Dutch. Cf. O. Du. blaf, flat, broad ; blaffaert, one having
a flat broad face ; also, a boaster, a libertine ; Oudemans. And
Mr. Wedgwood quotes from Kilian the phrases ' blaf aensight, facies
plana et ampla ; blaf van voorhooft, fronto,' i. e. having a broad fore-
head, y. If the O. Du. blaffaert, having a flat broad face, is the
same word as when it has the sense of ' boaster,' we can tell the
root. The mod. Du. bluffer, a boaster, signifies literally a barker,
yelper, noisy fellow ; from blaffen, to bark, to yelp ; E. blabber. This
seems to be one of the numerous words connected with E. blow, to
puff, blow, to blossom, and blabber, to chatter, discussed by Curtius, i.
374. The primary sense was probably 'inflated;' then 'broad;' as
applied to the face, 'puffy;' as applied to manners, 'noisy' (see
blubber') ; as applied to a headland, ' broad,' or ' bold.'
BLUNDER, to flounder about, to err. (Scand.) M. E. blondren,
to pore over a thing, as in ' we blondren euer and pouren in the fyr,'
Chaucer, C. T. 1 2598. ' I blonder, je perturbe ; ' Palsgrave's F. Diet.
f3. Formed, with frequentative suffix -ren (for -eren), from Icel. blunda,
to doze, slumber ; so that it means ' to keep dozing,' to be sleepy and
stupid. Cf. Swed. blunda, to shut the eyes ; Dan. blunde, to nap,
doze, slumber. We find also Icel. blundr, Dan. and Swed. blund, a
doze, a nap. y. A derivative from blind, the more remote source
being blend. See Blind, Blend.
BLUNDERBUSS, a short gun. (Dutch.) Used by Pope,
Dunciad, iii. 1 50. A singular corruption of Du. donderbvs, a blunder-
buss ; which should rather have been turned into thunderbuss. Du.
dander, thunder ; and bus, a gun, orig. a box, a gun-barrel. + G.
donnerbiichse, a blunderbuss; from donner, thunder, and buchse, a
box, gun-barrel, gun. Thus it means ' thunder-box ; ' see Thunder,
and Box. [t]
BLUNT, not sharp. (Scand.) M.E. blunt (of edge), Prompt.
Parv. p. 41 ; ' blont, nat sharpe ; ' Palsgrave's F. Diet. Allied to
blunder, and from the same root, viz. Icel. blunda, to doze ; so that
the orig. sense is ' sleepy, dull.' It is also nearly allied to blind, from
which it differs in sense but slightly, when applied to the under-
standing. More remotely allied to blend, to mix, confuse. See
Blunder, Blind, Blend. Der. blunt-ly, blunt-ness. ^ The
M. E. blunt, cited by Mr. Wedgwood with the sense of 'naked, bare,'
is clearly allied to Swed. blott, naked, G. bloss, naked, as suggested
by him. But I take it to be quite a different word ; see blauta, weak,
yielding, in Fick, iii. 220 ; and see Blot (2). [t]
BLUR, to stain ; a stain. (Scand.) Slink, has both sb. and verb ;
Lucrece, 222, 522. Levins has both : ' A blirre, deceptio ; ' and'to
blirre, fallere.' Palsgrave has : ' I bleare, I begyle by dissimulacyon.'
Thus blur is nothing but another form of blear, to dim, as seen in
blear-eyed, and still more clearly in the phr. Blear one's eye, q. v.
P. The M. E. bleren sometimes means to ' dim.' ' The teris . . blaknet
with blering all hir ble quite ' = the tears spoilt with blurring all
her complexion wholly ; Destruction of Troy, ed. Panton and Don-
aldson, 9132. This is also of Scand. origin, as shewn s. v. blear.
BLURT, to utter rashly. (E.) Shak. has blurt at, to deride, Per.
i y - 3- 34- We commonly say ' to blurt out,' to utter suddenly and
inconsiderately. The Scot, form is blirl, meaning ' to make a noise
in weeping,' esp. in the phr. to blirt and greet, i. e. to burst out crying ;
Jamieson. This shews that it is a mere extension of blare, to make
a loud noise. See ' Bloryyn or wepyn, or bleren, ploro, Jieo,' in
Prompt. Parv. p. 40. The orig. sense of blurt is to blow violently.
p. Blurt is formed from blore or blare, just as blast is formed from
A. S. bldsan, to blow. Blurt is, moreover, from the same root as
blast, and little else than a doublet of it. See Blare, to roar ; and
see Bluster.
BLUSH, to grow red in the face. (E.) M. E. blaseken, blusshen, to
glow ; ' blusshit the sun,' the sun shone out ; Destruction of Troy, ed.
Panton and Donaldson, 1. 4665. A. S. blysgan, only found in deriv.
sb. dblysgung, explained by Lat. ' pudor,' shame ; Lye's A. S. Diet.
Formed, by the addition of -g (cf. smir-k, smile}, from the A. S.
blysan, only found in the comp. dblysian (less correctly ublisian), used
to translate Lat. erubescere in Levit. xxvi. 41. + Du. blozen, to blush. +
Dan. blusse, to blaze, flame, burn in the face. + Swed. blossa, to
blaze. B. All these are verbs formed from a sb., viz. A. S. blyse or
blys, in comp. bdl-blys, a fire-blaze (whence blysige, a torch). -j- Du.
bios, a blush. + Dan. blus, a blaze, a torch. + Swed. bloss, a torch.
Evidently from the root of blaze. See Blaze, [t]
BLUSTER, to blow noisily; to swagger. (Scand.) Shak. has
blustering, tempestuous, said of weather, Lucrece, 115. It is a
further extension of blurt or blast, words which have been shewn (s.v.
blurt) to be, practically, doublets. |3. Perhaps it is best to consider
bluster as an extended form (expressing iteration) of blast, with the
vowel influenced by Scandinavian pronunciation. The Icel. a is
sounded like E. ow in cow ; the Swed. a like E. a in fall ; and both
languages give the idea of ' tempestuous weather.' Cf. Icel. bldstr, a
BOA.
blast ; bldstrsamr, windy ; Swed. blast, wind, tempestuous weather ;
Uisig, stormy. See Blast, [t]
BOA, a large snake. (L.) A term borrowed from Latin. The pi.
boa occurs in Pliny, Nat. Hist. viii. 14, where it means serpents of
immense size. Prob. allied to Lat. bos, in allusion to the size of the
animal, p. The Skt. gavaya (allied to Lat. bos) not only means a kind
of ox, but is also the name of a monkey. The form of boa answers
to Skt. gava (=go-a), which is substituted forg-o,abull, at the begin-
ning of compound words, and helps to form the sb. gavaya just quoted.
BOAR, an animal. (E.) M. E. bore, boor, P. Plowman, B. xi. 333.
A. S. bar, .(Elfric's Glossary, Nomina Ferarum. + Du. beer. +
0. H. G. per, M. H. G. her, a boar. + Russ. borov.' f Probably
allied to bear, in the orig. sense of 'wild animal.' Cf. O. H. G. pero,
M.H.G. hero, a bear; also written per, her. See Bear.
BOARD, a table, a plank. (E.) M. E. bard, a table, Chaucer,
C. T. Group E. 3. A. S. hard, a board, the side of a ship, a shield
(Grein). + Du. hard, board, shelf. + Icel. bard, plank, side of a ship,
margin, -f- Goth, -baurd, in comp. fotu-baurd, foot-board, footstool.
+ O. H. G. porio, rim, edge (G. bord). Perhaps from ^ BHAR, to
carry, Kick, iii. 203. See Bear. ^f In the phrases ' star-6oarrf,'
' lar-ioard,' ' over board,' and perhaps in ' on board,' the sense of ' side
of a ship ' is intended ; but it is merely a different use of the same
word ; and not derived from F. bord. On the contrary, the F. bord
is Low German or Scandinavian. Some see a connection with adj.
broad, because the G. brett means ' a board, plank.' But the word
board is Celtic also ; spelt bord in Gaelic, Irish, Welsh, and Cornish ;
and broad is not. Der. board, to live at table ; board-ing-house, board-
ing-school ; also board-ing, a covering of boards.
BOAST, a vaunt. (C.) M. E. host, vain-glory; Will, of Palerne,
ed. Skeat, 1141. W. bost, a bragging. + Irish and Gael, bosd, a boast,
vain-glory. + Com. bast, a boast, bragging. Der. boost, verb, q. v.
BOAST, v. to vaunt. (C.) M. E. boste, P. Plowman, B. ii. 80. -
W. bostio, bostiau, to brag. + Gael, bbsd, to boast, -f- Com. boslye, to
boast, brag. See above. Der. boast-er, boast-ful, boast-ful-ly, boast-
ful-ness, boast-ing, bonst-ing-ly. [#]
BOAT, a small ship. (E.) M.E. boot, Wyclif, Mark, iv. I.-
A. S. bat, Grein, p. 76. + Icel. bdtr. + Swed. bat. + Du. boot. + Russ.
bot'. + W. bad. + Gael, bdta, a boat. B. Cf. Gael, bata, a staff, a
cudgel; Irish bata, a stick, a pole, or branch; bat, bata, a stick,
staff, bat. The original ' boat ' was a stem of a tree ; and the word
may be connected with bat. Der. boat-swain ; where swain is A.S.
swan, a lad, Grein, ii. 500, with the vowel a altered to at by confusion
with Icel. sveinn, a lad.
BOB, to jerk about, to knock. (C. ?) Sometimes assumed to be
onomatopoetic. It may be an old British word, imperfectly pre-
served. Cf. Gael, bog, to bob, move, agitate ; Irish bogaim, I wag,
shake, toss ; Gael, toe, a blow, a box, a stroke, deceit, fraud. In
this view 606 stands for an older form bog. Cf. buffet, box. See Bog.
5f ' A bob of cheris,' i. e. a cluster of cherries, Towneley Mysteries, p.
1 1 8, may be explained from Gael, babag, a cluster ; which cf. with
Gael, bagaid, a cluster, W. bagad, bagwy, a cluster, bunch.
BOBBIN", a wooden pin on which thread is wound ; round tape.
(F.) Holland has ' spindles or bobins ; ' Plutarch, p. 994. F. ' bo-
bine, a quil for a spinning wheele ; also, a skane or hanke of gold, or
silver thread ; ' Cot. Origin unknown, according to Brachet ; but
probably Celtic ; cf. Irish and Gael, baban, a tassel, fringe, short pieces
of thread ; Gael, babag, a tassel, fringe, cluster. See Bob.
BODE, to foreshew, announce. (E.) M. E. bode, Gower, C. A.
1. 153; bodien, Layamon, 23290. A. S. bodian, to announce, Grein,
i. 131. A.S. bod, a message, Grein ; cf. boda, a messenger, id. Cf.
Icel. boda, to announce ; tod, a bid. From A. S. bod-en, pp. of
A. S. beiidan, biddan, to command, bid. See Bid (2).
BODICE, stays for women. (E.) Bodice is a corruption of
bodies, like pence for pennies ; it was orig. used as a pi. Hence, in
Johnson's Life of Pope : ' he was invested in bodice made of stiff can-
vass ' (R.) And Mr. Wedgwood quotes, from Sherwood's Dictionary
(appended to Cotgrave, edd. 1632, 1660) : ' A woman's bodies, or a
pair of bodies ; corset, corpset.' See Body.
BODKIN, orig. a small dagger. (C.) M. E. boydeUn (trisyllable),
a dagger; Chaucer, C. T. Group B, 3892, 3897. Vf.bidogyn, bidogan,
a dagger, poniard ; dimin. of bidog, a dagger ; cf. W. pid, a tapering
point. + Gael, biodag, a dagger ; cf. Gael, biod, a pointed top. +
Irish bideog, a dagger, dirk, [f ]
BODY, that which confines the soul. (E.) M. E. bodi, Owl and
Nightingale, 73 ; Layamon, 4908.- A. S. bod-ig, body. + Gael, bodh-
aig, body. + O. H. G. po'-acli. + Skt. bandlia, the body; also, bond-
age, a tie, fetter.- ./BHADH, to bind; pick, i. 155. % The
suffixes -ig, -aig, -ach are diminutive. See Leaves from a Word-
hunter's Notebook, by A. S. I'almer, who, in a note at p. 4, quotes
from Colebrooke's Essays, vol. i. p. 431, to the effect that 'the Md-
he.swaras, a sect of the Hindus, term the living soul prisn, i. e, fastened
BOLT. 6'J
<*or fettered, conceiving it to be confined in bandlia, the bondage ol
sense.' Der. bodi-ly, bodi-less.
BOG, a piece of soft ground ; a quagmire. (C.) ' A great bog or
marish ; ' North's Plutarch, p. 480. Irish bogach, a morass ; lit. soft-
ish ; -ach being the adjectival termination, so that bogach is fonned
from bog, soft, tender, penetrable ; cf. Irish bogaighim (stem bog-), I
soften, make mellow ; also Irish bogaim (stem bog-), I move, agitate, wag,
shake, toss, stir. + Gael, bogan, a quagmire ; cf. Gael, bog, soft, moist,
tender, damp ; bog, v., to steep, soften ; also, to bob, move, agitate.
^[ Diefenbach refers these to the same root as bow, to bend ; i. 301.
BOGGLE, to start aside, swerve for fear. (C. ?) Shak. has it,
All's Well, v. 3. 232. Origin unknown ; but there is a presumption
that it is connected with Prov. Eng. boggle, a ghost, Scotch bogle, a
spectre; from the notion of scaring or terrifying, and then, passively,
of being scared. Cf. W. bwg, a goblin ; bwgwl, a threat ; bwgwth, to
scare ; bygylu, to threaten ; bygylus, intimidating, scaring. Cf. bug in
bug-bear. Cf. Skt. bkuj, to bend ; Lat. fuga, flight ; and E. bow.
See Bug (i).
BOIL (i), v., to bubble up. (F..-L.) M. E. boile, boilen ; also
'boyle, buyle, to break forth or boil, Exod. xvi. 20, Hab. iii. 16;'
Wyclif's Bible (Glossary). -O. F. boillir, to boil. -Lat. bvllirt, to
bubble. Lat. bulla, a bubble. (The Icel. bulla, to boil, is modem,
and a borrowed word.) Cf. Gk. /3o/i/3i;Ais, a bubble ; Lith. bumbuls,
a bubble ; Curtius, i. 362. Der. boil-er.
BOIL (2), a small tumour. (E.) M. E. bile, byle, buile, P. Plow-
man, B. xx. 83. A. S. byl (Bosworth) ; or perhaps it should rather
be byle.+Du. bule (Oudemans) ; Du. bull. + Icel. bdla, a blain, blister.
+ Dan. byld. + O. H. G. biule (G. beule). The orig. sense is ' a
swelling ; ' from the root of bulge. Cf. Irish bolg, belly, also a
pimple. See Bulge, and see Bole, Boiled, Bag. [t]
BOISTEROUS, wild, unruly, rough. (C.) Shak. has boisterous,
frequently. But it is a corrupted form. M. E. boistous, Chaucer, C. T.
17160 ; also boystows = rudis ; Prompt. Parv. p. 42. It can hardly be
other than the W. bwystus, brutal, ferocious ; an adj., formed, with
the W. suffix -us, from bwyst, wildness, ferocity. ^f The suggested
connection, in Wedgwood, with M. E. boost, a noise, is perhaps more
likely. See Errata. [*]
BOLD, daring. (E.) M. E. bold, bald; P. Plowman, A. iv. 94;
B. iv. I07.-A.S. beald, bald, Grein, i. loi. + Icel. ballr. + O. Du.
bald (Oudemans) ; whence Du. bout. + Goth, balths *, bold, in deriv.
adv. balthaba, boldly, -f. O. H. G. paid. Fick gives a supposed Teu-
tonic baltha ; iii. 209. Der. bold-ly, bold-ness ; also bawd, q. v.
BOLE, the stem of a tree. (Scand.) M. E. bole, Allit. Poems, ed.
Morris, B. 622. Icel. bolr, bulr, the trunk of a tree. + Swed. bal,
a trunk, body ; also, a bowl. + Dan. bul, trunk, stump, log. No
doubt so named from its round shape. See Bowl, Ball, Boil (2),
Boiled, Bulge, [t]
BOLLED, swollen. (Scand.) In the A. V.; Exod. ix. 31. Pp.
of M. E. boilen, to swell ; which occurs in bolle^, P. Plowman, A. v.
99 ; and in the sb. boiling, swelling, P. Plowman, A. vi. 218, B. vii.
204. Another form of the pp. is bolned, whence the various readings
bolni]>, bolnyth, for bolle]>, in the first passage. Dan. bulne, to swell ;
pp. bullen, swollen. + Icel. bdlgnadr, swollen, pp. of bolgja, to swell ;
also bulginn, swollen, pp. of a lost verb. + Swed. bulna, to swell.
Cf. Du. bol, puffed, swollen, convex. From the same root as bulge.
See Bulge.
BOLSTER, a sort of pillow. (E.) M. E. bolster, Prompt. Parv.
p. 43. -A. S. bolster, Grein. + Icel. bolstr. + O. H. G. polstar (Strat-
mann, E. Muller). In Dutch, bolster is both a pillow, and a shell or
husk. a. The suffix may be compared with that in hol-ster ; see it
discussed in Koch, Engl. Grammatik, iii. 46. p. Named from its
round shape ; cf. A. S. holla in the compounds heafod-bolla, a skull
(lit. a head-ball), \rrot-bolla, the throat-boll, or ball in the throat.
See Ball, and Boiled.
BOLT, a stout pin, of iron, &c. ; an arrow. (E.) M. E. bolt, a
straight rod, Chaucer, C. T. 3264. A. S. bolt (?), only recorded in the
sense of catapult, for throwing bolls or arrows. + O. Du. bolt, a bolt
for shooting, a kind of arrow (Oudemans) ; whence Du. bout, a bolt,
in all senses. + O. H. G. polz- ; whence G. bolzen, a bolt. [If not
actually E. the word is, at any rate, O. L. G.] Probably named, like
a bolster, from its roundness. See Bolster, Ball, Bole, [t]
BOLT, BOULT, to sift meal. (F.,-L.,-Gk.) Shak. has bolt,
Winter's Tale, iv. 4. 375 ; also bolter, a sieve, I Henry IV, iii. 3. 81.
Palsgrave has : * I boulte meale in a boulter, le bulte.' O. F. baiter
(Palsgrave); bluter.to boult meal (Cotgrave) ; mod. F. bluter. p. In
still earlier French, we find buleter, a corruption of burster ; cf. Ital.
buratello, a bolter ; see proofs in Burguy and Brachet. Bureter
means ' to sift through coarse cloth.' O. F. bain (F. bure), coarse
woollen cloth. Low Lat. hurra, coarse woollen cloth (of a red brown
colour) ; see bure in Brachet. Lat. burrus, Gk. mippus, reddish. Gk.
vvp, fire. fl' Thus boll is co-radicate withyfre, q. v. [t]
70
BOMB.
BOMB, a shell for cannon. (F., - L., - Gk.) In Kersey's Diet., ed.
1715. In older writers, it is called a bumbard or bombard. See
Bombard. F. bombe, a bomb. Lat. bombus, a humming noise.
Gk. &6fji@os, a humming or buzzing noise ; perhaps onomatopoetic.
See Boom, vb. (Brachet marks F. bombe with origin unknown.')
BOMBARD, to attack with bombs. (F.) 'To Bombard or
Bomb, to shoot bombs into a place ; ' also ' Bombard, a kind of great
gun;' Kersey's Diet. ed. 1715. In older authors, it is a sb., meaning
a cannon or great gun ; and, jocularly, a large drinking vessel ; see
Shak. Temp. ii. 2. 21. F. bombarde, 'a bumbard, or murthering
piece ; ' Cot. F. bombe, a bomb ; with suffix -ard, discussed in Koch,
Engl. Grammatik, iii. pt. i. 107. See Bomb, ^f Cf. M. E. bombard, a
trumpet ; Gower, C. A. iii. 358. Der. bombard-menl, bombard-ier, q. v.
BOMBARDIER. (F.) Cotgrave has: 'Bombardier, a bum-
bardier, or gunner that useth to discharge murthering peeces ; and,
more generally, any gunner.' See Bombard.
BOMBAST, originally, cotton- wadding. (Ital.?-Gk.) 'Bom-
bast, the cotton-plant growing in Asia; also, a sort of cotton or
fustian ; also, affected language ; ' Kersey's Diet. Diez quotes a
Milanese form bombds, which comes nearest to the English. Ital.
bambagio, cotton. Low Lat. bombax, cotton ; a corruption of Lat.
bombyx. Gk. 06f^v(, silk, cotton. ^[ Probably Eastern ; cf. Pers.
bandash, carded cotton ; bandak, cotton cleansed of the seed ; Rich-
ardson's Pers. Diet. p. 292. Der. bombast-ic; and see below.
BOMBAZINE, BOMBASINE, a fabric, of silk and worsted.
(F., L., Gk.) Borrowed from F. bombasin, which Cotgrave ex-
plains by ' the stuffe bumbazine, or any kind of stuffe that's made of
cotton, or of cotton and linnen.' Low Lat. bombacynus, made of the
stuff called ' bombax.' Low Lat. bombax, cotton; a corruption of
Lat. bombyx, a silk-worm, silk, fine cotton ; which again is borrowed
from Gk. o/i/St>, a silk-worm, silk, cotton. See above.
BOND, a tie. (E.) In Chaucer, C. T. 3096, where it rimes with
/iof/ = hand. A mere variation of band; just as Chaucer has londe,
honde, for land, hand. See Band. Der. bond-ed, bonds-man; but
perhaps not bond-man, nor bond-age ; see Bondage.
BONDAGE, servitude. (F., - Scand.) M. E. bondage, servitude,
Rob. of Brunne, tr. of Langtoft, p. 71. O. F. bondage, explained by
Roquefort as ' vilaine tenue,' i. e. a tenure of a lower character = Low
Lat. bondagium, a kind of tenure, as in ' de toto tenemento, quod de
ipso tenet in bondagio ; ' Monast. Anglic. 2 par. fol. 609 a, qu. in
Blount's Nomo-lexicon. A holder under this tenure was called a
bondman, or in earlier times bonde, A. S. bonda, which merely meant a
boor, a householder. B. That the word bondage has been connected
from very early times with the word bond, and the verb to bind is
certain ; hence its sinister sense of ' servitude.' C. It is equally
certain that this etymology is wholly false, the A. S. bonda having
been borrowed from Icel. bondi, a husbandman, a short form of
buandi, a tiller of the soil ; from Icel. bua, to till. See Boor.
BONE, a part of the skeleton. (E.) M. E. ioon, Chaucer, Prol.
546. A. S. ian, Grein. + Du. been. + Icel. i'n. + Swed. ben. +
Dan. been. + O. H. G. pein, peini. Fick suggests a connection with
Icel. beinn, straight ; iii. 197. Der. bon-y ; perhaps bon-fire, q. v.
BONFIRE, a fire to celebrate festivals, &c. (E.) Fabyan (con-
tinued) has : ' they sang Te Deum, and made bonefires ; ' Queene Marie,
an. 1555. Several other quotations hi R. shew the same spelling.
P. The origin is somewhat uncertain. Skinner suggested F. ion, or
Lat. bonus II Wedgwood suggests (i) Dan. baun, a beacon, which
can hardly be an old word, as the fuller form, Icel. bdkn, is a bor-
rowed word ; (2) W. ian, lofty ; cf. W. banffagl, a bonfire, blaze ;
which does not answer to the spelling bonefire ; (3) a fire of buns,
i. e. dry stalks (prov. Eng.). y. The Lowland Scotch is banefire,
in Acts of James VI (Jamieson). The M. E. bone means (i) a bone,
(2) a boon ; but the Scotch bane means a bone only. This makes it
' bone-fire,' as being the only form that agrees with the evidence ;
and this explanation leaves the whole word native English, instead of
making it a clumsy hybrid. ^f After writing the above, I noted
the following passage. ' The English nuns at Lisbon do pretend that
they have both the arms of Thomas Becket ; and yet Pope Paul the
Third . . . pitifully complains of the cruelty of K. Hen. 8 for
causing all tie bones of Becket to be burnt, and the ashes scattered
in the winds ; . . . and how his arms should escape that bone-fire is
very strange;' The Romish Horseleech, 1674, P' 82. But, in fact,
the entry 'bane-fire, ignis ossium' occurs in Cathol. Anglicum, A.D.
1483. See Errata, &c. [t]
BONITO.'a kind of tunny. (Span., - Arab.) In Sir T. Herbert's
Travels, ed. 1665, P- 41. Span, bonito. Arab, baynis, a bonito;
Rich. Diet. p. 312.
BONNET, a cap. (F.,-Low L.,- Hindee?) ' Lynnen bonneltes
vpon their heades;' Bible, 1551, Ezek. xliv. 18 ; and so iii A. V.
F. bonnet, a cap ; Cot. [Brachet says it was originally the name of
a stuff ; ' there were robes de bonnet ; the phrase chapel de bonnet [cap
BOOT.
of stuff] is several times found ; this was abridged into un bonnet.'
Cf. E. 'a beaver' for 'a beaver hat.'] Low Lat. bonneta, the name
of a stuff, mentioned A. D. 1 300. Origin unknown. Perhaps Hindee ;
cf. Hind, bandt, woollen cloth, broad cloth ; Rich. Arab. Diet., p. 290.
BONNY, handsome, fair ; blithe. (F.,-L.) Shak. has ' blithe
and bonny ; ' Much Ado, ii. 3. 69 ; also, ' the bonny beast ; ' 2 Hen.
VI, v. 2. 12. Levins has: ' Bcnye, scitus, facetus,' 102. 32. A com-
parison of the word with such others as bellibone, bonibell, bonnilasse
(all in Spenser, Shep. Kal. August), shews at once that it is a cor-
ruption of F. bonne, fair, fern, of ion, good. Lat. bonus, good. Der.
bonni-Iy. See Bounty.
BONZE, a Japanese priest. (Port., Japanese.) Spelt bonzee in
Sir T. Herbert's Travels, pp. 393, 394. Port, ionzo, a bonze.
Japan, busso, a pious man ; according to Mahn's Webster.
BOOBY, a stupid fellow. (Span.,-L.) In Beaum. and Fletcher,
Hum. Lieutenant, iii. 7. 9. In Sir T. Herbert's Travels, ed. 166:;,
p. n, we find : ' At which time some boobyes pearcht upon the yard-
arm of our ship, and suffered our men to take them, an animal so very
simple as becomes a proverb.' [The F. boubie, in the Supplement to
the Diet, de 1'Acade'mie, is only used of the bird, and may have been
borrowed from English. The name probably arose among the Spanish
sailors.] Span, bobo, a blockhead, dolt ; a word in very common use,
with numerous derivatives, such as bobon, a great blockhead, bobote, a
simpleton, &c. ; cf. Port. ioio, a mimic, buffoon. [Related to F. baube,
stuttering (Cotgrave), and to O. F. bobu, cited by Littre (s. v. bobe),
the latter of which points back to Lat. balbutire, to stammer, just as
baube does to balbus.'] Lat. balbus, stammering, lisping, inarticulate.
[Cf. Span, bobear, to talk foolishly, bobada, silly speech.] + Gk. fSap-
Papos, lit. inarticulate. See Barbarous.
BOOK, a volume ; a written composition. (E.) M. E. book,
Chaucer, C. T. Group, B. 190. + A. S. hoc, Grein, i. 134. + Du. boek.
+ Icel. bdk. + Swed. bok. + Dan. bog. + O. H. G. buah, M. H. G.
buoch, G. buch. B. A peculiar use of A. S. hoc, a beech-tree
(Grein, i. 1 34) ; because the original books were written on pieces of
beechen board. The Icel. bdkstafr properly meant ' a beech-twig,'
but afterwards ' a letter.' So, in German, we have O. H. G. puachd,
pdhhd, M. H. G. buoche, a beech-tree, as compared with O. H. G.
buah, poah, M. H. G. buoch, a book. The mod. G. forms are buche,
beech, buch, a book. Cf. Goth, boka, a letter. See Beech. Der.
book-ish, book-keeping, book-case, book-worm.
BOOM (i), v., to hum, buzz. (E.) M. E. bommen, to hum. 'I
bomme as a bombyll [i. e. bumble-bee] dothe or any flye ; ' Palsgrave.
Not recorded in A. S., but yet O. Low G. ; cf. Du. bommen, to give
out a hollow sound, to sound like an empty barrel. The O. Du.
bommen meant ' to sound a drum or tabor ; ' and O. Du. bom meant
' a tabor ; ' Oudemans ; with which compare the A. S. byme, a trumpet.
Closely allied to bump, to make a noise like a bittern, which is the
Welsh form ; see Bump (2). ^f That the word begins with b
both in O. Low G. and in Latin (which has the form bombus, a hum-
ming), is due to the fact that it is imitative. See Bomb.
BOOM (2), a beam or pole. (Dutch.) Boom occurs in North's
Examen (R.) Du. boom, a beam, pole, tree. + E. beam. See Beam.
Many of our sea-terms are Dutch. Dei. jib-boom, spanker-boom.
BOON, a petition, favour. (Scand.) M. E. bone, boone, Chaucer,
C. T. 2271. Icel. bdn, a petition. + Dan. and Swed. ban, a petition.
+ A. S. ben, a petition. [Note that the vowel shews the word to be
Scandinavian in form, not A. S.] B. Fick gives a supposed Teu-
tonic form bdna, which he connects with the root ban, appearing in
our E. ban ; iii. 201. This seems more likely than to connect it with
the verb bid, in the sense of ' to ask,' with which it has but the initial
letter in common. See Ban. C. The sense of ' favour ' is somewhat
late, and points to a confusion with F. ion, Lat. bonus, good. D. In
the phrase ' a ioon companion,' the word is wholly the F. ion. [t]
BOOR, a peasant, tiller of the soil. (Dutch.) In Beaum. and
Fletcher, Beggars' Bush, iii. i. Du. boer (pronounced ioor), a peasant,
lit. ' a tiller of the soil ; ' see the quotations in R., esp. the quota-
tion from Sir W. Temple. Du. bouwen, to till. [In Mid. Eng. the
term is very rare, but it is found, spelt beuir, in Reliquia; Antiquse, i.
187 ; and it forms a part of the word neigh-bour, shewing that it was
once an English word as well as a Dutch one. Cf. A. S. gebur (rare,
but found in the Laws of Ine, 6), a tiller of the soil.] + A. S. Man,
to till, cultivate. + O. H. G. puwan, to cultivate. B. The original
sense is rather ' to dwell,' and the word is closely related t the word
be. From^BHU, to be ; Fick, i. 161 ; Benfey, s. v. bhu. See Be.
Der. boor-ish, boor-ish-ly, boor-ish-ness.
BOOT (i), a covering for the leg and foot. (F..-O. H. G.)
Chaucer has boles, Prol. 203, 275. O.F. boute, botte, meaning (i) a
sort of barrel, i. e. a butt, and (2) a boot. [In Eng. the word is even
extended to mean the luggage-box of a coach. The old boots were
often large and ample, covering the whole of the lower part of the
leg.] O. H. G. bitten, putin, G. butle, butte, a tub, cognate with A. S.
BOOT.
bytta, a bottle, whence M. E. bitte, z bottle, pitcher, now superseded
by bull (from the O. F. toule). See Butt (2). ^f The connection
of boot and butt with bottle is sometimes asserted, but it is not clear
that G. biitte = Gk. ffovrtt. See Bottle (i). [*]
BOOT (2), advantage, profit. (E.) Chiefly preserved in the adj.
bootless, profitless. M.E. bote, boote, common in early authors; the phr.
to bate is in Langtoft, p. 163, &c. A. S. but, Grein, i. 135 ; whence A. S.
betan, to amend, help. + Du. boete, penitence ; boeten, to mend, kindle,
atone for. + Icel. bdt, bati, advantage, cure ; batta, to mend, improve. +
Dan. bod, amendment ; bode, to mend.+ Swed. bot, remedy, cure ; b'dta,
to fine, mulct. + Goth, bola, profit ; bdtjan, to profit. + O. H. G. puoza,
buoza, G. busse, atonement ; G. biissea, to atone for. (In all these the
sb. is older than the verb.) From the root of Better, q. v. Der. boot-
less, boot-less-ly, boot-less-ness. ^f The phrase to boot means ' in addition,'
lit. ' for an advantage ; ' it is not a verb, as Bailey oddly supposes ; and,
in fact, the allied verb takes the form to beet, still used in Scotland in
the sense of ' to mend a fire ' (A. S. betan, to help, to kindle).
BOOTH, a slight building. (Scand.) M. E. bathe, in comp. tol-
bothe, a toll-house, Wyclif, St. Matt. ix. 9 ; also bo]>e, which seems to
occur first in the Ormulum, 1. 15187. Icel. biid, a booth, shop. +
Swed. bod. + Dan. bod. + Gael, bulk, a shop, tent ; Irish both, boith,
a cottage, hut, tent. + W. butth, a hut, booth, cot. + G. bade, a booth,
stall. p. Mr. Wedgwood cites also Bohem. bauda, bnd/ta, a hut,
a shop, budowati, to build ; Polish buda, a booth or shed, budowae, to
build ; with the remark that ' in the Slavonic languages, the word
signifying " to build " seems a derivative rather than a root.' y. Mr.
Vigfusson says that Icel. biid is not derived from bua, to live, to make
ready. The solution is easy ; all these words are from the ^ BHU,
to be ; cf. Skt. bhavana, a house, a place to be in, from bhu, to be.
BOOTY, prey, spoil. (Scand.) Not in very early use. One of the
earliest examples is in Hall's Chron. Henry VIII, an. 14 (R.), where
it is spelt botie. Icel. byti, exchange, barter. + Dan. bytte, exchange,
booty, spoil, prey.+ Swed. byte, exchange, barter, share or dividend,
spoil, pillage. + Du. buit, booty, spoil, prize ; bait maken, to get
booty, take in war. [The G. beute, booty, is merely borrowed, as
shewn by its unaltered form.] P. The word was also taken into F.
in the form bulin (Cotgrave), and Cotgrave's explanation of butiner
as ' to prey, get booty, make spoil of, to bootehale,' clearly shews that
the Eng. spelling was affected by confusion with boot, advantage,
profit.] y. The Icel. byti, exchange, is derived from the verb byta,
to divide into portions, divide, deal out, distribute, so that the original
sense of booty is ' share.' Remoter origin unknown.
BORAGE, a plant with rough leaves. (F.) Formerly bourage,
as in Cotgrave, who gives : ' Bourroche, Bourrache, bourage.' F.
bourrache. Low Lat. borraginem, ace. of borrago ; a name given to the
plant from its roughness (?) Low Lat. borra, hurra, rough hair, whence
F. bourre, Ital. borra ; the latter meaning ' short wool, goat's hair, cow-
hair,' &c. ; cf. Low Lat. reburrus, rough, rugged. See Burr. ^ Or
from (unauthorised) Arab, abu 'araq, a sudorific plant ; from abu, a
father (hence, endowed with), and 'araq, sweat (Littre, who thinks
the Low Lat. borrago to be taken from the F.). [t]
BORAX, biborate of soda ; of a whitish colour. (Low L.,
Arab., Pers.) Cotgrave gives borax, borrais, and boras as the French
spellings, with the sense ' borax, or green earth ; a hard and shining
minerall.' Borax is a Low-Latin spelling; Ducange also gives the
form boracum. The latter is the more correct form, and taken
directly from the Arabic. Arab, biirdq (better buraq), borax ; Rich.
Arab. Diet. p. 295. Pers. btirah, borax (Vullers).
BORDER, an edge. (F..-O. Low G.) M. E. bordtire, Chaucer,
tr. of Boethius, bk. i. pr. 1 , 1. 50. F. bordt/re (Cotgrave). Low Lat.
bordura, a margin ; formed, with suffix -ura, from O. Low German ;
cf. Du. board, border, edge, brim, bank ; which is cognate with A. S.
hard in some of its senses. See Board. Der. border, vb. ; border-er.
BORE (i), to perforate. (E.) M. E. borien, Ayenbite of Inwyt,
p. 66. A. S. borian, Bosworth, with a ref. to yElfric's Glossary ; he
also quotes ' wyrm }>e flora's treow,' a worm that perforates wood,
fiom infm. boran. + Du. borcn, to bore, pierce. + Icel. bora. + Swed.
borra. + Dan. bore. + O. H. G. poron (G. bohren). + Lat. forare, to
bore. -J- Gk. <pap-, in <f>ap-a.f, a ravine, <f>ap-vy, the pharynx, gullet ;
Curtius, i. 371. + Zend bar, to cut. y' BHAR, to cut ; Fick, i. 694.
Thus bore is co-radicate with perforate and pharynx. Der. bor-er.
BORE (2), to worry, vex. (E.) Merely a metaphorical use of
bore, to perforate. Shak. has it in the sense, to overreach, trip up :
'at this instant He bores me with some trick ;' Hen. VIII, i. 1. 128.
Cf. ' Baffled and bored; ' Beaum. and Fletcher, Span. Curate, iv. 5.
BORE (3), a tidal surge in a river. (Scand.) Used by Burke, On
a Regicide Peace, letters 3 and 4 (R.). An old prov. E. word, of
Scand. origin. Icel. bdra, a billow caused by wind. + Swed. dial, bar,
a hill, mound ; Rietz. p. Cf. G. empor, O. H. G. in par, upwards ;
O. H. G. purjaa, to lift up. Referred by Fick, iii. 202, to Teutonic
bar, to carry, lift.- ^ BIIAR, to bear, [t]
BOTHER.
71
BOREAS, the north wind. (L.,-Gk.) In Shak. Troil. i. 3. 38.
Lat. Boreas, the north wind. Gk. Koplas, Boppas, the north wind.
P. Perhaps it meant, originally, the ' mountain-wind ; ' cf. Ital. tra-
montana, mountain-wind. Cf. Gk. opos, Skt. girt, a mountain ; Cur-
tius, i. 434. Der. borea-l.
BOROUGH, a town. (E.) M.E. burgh, borgh, P. Plowman,
B. vi. 308 ; also borwe, in the sense ' a place of shelter ' (cf. E. burrow),
Will, of Paleme, 1. 1889; bury, burie, borwe, borewe, Layamon, 2168,
3553, 9888. A. S. burh, burg, Grein, i. 147; forming byrig in the
gen. and dat. sing., whence the modem E. bury. + Du. burg. + Icel.
borg, a fort, castle. + Swed. and Dan. borg, a fort, castle. + Goth.
baurgs, a town. + O. H.G. puruc (G. burg), a castle. p. From
A. S. beorgan, to defend, protect, Grein, i. 107. + Goth, bairgan, to
hide, preserve, keep. + Lithuanian brttkii, to press hard, constrain. +
Lat. farcire, to stuff. + Gk. typaaativ, to shut in, make fast. Gk.
^ *PAK ( = bhrak), according to Curtius, i. 376. Fick (ii. 421) gives
.y^BHARGH, to protect. Benfey (p. 635) suggests a connection
with Skt. brihant, large. See below ; and see Burgess.
BORROW, to receive money on trust. (E.) M. E. borwen,
Chaucer, C. T. 4525. A. S. borgian, to borrow, Matt. v. 42 (by usual
change of A. S. g to M. E. w) ; the lit. meaning being ' to give a
pledge.' A. S. borg, a pledge, more frequently spelt bork in the nom.
case ; common in the A. S. laws. + Du. borg, a pledge, bail, security.
+ M. H. G. and G. borg, security. (Merely a borrowed word in Ice-
landic, and perhaps also in Swed. and Danish.) Thus A. S. borgian
is a deriv. of borg, which is, itself, from the pp. of A. S. beorgan, to
protect, secure. See Borough. Der. borrow-er.
BOSOM, a part of the body. (E.) M. E. bosom, Chaucer, C. T.
7575. A. S. bosm, Grein, i. 134. + Dutch boezem. -j- O. H. G. puos-
am ; G. busen. p. Grimm (Diet. ii. 483, 494, 563) suggests the
root which appears in E. to bow, q. v., as if the orig. sense were
' rounded.'
BOSS, a knob. (F..-O.H.G.) M.E. ' bosse of a bokelere'
(buckler); Chaucer, C. T. .^266. F. bosse, a hump; Prov. bossa ;
Ital. bozza, a swelling. O. H. G. 6020, pdzo, a bunch, a bundle
(of flax) ; whence was also borrowed Du. bos, a bunch, a bundle.
p. It seems to be agreed that (just as E. bump means (i) to
strike, and (2) a hump, a swelling, with other similar instances) the
root of the word is to be found in the O. H. G. bdzen, pdssen, buzen, to
strike, beat ; cognate with E. beat. See Beat, and see further under
Botch (i).
BOTANY, the science treating of plants. (F., - Gk.) The word
is ill-formed, being derived from the F. adj. botanique, a form which
appears in Cotgrave, and is explained by ' herball, of, or belonging
to herbs, or skill in herbs.' The mod. F. botanique is both adj.
rt for ' botanic science.' Gk. ftoTaviictis,
and sb. Thus botany is shor
botanical, adj., formed from Horavr), a herb, plant. Gk. 06aKfiv, to
feed (stem 0o-). The middle voice f36oKOfuu, I feed myself, is pro-
bably cognate with Lat. uescor, I feed myself, I eat (stem wa-) ; see
Fick, ii. 229. Der. botanic, botanic-al, botanic-al-ly, botan-ist, botan-ise.
BOTCH (i), to patch ; a patch. (O. Low G.) Wyclif has bocchyn,
to mend, 2 Chron. xxxiv. 10. Borrowed [not like the sb. botch (2),
a swelling, through the French, but] directly from the O. Low German.
Oudemans gives botsen (mod. Du. botsen), to strike ; with its variant
butsen, meaning both (i) to strike or beat, and (2) to repair. The
notion of repairing in a rough manner follows at once from that of
fastening by beating. The root is the same as that of beat. See
Boss, and Beat ; and see below. Der. botch-er, botch-y.
BOTCH (2), a swelling. (F., - G.) Used by Milton, botches and
blains;' P. L. xii. 180. The Prompt. Parv. has: ' Bohche, botche,
sore ; ulcus.' Here tch is for cch or ch. The spelling bocches is in
P. Plowman, B. xx. 83. O. F. boce, the boss of a buckler, a botch,
a boil. Cotgrave has boce as another spelling of F. bosse ; thus botch
is a doublet of 6oss. See Boss. ^f Oudemans gives butse as O. Du.
for a boil, or a swelling, with the excellent example in an old pro-
verb : ' Naar den val de butse ' = as is the tumble, so is the botch.
BOTH, two together. (Scand.) Not formed from A. S. bd two.,
butu, lit. both two, but borrowed from the Scandinavian ; cf. Low-
land Scotch baith ; spelt ba]>e and befre in Havelok, 1680, 2543. Icel.
bddir, adj. pron. dual ; neut. baii, bdoi. + Swed. bdda. + Dan. baade.
+ O. H. G. pede (G. beide). + Goth, bajoths, Luke, v. 38. B. The
A. S. has only the shorter form bd, both ; cognate with Goth, bai,
both ; cf. -60 in Lat. am-bo ; -<j>ai in Gk. a^-ifeu ; and -bha in Skt. tt-bha.
See Fick, i. 18. C. The Goth, form shews that -th (in bo-th) does
not mean two, nor is it easy to explain it. For numerous examples
of various forms of the word, see Koch, Engl. Gram. ii. 197.
BOTHER, to harass ; an embarrassment. (C.) There is no
proof that the word is of any great antiquity in English. The earliest
quotation seems to be one from Swift; 'my head you so bother; 1
Strephon and Flavia (R.). Swift uses pother in the same poem, but
rather in the sense of ' constant excitement.'
72
BOTS.
With every lady in the land | Soft Strephon kept a pother ;
One year he languished for one hand | And next year for another.'
I am not at all sure that the words are the same ; and instead of see-
ing any connection with Du. bulderen, to rage (Wedgwood), I incline
to Gamett's solution (Philolog. Trans, i. 171), where he refers us to
Irish buaidhirt, trouble, affliction ; buaidhrim, I vex, disturb. Swift may
easily have taken the word from the Irish. Cf. Gaelic buaidheart (obso-
lete), tumult, confusion ; buaidheirthe, disturbed, agitated ; buireadh, dis-
turbance, distraction ; derived from buair, to tempt, allure, provoke, vex,
disturb, annoy, distract, madden ; Irish buair, to vex, grieve, trouble.
BOTS, BOTTS, small worms found in the intestines of horses.
(C.) Shak. has hots, i Hen. IV, ii. I. n. Cf. Gael, botus, a belly-
worm ; boiteag, a maggot. Bailey has : ' Bouds, maggots in barley.'
BOTTLE.(i), a hollow vessel. (F., - Low Lat., - Gk.) M:E. hotel ;
Chaucer, C. T. 75 1 3. Norm. F. butuille, a bottle (note to Vie de Seint
Auban, ed. Atkinson, 1. 677). Low Lat. buticula, dimin. of butica, a
kind of vessel (Brachet). - Gk. pirns, Point, a flask. See Boot (i).
BOTTLE (2), a bundle of hay. (F..-O.H.G.) M.E. botel,
Chaucer, C. T. I6963--O. F. botel; cf. 'botelle, botte de loin ou de
paille ; ' Roquefort. A dimin. of F. botte , a bundle of hay, &c.
O. H. G. bi'a.o, p6zo, a bundle of flax. See Boss.
BOTTOM, the lower part, foundation. (E.) M. E. bolym, bolum,
botun, bottome ; also bothom ; see Prompt. Parv. p. 45 ; bothem, Gawain
and the Grene Knight, ed. Morris, 1. 2145. A.S. botm, Grein, p. 133.+
Du. bodem. + Icel. botn. + Swed. batten. + Dan. bund. + O. H. G.podam
(G. boden). + Lat.fundus. + Gk. mBu.T]V. + Skt. (Vedic) btidhna, depth,
ground ; Benfey, p. 634 ; Fick, iii. 214. From ^ BHUDH, signifying
either ' to fathom ' (see budh in Benfey), or an extension of ^/ BHU,
'to be, to grow,' as if the root is the place of growth (Curtius, i. 327).
B. The word appears also in Celtic ; cf. Irish bonn, the sole of the
foot ; Gaelic bonn, sole, foundation, bottom ; W. ban, stem, base,
stock. Der. bottom-less, bottom-ry. From the same root, fund-ament.
BOUDOIR, a small private room, esp. for a lady. (F.) Modern,
and mere French. F. boudoir, lit. a place to sulk in. F. bouder, to
sulk. Origin unknown (Brachet). [f]
BOUGH, a branch of a tree. (E.) M. E. bough, Chaucer, C. T.
1982. A.S. bog, boh, Grein, i. 134. [The sense is peculiar to
English ; the original sense of A. S. bog was ' an arm ; ' esp. the
' shoulder of an animal.'] + Icel. bdgr, the shoulder of an animal. +
Dan. bong, bov, the shoulder of a quadruped ; also, the bow of a ship.
+ Swed. bog, shoulder, bow of a ship. + O. H. G. puac, poac (G. bug),
the shoulder of an animal ; bow of a ship. + Gk. jrijx"s, the fore-arm,
+ Skt. bdhus, the arm. 0. From a base bhdghu, strong, thick ; cf.
Skt. bahu, large. See Curtius, i. 240. See Bow (4).
BOUGHT, s., the bight of a rope, &c. ; see Bout.
BOULDER, a large round stone. (Scand.) Marked by Jamieson
as a Perthshire word ; chiefly used in Scotland and the N. of Eng-
land, a. Mr. Wedgwood says: 'Swed. dial, bullersten, the larger
kind of pebbles, in contrast to klappersteen, the small ones. From
Swed. bullra, E. dial, bolder, to make a loud noise, to thunder."
Klappersteen means ' a stone that claps or rattles.' See his article,
which is quite conclusive ; and see Rietz. |3. But I may add that
the excrescent d is due to a Danish pronunciation ; cf. Dan. buldre, to
roar, to rattle ; bidder, crash, uproar, turmoil. (Danish puts Id for
11, as in/aide, to fall.) The word is related, not to ball, but to bellow.
See Bellow, Bull.
BOUNCE, to jump up quickly. (O. Low G.) M. E. bunsen,
bounsen, to strike suddenly, beat; Ancren Riwle, p. 188. Platt-
Deutsch bunsen, to beat, knock, esp. used of knocking at a door ;
Bremen Worterbuch, i. 164. + Du. bonzen, to bounce, throw. B. The
word is clearly connected with bounce, a blow, bump, used also as an
interjection, as in 2 Hen. IV, iii. 2. 304. Cf. Du. bans, a bounce,
thump ; Swed. dial, bums, immediately (Rietz) ; G. bumps, bounce, as
in bumps ging die Thur = bounce went the door ; Icel. bops, bump !
imitating the sound of a fall. C. The word is probably imitative,
and intended to represent the sound of a blow. See Bump (i).
BOUND (i), to leap. (F.,-L.) Shak. has bound, All's Well, iii.
3. 314. F. bondir, to bound, rebound, &c. ; but orig. to resound,
make a loud resounding noise; see Brachet. Lat. bombitare, to re-
sound, hum, buzz. Lat. bombus, a humming sound. See Boom (i).
BOUND (2), a boundary, limit. (F., - C.) M. E. bounde, Chaucer,
C. T. 7922. O. F. bonne, a limit, boundary, with excrescent d, as in
sound from F. son ; also sometimes spelt bodne (which see in Burguy).
Low Lat. bodina, bonna, a bound, limit. O. Bret, boden, a cluster
of trees (used as a boundary), a form cited in Webster and by E.
Muller (from Heyse) ; cf. Bret, bonn, a boundary, as in men-bonn, a
boundary-stone (where men = stone). B. The Gael, bonn, a founda-
tion, base, has a remarkable resemblance to this Breton word, and
also appears to be a contracted form. This would link bound with
bottom. At any rate, bound is a doublet of bourn, a boundary. See
Bottom, and Bourn (I). Der. bound, vb., bound-ary, bound-less, [t]
BOW.
BOUND (3), ready to go. (Scand.) In the particular phrase
4 the ship is bound for Cadiz/ the word bound means * ready to go ; '
formed, by excrescent d, from M. E. boun, ready to go. 'She was
boun to go;' Chaucer, C. T. 11807. 'The maister schipman made
him boune And goth him out;' Gower, C. A. iii. 322. 'Whan he
sauh that Roberd ... to wend was alle bone ; ' Langtoft, p. 99.
Icel. Minn, prepared, ready, pp. of vb. bua, to till, to get ready ;
from the same root as Boor, q. v.
BOUNDEN, pp., as in ' bounden duty.' (E.) The old pp. of the
verb to bind. See Bind.
BOUNTY, goodness, liberality. (F..-L.) Chaucer has bovntee,
C. T. Group B 1647, E 157, 415. O. F. bonteit, goodness. Lat.
ace. bonitatem, from nom. bonitas, goodness. Lat. bonus, good ; Old
Lat. duonus, good; see Fick, i. 627. Der. bounli-ful, bounti-ful-ness,
bounte-ous, bounte-ous-ness.
BOUQUET, a nosegay. (F., - Prov., - Low Lat., - Scand.) Mere
French. F. bouquet, ' a nosegay or posie of flowers ; ' Cotgrave. O. F.
bousquet, bosquet, properly ' a little wood ; ' the dimin. of bois, a wood ;
see Brachet, who quotes from Mme. de Sevigne, who uses bouquet in
the old sense. Proven9al bosc (O. F. bos), a wood. Low Lat.
bo$cum, buscum, a wood. See Bush. ^f The lit. sense of ' little
bush ' makes good sense still, [t]
BOURD, a jest ; to jest ; obsolete. (F.) Used by Holinshed,
Drayton, &c. ; see Nares. M. E. bourde, boorde. ' Boorde, or game,
ludus, jocus ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 44. The verb is used by Chaucer,
C. T. 14193. O. F. bourde, a game; bourder, to play. Of unknown
origin, according to Brachet. B. The difficulty is to decide between
two theories, (i) The word may be Celtic; cf. Bret, bourd, a jest,
bourda, to jest, forms which look as if borrowed from French ; yet
we also find Gael, buirte, a gibe, taunt ; Gael, burl, buirt, mockery ;
Irish buirt, a gibe, taunt. (2) On the other hand Burguy takes O. F.
boarder to be a contraction of O. F. bohorder, to tourney, joust with
lances, hence to amuse oneself; from sb. bohort, behort, a mock tour-
ney, a play with lances, supposed by Diez to stand for hot-horde, i. e.
a beating against the hurdles or barrier of the lists, from O. F. boter,
to beat, and horde, a hurdle ; words borrowed from M. H. G. and
cognate with E. beat and hurdle respectively.
BOURGEON; see Burgeon.
BOURN (i), a boundary. (F.) Well known from Shak. Hamlet,
iii. i. 79; K. Lear, iv. 6. 57. F. 'borne, a bound, limit, meere,
march ; the end or furthest compass of a thing ; ' Cot. Corrupted
from O. F. bonne, a bourn, limit, bound, boundary. Thus bourn is a
doublet of bound. See Bound (2). [t]
BOURN, BURN (2), a stream. (E.) ' Come o'er the bourn,
Bessy, to me ; ' K. Lear, iii. 6. 67. M.E. bourne, P. Plowman, prol. 1. 8.
A. S. burna, burne, a stream, fountain, Grein, i. 149. + Du. born, a
spring. + Icel. brunnr, a spring, fountain, well.+ Swed. brunn, a well.
+ Dan. brand, a well.+Goth. brunna, a spring, well.+ O.H.G. prunno
(G. brunnen), a spring, well. + Gk. <pptap, a well. B. The root is
probably A. S. byrnan, to burn, just as the root of the Goth, brunna
is the Goth, brinnan, to burn ; Curtius, i. 378. The connection is seen
at once by the comparison of a bubbling well to boiling water ; and is
remarkably exemplified in the words well and torrent, q.v. See Burn.
BOUSE, BOOSE, BOUZE, BOOZE, to drink deeply.
(Dutch.) Spenser has : ' a bouzing-c&n ' = a drinking vessel ; F. Q.
i. 4. 22. Cotgrave uses bouse to translate F. boire. O. Du. buisen,
bitysen, to drink deeply ; Oudemans. O. Du. buize, buyse, a drinking-
vessel with two handles (Oudemans) ; clearly the same word as the
modern Du. buis, a tube, pipe, conduit, channel, which cannot be
separated from Du. bus, a box, urn, barrel of a gun. The last word
(like G. buchse, a box, pot, jar, rifle-barrel, pipe) is equivalent to the
E. box, used in a great variety of senses. See Box. [t]
BOUT, properly, a turn, turning, bending. (Scand.) Formerly
bought ; Milton has bout, L" Allegro, 139 ; Spenser has bought, F. Q.
i. i. 15; i. II. II. Levins has: 'Bought, plica, ambages,' 217. 31.
Dan. bugt, a bend, turn ; also, a gulf, bay, bight (as a naut. term). +
Icel. bugda, a bend, a serpent's coil (the sense in which Spenser
uses bought). P. From Dan. bugne, to bend. + Icel. bjuga *, to bow,
bend, a lost verb, of which the pp. boginn, bent, is preserved. + Goth.
biugan, to bow, bend. See Bow (i), and Bight, [t]
BOW(l), verb, to bend. (E.) M.E. bugen, buwen, bogen, bowen.
' Bouyn, flecto, curvo ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 46. Very common. A. S.
bugan, to bend (gen. intransitive), Grein, i. 129. + Du. buigen, to
bend (both trans, and intrans.). + Icel. beygja, to make to bend. +
Swed. boja, to make to bend. + Dan. biiie, to bend (tr. and intr.) ;
bugne, to bend (intr.). + Goth, biugan (tr. and intr.). + O. H. G.
fiocan, G. beiigen. + Lat. fugere, to turn to flight, give way. + Gk.
vy(iv, to flee, -f Skt. bhuj, to bend. ^EHVGH, to bend, to turn
aside; Fick, i. 162. ^ Note that the bow of a ship is the same word
as bough, and is unrelated. Der. bow (a weapon), bow-man, bow-yer
( = bow-er, bow-maker), bow-string, &c.
BOW.
BRAD.
73
,'X
BOW (2), a bend. (E.) ' From the borne [bend] of the ryuer of Mandeville's Travels, p. 126. O. F. brace, brasse, originally a measure
Humber anon to the ryuer of Teyse ' [Tees] ; Trevisa, tr. of Higden,
ii. 87. From the verb above.
BOW (3), a weapon to shoot with. (E.) Chaucer has bowe, Prol.
ioS. A. S. boga, Grein, i. 132. + Du. boog. + Icel. bogi. + Swed.
bage. + Dan. hue. + O. H. G. pogo, bogo. P. Prom A. S. biigan, to
bend. See Bow (i).
BOW (4), as a naut. term, the ' bow ' of a ship. (Scand.) See
quotation under Bowline. Icel. bogr; Dan. bov, Swed. bog. See
Bough. ^f Kot from Bow(i). Der. bou-line, bow-sprit.
BOWEL, intestine. (F..-L.) M. E. bouele, Gower, C. A. ii. 265.
O. F. boel (see boyau in Brachet), or bade. Lat. botellus, a sausage ;
also, intestine ; dimin. of botulus, a sausage.
BOWER, an arbour. (E.) M. E. hour, Chaucer, C. T. 3367.-
A. S. bur, a chamber ; often, a lady's apartment, Grein, i. 1 50. + Icel.
bur, a chamber; also, a larder, pantry, store-room. + Swed. bur, a
cage. + Dan. bmtr, a cage. + M. H. G. bur, a house, a chamber, a
cage (see quotation in E. Miiller). B. The Lowland Scotch byre, a
cow-house, is merely another spelling and application of the same
word ; the orig. sense is a dwelling-place, a place to be in. The
derivation is from A. S. btian, to dwell. See Boor. Der. bower-y.
BOWL (i), a round ball of wood for a game. (F..-L.) The
Prompt. Parv. has : ' Bowie, bolus ; ' p. 46 ; and again : ' Bowlyn, or
pley wythe bowlys, bolo.' The spelling with aw points to the old sound
of ou (as in soup), and shews that, in this sense, the word is French.
F. ' boule , a bowle, to play with ; ' Cot. Lat. bulla, a bubble, a stud ;
later, a metal ball affixed to a papal bull, &c. See Bull (2), and
Boil ( 1 ). Der. bowl, vb. ; bowl-er, bowl-ing-green.
BOWL (2), a drinking-vessel. (E.) The spelling has been assimi-
lated to that of Bowl, a ball to play with ; but the word is English.
M.E. bolle, P. Plowman, B. v. 360; pi. bollen, Layamon, ii. 406.
A. S. holla, a bowl ; Grein, i. 132. + Icel. bolli, a bowl. + O. H. G.
polio., M. H. G. bolle, a bowl. p. Closely related to E. ball, Icel.
bollr, a ball, O. H. G. palld, a ball ; and called bowl from its rounded
shape. See Ball.
BOWLDER ; see Boulder.
BOWLINE, naut. term. (E.) Often wrongly defined; see
Errata, [t] ' Hale the boweline ! ' Pilgrim's Sea Voyage, ed. Furnivall,
L 25. From bow (4) and line ; cf. Icel. boglina, bowline.
BOW- WINDOW, a bowed window. (E.) Discredited in litera-
ture, because the Dictionaries never tire of asserting it to be an in-
correct form of bay-window, a word used by Shak. Yet it may very
well be a distinct word, and not a mere corruption of it. (i) A bay-
window is a window forming a recess in the room ; see Bay (3). ( 2)
A bow-window is one of semi-circular form. Confusion was inevitable.
The etymology is from bow (i), to bend.
BOX (i), the name of a tree. (L.) M. E. box-tree, Chaucer, C. T.
1 304. A.S. box, Cockayne's Leechdoms, iii. 3 1 5. (Not a native word.)
Lat. buxus, a box-tree. + Gk. iriifos, the box-tree. See below.
BOX (2), a case to'put things in, a chest. (L.) M. E. 60*, Chaucer,
C. T. 4392. A.S. box; Matt, xxvii. 7. (Not a native word.)
Lat. buxus, buxum, anything made of box-wood. +Gk. TTU^I'S, a case of
box-wood. See Box (i). B. Thus box is co-radicate with pyx, q.v.
Hence flow a great many meanings in English ; such as (i) a chest ;
(2) a box at the theatre ; (3) a shooting-fto* ; (4) a Christmas box ;
(;) a seat in the front of a coach (with a box under it formerly) ; &c.
BOX (3), to fight with fists ; a blow. (Scand.) Box, or buffet ;
alapa,' Prompt. Parv. p. 46 ; ' many a bloody boxe ; ' Chaucer, Good
Women, 1384. Dan. bash, to strike, drub, slap, thwack ; bask, a
slap, thwack. (For change of si to x, cf. ask with a*e.)+Swed. basa,
to whip, flog, beat ; bos, a whipping ; see basa in Ihre and Rietz.
^[ Note also Gael, boc, a blow, a box, a stroke. It is probable that box
is another form oipash. See Pash ; also Baste, to beat. Der. box-er.
BOY, a youngster. (O. Low Ger.) M. E. boy, Havelok, 1 889 ;
sometimes used in a derogatory sense, like knave. Certainly from an
O. Low German source, preserved in East Friesic boi, boy, a boy ;
Koolman, p. 215. Cf. Du. boef, a knave, a villain; O. Du. boef, a
boy, youngling (Oudemans) ; Icel. bofi. a knave, a rogue. + M. H. G.
buobe, piibe (G. bube). 4. Lat. ptipus, a boy. It is therefore co-radicate
with pupil and puppet. Der. boy-ish. boy-ish-ly, boy-ish-ness, boy-hood.
f\ The Gael, boban, a term of affection for a boy ; bobtig, a fellow, a
boy, a term of affection or familiarity ; are words that have no rela-
tion here, but belong to E. babe. See Babe.
BRABBLE, to quarrel ; a quarrel. (Dutch. 1 Shak. has brabble,
a quarrel, Tw. Nt. v. 68 ; and brabbler, a quarrelsome fellow, K. John,
V. 2. 162. Du. brnbbelen, to confound, to stammer ; whence brabbelaar,
a stammerer, brabbellaal, nonsensical discourse; brabbeling, stam-
mering, confusion. Compare Blab, and Babble. Der. brabbl-er.
BRACE, that which holds firmly; to hold firmly. (F..-L.)
' A drum is ready brac'd ; ' King John, v. ?. 169. ' The brace of Seynt
George, that is an arm of the see ' (Lat. brachium sancti Georgii) ; .
of five feet, formed by the extended arms ; see Cotgrave. Lat.
brachia, pi. of brachium, the arm. See Burguy, s. v. bras ; and
Brachet, s. v. bras. See below, [t]
BRACELET, an ornament for the wrist or arm. (F., -L.) I
spie a bracelet bounde about mine arme ; ' Gascoigne, Dan Bartholo-
mewe's Dolorous Discourses, 1. 237. F. bracelet (Cot.) ; dimin. of
O. F. bracel (Burguy only gives brachel), an armlet or defence for the
arm. Lat. brachile, an armlet (see Brachet, s. v. bracelet). Lat. bra-
chium, the arm. -J- Gk. ^fa.\lon>, the arm. Cf. Irish brae, W. braich,
Bret, breach, the arm. B. It is suggested in Curtius, i. 363, that
perhaps Gk. ftpa-xiwv meant ' the upper arm,' and is the same word
with Gk. ftfaxiaf, shorter, the comparative of Gk. fipaxv** short.
See Brief. ^f Perhaps lat. brachium is borrowed from Gk. [t]
BRACH, a kind of hunting-dog. (F..-G.) Shak. has brack,
Lear, iii. 6. 72, &c. M. E. brache, Gawain and the Grene Knight, ed.
Morris, 1. 1142. O. F. brache (F. braque), a hunting-dog, hound.
O. H. G. bracco, M. H. G. braclte (G. brack), a dog who hunts by the
scent. B. The origin of O. H. G. bracco is unknown ; some take it
to be from the root seen in Lat. fragrare, but this is remarkably
absent from Teutonic, unless it appears in Breath, q. v. C. There
is a remarkable similarity in sound and sense to M. E. rache, a kind
of dog ; cf. Icel. ratki, a dog, a lapdog ; O. Swed. racka, a bitch,
which can hardly be disconnected from O. Swed. raclia, to run. The
difficulty is to account fairly for prefixed b- or be-.
BRACK, BRACKISH, somewhat salt, said of water. (Dutch.)
' Water ... so salt and brackish as no man can drink it ; ' North's
Plutarch, p. 471 (R.); cf. bracliishness in the same work, p. 610.
Gawain Douglas has brake = brackish, to translate salsos, JEneid.
v. 237. Du. brak, brackish, briny; no doubt the same word which
Kilian spells brack, and explains as ' fit to be thrown away ; ' Oude-
mans. i. 802. Du. broken, to vomit ; with which cf. ' braking, puking,
retching,' Jamieson ; also ' brakyn, or castyn, or spewe, Vomo, evomo ; '
Prompt. Parv. + G. brack, sb., refuse, trash; brack, adj., brackish;
brackwasser, brackish water. p. Probably connected with the root
of break ; see Break, and Bark (3). % The G. bracken, to clear
from rubbish, is a mere derivative from brack, refuse, not the original
of it. Der. brackish-ness.
BRACKEN, fem. (E.) M. E. broken, Allit. Poems, ed Morris,
B. 1675. A.S. bracce, gen. braccan, a fem; Gloss, to Cockayne's
Leechdoms, iii. 315 ; with the remark : ' the termination is that of
the oblique cases, by Saxon grammar.' Or of the nom. pi., which
is also braccan. + Swed. broken, fern. + Dan. bregne, fem. -f Icel.
burkni, fem. The Icel. burkni may be considered as a deriv. of Icel.
brok, sedge, rough grass. B. The orig. form is clearly brake, often
used as synonymous with fem ; thus, in the Prompt. Parv. p. 47, we
have 'Brake, herbe, or ferme (sic ; for feme), Filix ; ' also ' Brakebushe,
or femebrake, filicelum, filicarium ;' and see Way's note. See
Brake (2).
BRACKET, a cramping-iron, a corbel. &c. (F..-L.) A
modem technical word. The history of the introduction of the word
is not clear. It is certainly regarded in English as supplying the
place of a dimin. of brace, in its senses of ' prop ' or ' clamp.' p. But
it cannot be derived directly from brace, or from O. F. brache (Lat.
brachium). It seemsto have been taken rather from some dialectic form
of French. Roquefort gives : ' Braques, les serres d'uue ecrevisse,' i. e.
the claws of a crab ; and Cotgrave has : * Brogue, a kind of mortaise,
or joining of peeces together.' y. Ultimately, the source is clearly
the Bret, breach or Lat. brachium, and, practically, it is, as was said,
the dimin. of brace. See Brace, and Branch. [*]
BRACT, a small leaf or scale on a flower-stalk. (L.) A modem
botanical term. Lat. bractea, a thin plate or leaf of metal. Der.
bractea-l, immediately from the L. form.
BRAD, a thin, long nail. (Scand.) M.E. brad, spelt brode in
Prompt. Parv. p. 53, where it is explained as 'a hedlese nayle.'
Icel. broddr, a spike. + Swed. brodd, a frost-nail. + Dan. brodde, a
frost-nail. B. The Icel. dd stands for rd, the fuller form being ex-
hibited in A. S. brord, a spike or spire or blade of grass, which see in
Bosworth ; and the second r in brord stands for orig. s, seen in Gael.
brosdaich, to excite, stimulate ; Com. bros, a sting. Thus A. S. brord
is a variant of A. S. byrst, a bristle ; and brad really represents a form
brasd or brast, closely related to brist, the word of which bristle is a
diminutive. Thus Kick, iii. 207, rightly gives the Teutonic forms
brosda, a sharp point, and borsta, a bristle, as being closely related.
C. Further, as the O. H. G. prort means the fore part of a ship,
Curtius (ii. 394) thinks that Fick is quite right in further connecting
these words with Lat. fastigium (for frastigium), a projecting point,
and perhaps even with Gk. aupKaarov, the curved stem of a ship.
D. Fick suggests, as the Teutonic root, a form bars, to stand stiffly out,
on the strength of the O. H. G. parran, with that sense. See further
under Bristle.
Thus there is no immediate connection between
74
BRAG.
E. brad and Irish and Gael, brad, a goad, notwithstanding the like-
ness in form and sense, [t]
BRAG, to boast; a boast. (C.) [The sb. braggart in Shak.
(Much Ado, v. i. 91, 189, &c.) = F. ' bragard, gay, gallant, . . . brag-
gard ; ' Cotgrave. But the older form is braggere, P. Plowman, B. vii.
142 (A. vi. 156), and the vb. to brag is to be regarded rather as
Celtic than French.] W. bragio, to brag ; brae, boastful. + Gael.
bragaireachd, empty pride, vainglory ; breagh, fine, splendid (E. brave).
+ Irish bragaim, I boast. + Breton braga, ' se pavaner, marcher d'une
maniere fiere, se parer de beaux habits ; ' Le Gonidec. B. The
root prob. appears in the Gael, bragh, a burst, explosion ; from *J
BHRAG, to break ; whence E. break. So also to crack is 'to boast;'
Jamieson's Scot. Diet. See Break, and Brave. Der. bragg-er,
bragg-art, bragg-adocio (a word coined by Spenser ; see F. Q. ii. 3).
BRAGGET, a kind of mead. (Welsh.) M. E. bragat, braget,
Chaucer, C. T. 3261. W. bragot, a kind of mead, -f- Corn, bregaud,
bragot, a liquor made of ale, honey, and spices ; receipts for making
it are given hi Wright's Prov. E. Diet. + Irish bracat, malt liquor, p.
From W. brag, malt. + Gael, braich, malt, lit. fermented grain. + Irish
braich, malt. B. The Gael, braich is a derivative of the verb brack,
to ferment ; which can hardly be otherwise than cognate with A. S.
breowan, to brew. See Brew. ^[ The Lowland Scottish bragwort
is a corrupt form, due to an attempt to explain the Welsh suffix -ot.
BRAHMIN, BRAHMAN, a person of the upper caste among
Hindoos. (Skt.) The mod. word comes near the Skt. spelling.
But the word appears early in Middle English. ' We were in Brag-
manie bred,' we were born in Brahman-land ; Romance of Alexander,
C. 1 75. In the Latin original, the men are called Bragmanni, J. e.
Brahmans. The country is called ' Bramande ; ' King Alisaunder, ed.
Weber, 5916. Skt. brahmana, a Brahman. We also find Skt.
brahman, ... 7. the brahmanical caste ; 8. the divine cause and
essence of the world, the unknown god ; also (personally) I. a brah-
man, a priest, orig. signifying possessed of, or performing, powerful
prayer; 2. Brahman, the first deity of the Hindu triad ; Benfey, p.
636. Supposed to be derived from Skt. bhri, to bear, hold, support,
cognate with E. bear. See Bear (i).
BRAID, to weave, entwine. (E.) M. E. breiden, braiden.
' Brayde lacys, necto, torqueo ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 49. A. S. bregdan,
bredan, to brandish, weave ; Grein, i. 138. + Icel. bregfia, to brand-
ish, turn about, change, braid, start, cease, &c. + O. H. G. brettan,
M. H. G. bretten, to draw, weave, braid. B. Fick gives the Teu-
tonic base as bragd, meaning to swing, brandish, turn about, iii. 215.
C. He does not give the root ; but surely it is not difficult to find.
The Icel. bregda is allied to the sb. bragd, a sudden movement,
which, compared with braga, to flicker, gives a stem brag-, to glance ;
evidently from ^ BHRAG, to shine ; Fick, i. 152. Cf. Skt. bhrdj, to
shine, E. bright, &c.
BRAIL, a kind of ligature. (F., C.) A brail was a piece of
leather to tie up a hawk's wing. Used now as a nautical term, it
means a rope employed to haul up the comers of sails, to assist in
furling them. Borrowed from O. F. braid, a cincture, orig. a cincture
for fastening up breeches ; formed by dimin. suffix -el from F. braie,
breeches, of the same origin as the E. Breeches, q. v.
BRAIN, the seat of intellect. (E.) M. E. brayne, Prompt. Parv.
p. 47 ; brain, Layamon, 1468. A. S. breegen, bregen (Bosworth). +
Du. brein (O. Du. breghe). + O. Fries, brein. B. The A. S. form
is a derived one ; from a stem brag- ; origin unknown. Some connect
it with Gk. Ppexfws, Ppe-y^a, the upper part of the head ; on which
see Curtius, ii. 144. Der. brain-less.
BRAKE (i), a machine for breaking hemp; a name of various
mechanical contrivances. (O. Low G.) M. E. brake, explained by
' pinsella, vibra, rastellum ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 47, note 3. Cf. ' bowes
of brake,' cross-bows worked with a winch, P. Plowman, C. xxi. 293.
One of the meanings is ' a contrivance for confining refractory horses ; '
connecting it at once with O. Dutch brake, a clog or fetter for the
neck ; braecke, braake, an instrument for holding by the nose (Oude-
mans). Cf. Platt-Deutsch brake, an instrument for breaking flax ;
broken, to break flax; Bremen Worterbuch, i. 132. Thus the word
is O. Dutch or Platt-Deutsch, from which source also comes the F.
' braquer, to brake hempe ; ' Cotgrave. Comparison of Du. braak, a
breach, breaking, with Du. vlasbraak, a flax-brake, shews that broken,
to break flax, is a mere variant of Du. breken, to break ; from
V BHRAG. See Break, [t]
BRAKE (2). a bush, thicket ; also, fem. (O. Low G. ; perhaps E.)
Shak. has ' hawthom-iraie ; ' M. Nt. Dr. iii. I. 3, and 77. In the
sense of ' fem,' at least, the word is English, viz. A. S. bracce ; see
Bracken. In any case, the word is O. Low G., and appears in
' Brake, weidenbusch ' = willow-bush, in the Bremen Worterbuch, i.
131 (E. Miiller); see also G. brack and brache in Grimm's Worter-
buch. B. It is almost certainly connected with Du. braak, fallow,
Dan. brak, fallow, G. brack, fallow, unploughed. The notion seems
BRANKS.
to be that of rough, or ' broken ' ground, with the over-growth that
springs from it. Cf. O. H. G. brdcha, M. H. G. brache, fallow land ;
land broken up, but unsown. It may then be referred to the prolific
V BHRAG, to break. See Break.
BRAMBLE, a rough prickly shrub. (E.) M. E. brembil, Wyclif,
Eccles. xliii. 21 . A. S. bremel, brembel, brember ; Gloss, to Cockayne's
Leechdoms, vol. iii.+Du. braam, a blackberry ; braambosch, a bramble-
bush. +Swed. brom-bar, ablackberry.+Dan. brambter, a blackberry. +
G. brombeere, a blackberry; brombeerstrauch, a bramble-bush. B. E.
Miiller cites an O.H .G. form brdmal, which, compared with A.S. bremel,
shews that the second b is excrescent ; and the termination is the com-
mon dimin. termination -el ; the stem being brain-, answering to the
^ BHRAM, which, in Sanskrit, means ' to whirl, to go astray; ' or,
as explained by Max Miiller, ' to be confused, to be rolled up toge-
ther;' Lect. on Sc. of Lang. ii. 242 (8th edition). ^f The idea is
difficult to follow ; perhaps the reference is to the ' straggling ' or
' tangled ' character of the bush. Some see a reference to the prick-
liness ; for which see Breese. And see Broom.
BRAN, the coat of a grain of wheat. (C.) M.E. bran, Wright's
Vocab. i. 201. W. bran, bran, husk. + Irish bran, chaff. [The
Gaelic bran, cited in E. Miiller and Webster, is not in Macleod's Diet.]
p. We find also a M. E. form bren, borrowed from O. F. bren, which
again is from the Breton brenn, bran. B. It is difficult to determine
whether our word was borrowed directly from the Welsh, or in-
directly, through French, from the Breton. The latter is more likely,
as bren is the more usual form in early writers. The mod. F. form is
bran, like the English. The F. bren, dung, in Cotgrave, is the same
word ; the original sense is refuse, esp. stinking refuse ; and an older
sense appears in the Gael, brein, stench, breun, to stink ; also in the
word Breath, q. v.
BRANCH, a bough of a tree. (F., - C.) M. E. branche, Rob. of
Glouc., p. 193, 1. 5. F. branche, a branch. Bret, branc, an arm;
with which cf. Wallachian bre'nce, a forefoot, Low Lat. branca, the
claw of a bird or beast of prey. + W. braich, an arm, a branch. +
Lat. brachium, an arm, a branch, a claw. ^f See Diez, who sug-
gests that the Low Lat. branca is probably a very old word in vulgar
Latin, as shewn by the Ital. derivatives brancare, to grip, brancicare,
to grope; and by the Wallachian form. See Bracelet. Der. branch,
vb., branch-let, branch-y, branch-less.
BRAND, a burning piece of wood ; a mark made by fire ; a sword.
(E.) M. E. brand, burning wood, Chaucer, C. T. 1340; a sword,
Will, of Palerne, 1. 1244. A. S. brand, brand, a burning, a sword.
Grein, i. 135. + Icel. brandr, a fire-brand, a sword-blade. -f- Du. brand,
a burning, fuel (cf. O. Du. brand, a sword ; Oudemans). -j- Swed. and
Dan. brand, a fire-brand, fire. + M. H. G. brant, a brand, a sword.
[The sense is (i) a burning ; (2) a fire-brand ; (3) a sword-blade,
from its brightness.] p. From A. S. brinnan, to bum. See Burn.
BRAND- or BRANT-, as a prefix, occurs in brant-fox, a kind of
Swedish fox, for which the Swedish name is brandraf. Also in brent-
goose or brandgoose, Swed. brandgas. The names were probably at
first conferred from some notion of redness or brownness, or the
colour of burnt wood, &c. The word seems to be the same as
Brand, q. v. p. The redstart (i. e. red-tail) is sometimes called
the brantail, i. e. the burnt tail ; where the colour meant is of course
red. 7. The prefix is either of English, or, more likely, of Scandi-
navian origin. See Brindled.
BRANDISH, to shake a sword, &c. (F.,-Scand.) In Shak.
Macb. i. 2. 7 ; &c. M. E. braundisen, to brandish a sword ; Will, of
Paleme, 3294, 2332. F. brandir (pres. pt. brandissant), to cast or
hurl with violence, to shake, to brandish ; Cot. O. F. brand, a sword,
properly a Norman F. form ; it occurs in Vie de St. Auban, ed. At-
kinson, 11. 1234, 1303, 1499, 1838. Of Scandinavian origin: see
Brand. p. The more usual O. F. brant answers to the O. H. G.
form. ^[ I think we may rest content with this, because brandish
is so closely connected with the idea of sword. The difficulty is,
that there exists also F. branler, to shake, of unknown origin, accord-
ing to Brachet. But Brachet accepts the above derivation of brandir ;
and Littre treats branler as equivalent to O. F. braiideler. a frequenta-
tive form ofbrander, which is another form ofbrandir. See Brawl (2).
BRANDY, an ardent spirit. (Dutch.) Formerly called brandy-
wine, brand-wine, from the former of which brandy was formed by
dropping the last syllable. Brand-wine occurs in Beaum. and Fletcher,
Beggars' Bush, iii. I . Du. brandewijn, brandy ; lit. burnt wine ;
sometimes written brandtwijn. Du. brandr, gebrandt (full form ge-
brandef), burnt ; and wijn, wine. P. The Dutch branden, lit. to
bum, also meant to distil, whence Du. brander, a distiller, branderij,
a distillery ; hence the sense is really ' distilled wine,' brandy being
obtained from wine by distillation.
BRANKS, an iron instrument used for the punishment of scolds,
fastened in the mouth. (C.) Described in Jamieson's Diet. ; the
Lowland Sc. brank means to bridle, restrain. Gael, brangus, brangas
BEAN-NEW.
(formerly spelt brancas), an instrument used for punishing petty
offenders, a sort of pillory ; Gael, brang, a horse's halter ; Irish
brancas, a halter. + Du. pranger, pinchers, barnacle, collar. -J- G.
pranger, a pillory, ft. The root appears in Du. prangen, to pinch ;
cf. Goth, ana-praggan, to harass, worry (with gg sounded as ng) ;
perhaps related to Lat. premere, to press, worry, harass. See Press,
^f For the Gaelic 6 = G. p in some cases, cf. Gael, hoc, a pimple, with
G.pockfn, small-pox.
BEAN-NEW, new from the fire. (E.) A corruption of brand-
new, which occurs in Ross's Helenore, in Jamieson and Richardson.
The variation brent-new occurs in Burns's Tarn O'Shanter: 'Nae co-
tillon brent-new frae France.' Kilian gives an Old Dutch brandnieuw,
and we still find Du. vonkelnieuw, lit. spark-new, from vonltel, a spark
of fire. ' The brand is the fire, and brand-new, equivalent to fire-new
(Shak.), is that which is fresh and bright, as being newly come from
the forge and fire ; ' Trench, English Past and Present, Sect. V. See
Brand.
BKASIER, BRAZIER, a pan to hold coals. (F.,-Scand.)
The former spelling is better. Evidently formed from F. braise, live
coals, embers. Cotgrave gives braisier, but only in the same sense as
mod. F. braise. However, braisiere, a camp-kettle, is still used in
mod. French; see Hamilton and Legros, F. Diet. p. 137. Not of
G. origin, as in Brachet, but Scandinavian, as pointed out by Diez.
See Brass, and Braze (i).
BRASS, a mixed metal. .(E.) M. E. bras (Lat. s), Prompt.
Pair. p. 47 ; Chaucer, Prol. 366. A. S. braes, ^Elfric's Grammar, ed.
Somner, p. 4. + Icel. bras, solder (cited by Wedgwood, but not in
Cleasby and Vigfusson's Dictionary). Cf. Gael, prdis, brass, pot-metal ;
Irish pros, brass ; Vf.pres, brass ; all borrowed words. B. The word
seems to be derived from a verb which, curiously enough, appears
in the Scandinavian languages, though they lack the substantive.
This is Icel.irasa, to harden by fire ; Swed. brasa, to flame ; Dan. brass,
to fry. Cf. O. Swed. (and Swed.) brasa, fire ; and perhaps Skt. bhrajj,
to fry. Der. brass-y, braz-en (M. E. brasen, P. Plowman, C. xxi. 293 =
A. S. brazen, JElf. Gram., as above), braz-ier; also braze, verb, q. V.,
and brasier, q. v.
BRAT, a contemptuous name for a child. (C.) The orig. sense
was a rag, clout, esp. a child's bib or apron ; hence, in contempt, a
child. Chaucer has bratt for a coarse cloak, a ragged mantle, C. T.
16347 (ed. Tyrwhitt); some MSS. have bat, meaning a cloth to
cover the back, as in P. Plowman. W. brat, a rag, a pinafore. +
Gael, brat, a mantle, cloak, apron, rag ; brat-speilidh, a swaddling-
cloth. + Irish brat, a cloak, mantle, veil ; bratog, a rag. 5T The
O. Northumbrian bratt, a cloak, a gloss to pallium in Matt. v. 40, was
probably merely borrowed from the Celtic.
BRATTICE, a fence of boards in a mine. (F.) M. E. bretage,
bretasce, brutaske (with numerous other spellings), a parapet, battle-
ment, outwork, &c. ; Rob. of Glouc., p. 536. ' Belrax, bretasce, bre-
tays of a walle, propugnaculum ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 50. O. F. bre-
tesche, a small wooden outwork, &c. See further under Buttress.
BRAVADO, a vain boast. (Span.,-C.) It occurs in Burton,
Anat. of Melancholy, To the Reader; ed. 1845, p. 35 (see Todd).
An E. substitution for bravado. Span, bravado, a bravado, boast,
vain ostentation. Span, bravo, brave, valiant ; also, bullying ; cognate
with F. brave. See Brave, [f]
BRAVE, showy, valiant. (F.,-C.) Shak. has brave, valiant,
splendid ; brave, vb., to defy, make fine ; brave, sb., defiance; bravery,
display of valour, finery; see Schmidt's Shak. Lexicon. -F. 'brave,
brave, gay, fine, . . proud, braggard, . . . valiant, hardy,' &c. ;
Cot. Bret, brav, brad, fine ; braga, to strut about (see under
Brag). Cf. Gael, breagh, fine. B. Diez objects to this deriva-
tion, and quotes O. Du. braiiwen, to adorn, brauwe, fine attire (see
Oudemans or Kilian), to shew that the Bret, brad or brav, fine,
is borrowed from the O. Dutch. But the root brag is certainly
Celtic, and suffices to explain the O. Dutch and other forms. C. It
is remarkable that braf, good, excellent, occurs even in O. Swedish
(Hire) ; whence Swed. bra, good, and perhaps Lowl. Scotch braw,
which is, in any case, only a form of brave. Der. brave-ry ; also
bravo, bravado, which see below and above.
BRAVO, a daring villain, a bandit. (.Ital., C.) 'No bravoes
here profess the bloody trade;' Gay, Trivia. Ital. bravo, brave,
valiant ; as a sb., a cut-throat, villain. Cognate with F. brave. See
Brave. p. The word bravo I well done ! is the same word, used
in the vocative case.
BRAWL (I), to quarrel, roar. (C.) M. E. brawle, to quarrel.
' Brawlere , litigator; brawlyn, litigo, jurgo ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 48.
Braulyng, P. Plowman, B. xv. 233. W. brawl, a boast; brol, a boast;
broted, vaunting ; brolio, to brag, vaunt ; bragal, to vociferate ; cf.
Irish braighean, a quarrel ; bragaim, I boast, bounce, bully. [We find
also Du. bratten, to brag, boast ; Dan. bralle, to jabber, chatter,
prate.] p. The W. bragal, to vociferate, appears to be from bragio, to
BREAM. 75
brag; if so, brawl = braggle, frequentative of brag. See Broil (2),
Brag, and Bray (2). Der. brawl-er, brawl-ing.
BRAWL (2), a sort of dance. (F.) In Shak. Love's La. Lo. iii.
9, we have ' a French brawl.' It is a corruption of the F. bransle,
explained by Cot. as ' a totter, swing, shake, shocke, &c. ; also a
brawle or daunce, wherein many men and women, holding by the
hands, sometimes in a ring, and otherwhiles at length, move all toge-
ther.' F. bransler, to totter, shake, reel, stagger, waver, tremble
(Cot.) ; now spelt branler, marked by Brachet as of unknown origin.
B. Littre, however, cites a passage containing the O. F. brandeler, from
which it might easily have been corrupted; and Cotgrave gives
brandiller, to wag, shake, swing, totter ; as well as brandif, brand-
ishing, shaking, flourishing, lively. Can the original brawl have
been a swnrd-dancel See Brandish.
BRAWN, muscle ; boar's flesh. (F..-O. H. G.) M. E. braun,
muscle, Chaucer, Prol. 548 ; braun, boar's flesh, P. Plowman, B. xiii.
63, gi. O.F. braon, a slice of flesh; Provencal bradon. O. H.G.
brdto, prdto, accus. brdton, M. H. G. brdte, a piece of flesh (for roast-
ing). O. H. G. prdtan (G. braten), to roast, broil. See bhrat*, to
seethe, boil, in Fick, i. 696 ; from ^ BHAR, to boil ; whence also
brew. ^f The restriction of the word to the flesh of the boar is
accidental ; the original sense is merely ' muscle,' as seen in the
derived word. Der. brawn-y, muscular; Shak. Venus, 625.
BRAY (i), to bruise, pound. (F., G.) M. E. brayen, brayin;
' brayyn, or stampyn in a mortere, tero;' Prompt. Parv. p. 47. O. F.
breier, brehier (V.broyer), Roquefort. M. H. G. brechen, to break;
cognate with A. S. brecan, to break. See Break. ^[ The F.
word supplanted the A. S. bracan, to bruise, pound (Levit. vi. 21),
from the same root.
BRAY (2), to make a loud noise, as an ass. (F.,-C.) M.E.
brayen, brayin ; ' brayyn in sownde, barrio ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 47 ;
where Way quotes from Palsgrave : ' To bray as a deere doth, or
other beest, brayre.' O. F. braire. Low Lat. bragire, to bray, bra-
gare, to cry as a child, squall. From a Celtic root ; cf. W. bragal,
to vociferate ; Gael, bragh, a burst, explosion. Like bark, it is de-
rived from the root of break. See Bark, Break, and Brag.
BRAZE (i), to harden. (F.,-Scand.) Shak. has brazed, hard-
ened, Hamlet, iii. 4. 37 ; Lear, i. i. ii. Generally explained to mean
' hardened like brass ; ' but it means simply ' hardened ; ' being the
verb from which brass is derived, instead of the contrary. Cotgrave
says that 'braser 1'argent' is to re-pass silver a little over hot embers
(sur la braise). F. braser, to solder ; Roquefort has : ' Braser, souder le
fer.' Icel. brasa, to harden by fire. See Brass, and see below.
BRAZE (2), to ornament with brass. Used by Chapman, Homer's
Odys. xv. 113. In this sense, the verb is a mere derivative of the
sb. brass. See above, [f]
BREACH, a fracture. (E.) M.E. breclie, a fracture, Gower,
C. A. ii. 1 38. A. S. brece, which appears in the compound hldf-ge-
brece, a fragment of a loaf, bit of bread ; Grein, i. S i . The more
usual form is A. S. brice, breaking ; in the phr. ' on hlafes brice' in
the breaking of bread, Luke, xxiv. 35. [The vowel e appears in
the O. Dutch brec or breke (Du. breuk) ; see Oudemans ; and in the
A. S. gebrec, a cracking noise = Lat. fragor, with which it is cognate.
The vowel i in A. S. brice appears again in the Goth, brikan, to
break.] A. S. brecan, to break. See Break.
BREAD, food made from grain. (E.) M. E. breed, bred, Chau-
cer, Prol. 343. A. S. bread, Grein, i. 140. + Du. brood. + Icel.
brauS. + Swed. and Dan. brad. + O. H. G. prdt (G. brod). p. Not
found in Gothic. Fick suggests a connection with the root seen in
our verb to brew, with a reference to the formation of bread by fer-
mentation ; see Fick, iii. 218.
BREADTH, wideness. (E.) This is a modern form. It occurs
in Lord Berners' tr. of Froissart, spelt bredethe, vol. i. c. 131 (R.)
P. In older authors the form is brede, as in Chaucer, C. T. 1972.
A. S. brcedu, Grein, i. 137. y. Other languages agree with the
old, not with the modern form ; cf. Goth, braidei, Icel. breidd, G.
breite. The Dutch is breedte. See Broad.
BREAK, to fracture, snap. (E.) M. E. breke. Chaucer, Prol.
551. A.S. brecan, Grein, i. 137. + Du. breken. + Icel. braka, to
creak. + Swed. braka, brdkka, to crack. + Dan. brakke, to break. +
Goth, brikan. + O. H. G. prechan (G. brechen). + Lat. frangere, to
break ; from ^ FRAG. + Gk. finvwat, to break ; from ^ fPAT ;
Curtius, ii. 159. [Perhaps Skt. bhanj, to break, stands for an older
form bhranj; in which case it is the same word as break; Benfey, p.
641.] ^BHRAG, to break; Fick, i. 702. See Brake. ^[ The
original sense is ' to break with a snap ; ' cf. Lat. fragor, a crash ;
Gael, bragh, a burst, explosion ; Swed. briikka, to crack. Der.
breach, q. v. ; break-age, break-er. break-fast, break-water.
BREAM, a fish. (F..-O. H. G.) M.E. breem, Chaucer, Prol.
350. O. F. bresme, a bream. O. H. G. brahtewa, M. H. G. brahsem,
G. brassen, a bream (E. Muller). Here O. H. G. brahs-ema has the
76
BREAST.
BRIDGE.
stem brahs-, equivalent to E. barse, bass, with a suffix -ema. p. Simi-
larly, in brea-m, the final -m is a mere suffix ; the O. F. bresme has
the stem bres-, equivalent to E. barse, bass. See Bass (2).
BREAST, the upper part of the front of the body. (E.) M. E.
bresl, Chaucer, Prol. 115. A. S. breast, Grein, i. 141. + Du. borst. +
Icel. brjost. + Swed. brost. + Dan. bryst. + Goth, brusts, + G. brust.
p. The O. H.G. prust means (i) a bursting, (2) the breast; from
0. H. G. prestan, to burst. Chaucer has bresten, to burst. The ori-
ginal sense is a bursting forth, applied to the female breasts in parti-
cular. See Burst. Der. breast, verb ; breast-plate, breast-wort.
BREATH, air respired. (E.) M. E. breeth, breth ; dat. case breethe,
ire/Ae, Chaucer, Prol. 5. A. S. br<k$, breath, odour; Genesis, viii. 21.
+ O. H. G. pn'idam ; G. brodem, broden, brodel, steam, vapour, exha-
lation ; FHigel's G. Diet. P. Perhaps allied to Lat. frag-rare, to
emit a scent ; frag-um, a strawberry ; but this is uncertain ; see Kick,
1. 697. See Bran. Der. breathe, breath-less.
BREECH, the hinder part of the body. (E.) M. E. brech, breech,
properly the breeches or breeks, or covering of the breech ; in
Chaucer, C. T. 12882, the word breech means the breeches, not the
breech, as is obvious from the context, though some have oddly mis-
taken it. Thus the present word is a mere development of A. S. brec,
the breeches, pi. of broc. So in Dutch, the same word brack signifies
both breeches and breech. See Breeches.
BREECHES, BREEKS, a garment for the thighs. (E. ; per-
haps C.) M. E. ' breche, or brfke, braccae, plur. ' Prompt. Parv.
p. 48 ; and see Way's note. Breeches is a double plural, the form
breek being itself plural ; as feet from foot, so is breelt from brook.
A. S. broc, sing., brec, plural (Bosworth). -f- Du. broek, a pair of
breeches. + Icel. brok ; pi. brcekr, breeches, -j- O. H. G. prdh, pntah,
M. H. G. bruoch, breeches. + Lat. braccce, of Celtic origin ; cf. Gael.
br6g, a shoe ; briogais, breeches. Closely related to Brogues, q. v.
^f Perhaps it is only the Latin word that is of Celtic origin ; the
other forms may be cognate. Besides, the Lat. word braccce does
not answer so well to the Gael, briogais as to the Gael, breacan, a
tartan, a plaid, which was so named from its many colours, being a
derivative of Gael, breac, variegated, spotted, chequered ; with which
cf.W. brech, brindled ; Irish breacan, a plaid, from breacaim, I speckle,
chequer, embroider, variegate.
BREED, to produce, engender. (E.) M. E. breden, P. Plowman,
B. xi. 339. A. S. bredan, to nourish, cherish, keep warm ( = Lat.
fonere), in a copy of ^Elfric's Glossary (Lye). + Du. broeden, to brood ;
closely related to broeijen, to incubate, hatch, breed, also to brew,
foment, -J- O. H. G. pmatan (G. bruten), to hatch ; cf. M. H. G.
briiejen, bruen, to singe, burn. p. The notion is ' to hatch," to produce
by warmth ; and the word is closely connected with brew. See
Brood, and Brew. Der. breed-er, breed-ing, [f]
BREESE, a gadfly. (E.) Well known in Shak. Troil. i. 3. 48 ;
Ant. and Cleop. iii. 10. 14. Cotgrave has : ' Oestre Iimonique, a gad-
bee, horse-fly, dun- fly, brimsey, brizze.' The M. E. form must have
been brimse. A.S. brimsa, a gadfly (Bosworth, Lye); the form
briosa is in Wright's Voc. 281. +Du. brems, a horse-fly.+G. bremse, a
gad-fly = brem-se, from M. H. G. brem, O. H. G. bremo, a gadfly, so
named from its humming ; cf. M. H. G. bremen, O. H. G. breman,
G. brummen, to grumble (Du. brommen, to hum, buzz, grumble), cog-
nate with Lat. fremere, to murmur. + Skt. bhramara, a large black
bee ; from Skt. bhram, to whirl, applied originally to ' the flying
about and humming of insects;' Benfey, p. 670. SeeFick,i.7o2. [fl
BREEZE (i ), a strong wind. (F.) a. Brachet says that the F. brise,
a breeze, was introduced into French from English towards the end
of the 1 7th century. This can hardly be the case. The quotations
in Richardson shew that the E. word was at first spelt brize, as in
Hackluyt's Voyages, iii. 661 ; and in Sir F. Drake's The Worlde
Encompassed. This shews that the E. word was borrowed from
French, since brize is a French spelling, p. Again, Cotgrave notes that
brize is used by Rabelais (died 1553) instead of bise or bize, signifying
the north wind. + Span, brisa, the N. E. wind. + Port, briza, the
N. E. wind. + Ital. brtzza, a cold wind. Remoter origin unknown.
Der. breez-y.
BREEZE (2), cinders. (F.) Breeze is a name given, in London,
to ashes and cinders used instead of coal for brick-making. It is the
same as the Devonshire briss, dust, rubbish (Halliwell). F. iris,
breakage, fracture, fragments, rubbish, a leak in a ship, &c. ; Mr.
Wedgwood cites (s. v. Bruise) the ' Proven9al brizal, dust, fragments ;
brizal de carbon, du bris de charbon de terre ; coal-dust.' F. briser,
to break. Cf. F. debris, rubbish. (Wrong ; see Errata). [*]
BREVE, a short note, in music. (Ital.,-L.) [As a fact, it is
now a long note ; and, the old long note being now disused, has be-
come the longest note now used.] Ital. breve, brief, short. Lat.
breuis, short. Breve is a doublet of brief, q. v. Der. From the Lat.
breuis we also have brev-et, lit. a short document, which passed into
English from F. brevet, which Cotgrave explains by ' a briefe, note,
breviate, little writing,' &c. Also brev-i-ar-y, brev-i-er, brev-i-ty. See
Brief.
BREW, to concoct. (E.) M. E. brew, pt. t., P. Plowman, B. v.
219 ; brewe, infin., Seven Sages, ed. Wright, 1. 1490. A. S. breowan ;
of which the pp. gebrowen occurs in Alfred's Orosius ; see Sweet's
A.S. Reader, p. 22, 1. 133. + Du. brouwen. + O. H. G. priiwan (G.
braiten). + Icel. britgga. + Swed. brygga. + Dan. brygge. [Cf. Lat.
dejrutum, new wine fermented or boiled down ; Gk. ppvTov, a kind
of beer (though this seems doubtful).] - yBHRU, to brew ; BHUR,
to boil ; Fick, i. 696. Der. brew-er, brew-house, brew-er-y.
BRIAR, BRIER, a prickly shrub. (E.) M. E. brere, Chaucer,
C. T. 9699. A. S. brer, Grein, i. 140. + Gael, preas, a bush, shrub,
briar ; gen. sing, prearis. + Irish preas, a bush, briar ; the form briar
also occurs in Irish. P. As the word does not seem to be in other
Teutonic tongues, it may have been borrowed from the Celtic.
Both in Gael, and Irish the sb. preas means also ' a wrinkle,' ' plait,'
' fold ; ' and there is a verb with stem preas-, to wrinkle, fold, corru-
gate. If the connection be admitted, the briar means ' the wrinkled
shrub.' Der. briar-y. Doublet, (perhaps) furze, [t]
BRIBE, an undue present, for corrupt purposes. (F., C.) M.E.
bribe, brybe ; Chaucer, C. T. 6958. -O.F. bribe, a present, gift, but
esp. ' a peece, lumpe, or cantill of bread, given unto a begger ; '
Cot. [Cf. bribours, i. e. vagabonds, rascals, spoilers of the dead,
P. Plowman, C. xxiii. 263. The Picard form is brife, a lump of
bread, a fragment left after a feast.] Bret, breva, to break ; cf. Welsh
briw, broken, briwfara ( = briw bara), broken bread, from W. briwn,
to break. p. The W. briwo is clearly related to Goth, brikan,
to break, and E. break. See Break, and Brick. Der. bribe, verb ;
brib-er, brib-er-y.
BRICK, a lump of baked clay. (F., - O. Low G.) In Fabyan's
Chron. Edw. IV, an. 1476 ; and in the Bible of 1551, Exod. cap. v.
Spelt brique, Nicoll's Thucydides, p. 64 (R.) F. brique, a brick ; also
a fragment, a bit, as in prov. F. brique de pain, a bit of bread
(Brachet). O. Du. brick, bricke, a bit, fragment, piece; also brick,
brijck, a tile, brick. Du. breken, to break, cognate with E. break.
See Break. Der. brick-bat, q. v. ; brick-kiln, brick-lay-er.
BRICKBAT, a rough piece of brick. (F. and C.) From brick
and bat. Here bat is a rough lump, an ill-shaped mass for beating
with ; it is merely the ordinary word bat peculiarly used. See Bat.
BRIDAL, a wedding ; lit. a bride-ale, or bride-feast. (E.) M. E.
bridale, bruydale, P. Plowman, B. ii. 43 ; bridale, Ormulum, 14003.
Composed of bride and ale ; the latter being a common name for a
feast. (There were leet-ales, scot-ales, church-ales, clerk-ales, bid-ales,
and bride-ales. See Brand's Pop. Antiquities.) The comp. bryd-ealo
occurs in the A. S. Chron. (MS. Laud 656), under the date 1076.
^j It is spelt bride-ale in Ben Jonson, Silent Woman, ii. 4 ; but bridall
in Shak. Oth. iii. 4. 151. See Bride and Ale.
BRIDE, a woman newly married. (E.) M. E. bride, bryde, Prompt.
Parv. p. 50 ; also birds (with shifted r), Sir Perceval, 1. 1 289, in the
Thornton Romances, ed. Halliwell. Older spellings, brude, burde ;
Layamon, 294, 19271. A.S. bryd, Grein, i. 147. + Du. bruid. +
Icel. brudr. + Swed. and Dan. brud . + Goth, bruths. + O. H. G. prut
(G. braut). Teutonic (theoretical) BRUDI, Fick, iii. 217. Fick
suggests a connection with Gk. Ppixiv, to teem. % The W. priod,
Bret, pried, mean ' a spouse,' whether husband or wife. In Webster's
Diet., a connection is suggested with Skt. pravdhd, fern, of prau&ha.
of which one meaning is ' married,' and another is ' a woman from
30 years of age to 45 ;' from ^ VAH, to draw, carry, bear ; see
Benfey, Skt. Diet. s. v. vah, pp. 828, 829. This ill suits with Grimm's
law ; for Skt. p = Eng./ (as in pri, to love, as compared with E. friend,
loving) ; and Skt. pro- answers to Eng./or-. The suggested con-
nection is a coincidence only. Der. brid-al, q. v., bride-groom, q, v.
BRIDEGROOM, a man newly married. (E.) Tyndal has
bridegrome ; John, iii. 29. But the form is corrupt, due to con-
fusion of grome, a groom, with gome, a man. In older authors, the
spelling is without the r ; we find bredgome in the Ayenbite of Inwyt,
ed. Morris, p. 333, written A. n. 1340; so that the change took place
between that time and A.D. 1525. A.S. bryd-guma, Grein, i. 147.
+ Du. bruidegom. + Icel. briidgumi. + Swed. brudgumme. + Dan.
brudgom. + 6. H. G. brutegomo (G. briiiitigam). B. The latter
part of the word appears also in Goth, guma, a man, cognate with
Lat. homo, a man ; this Fick denotes by a theoretical ghaman *, a
son of earth ; from y' GUAM, earth, appearing in Gk. x<V-ai, on the
ground, and in Lat. hum-its, the ground. See Bride, Homage.
BRIDGE, a structure built across a river. (E.) M. E. brigge,
Chaucer, C. T. 3920; brig, Minot's Poems, p. 7 ; also bnigge, Allit.
Poems, ed. Morris, B. 1187; brugg, Rob. of Glouc. p. 402. A.S.
brycg, bricg (ace. bricge), Grein, i. 145. + Icel. bryggja. + Swed.
brygga. + Dan. brygge, a pier. + Du. brag. -f- O. H. G. prucca, G.
briicke. B. The word is properly dissyllabic, and a diminutive.
The original appears in Icel. bru, a bridge ; Dan. bra, a bridge ;
BRIDLE.
0. Swed. bra, a bridge. The Old Swed. bra means not only a bridge,
but a paved way, and the Dan. bro also means a pavement. Fick,
ii. 420, connects this with Icel. briin, the eye-brow ; cf. the phrase
' brow of a hill." Perhaps it is, then, connected with Brow.
BRIDLE, a restraint for horses. (E.) M. E. bridel, Ancren Riwle,
p. 74. - A. S. bridel, Grein, i. 142. + Du. breidel. + O. H. G. priddel,
bridel, brittil ; M. H. G. britel ; the F. bride being borrowed from this
G. bridel. B. The M.H.G. britel or brittil appears to be formed from
the verb brlten, bretten, to weave, to braid, as if the bridle was origin-
ally woven or braided. If this be so, the A. S. bridel must be simi-
larly referred to the verb bredan, to braid, Grein, i. 138, which is a
shorter form of bregdan, to brandish, weave, braid. See Braid.
BRIEF (i), short. (F..-L.) Spelt brief in Barnes' Works, p. 347,
col. i, last line. In older English we find href, breef, P. Plowman,
C. xxiii. 327 ; with the dimin. breuet (brevet), P. Plowman, C. i. 72.
F. brief (so spelt in Cotgrave); mod. F. ire/. Lat. breuis, short. +
Gk. Ppax<J*, short. Perhaps from a root BARGH, to tear ; see Fick, i.
684 ; Curtius, i. 363. Der. brief-ly.
BRIEF (2), a letter, &c. (F., - L.) Cotgrave has : Brief, m. a writ,
or brief; a short mandamus, injunction, commission, &c.' See above.
Der. brief-less.
BRIER ; see Briar.
BRIG, a ship. See Brigantine.
BRIGADE, a body of troops. (F., - Ital.) Milton has brigads,
P. L. ii. 532. F. 'brigade, a troop, crue, or company;' Cot. Ital.
brigata, a troop, band, company. Ital. brigare, to quarrel, fight. See
Brigand. Der. brigad-ier.
BRIGAND, a robber, pirate. (F.,-Ital.) Borrowed from F.
brigand, an armed foot-soldier, which see in Cotgrave ; who also
gives ' Brigander, to rob ; ' and ' Brigandage, a robbing, theeverie.'
Ital. brigante, a busybody, intriguer ; and, in a bad sense, a robber,
pirate. Ital. brigante, pres. part, of the verb brigare, to strive after.
Ital. briga, strife, quarrel, trouble, business; which see in Diez.
B. Diez shews that all the related words can be referred to a stem
brig-, to be busy, to strive. Now brig- easily comes from brik-, which
at once leads us to Goth, brikan, to break, with its derivative brakja,
strife, contention, struggle, wrestling. ^BHRAG, to break; Fick,
1. 702. ^f No connection with W. brigant, a Highlander, from
brig, a hill-top. Der. brigand-age ; and see below.
BRIGANDINE, a kind of armour. (F.) Brigandine, a kind of
coat of mail, occurs in Jerem. xlvi. 4, Ii. 3, A. V. ; see Wright's
Bible Word-book. F. brigandine, ' a fashion of ancient armour, con-
sisting of many jointed and skale-like plates ; ' Cot. So called be-
cause worn by brigands or robbers ; see Brigand. fl' The Ital.
form is brigantina, a coat of mail.
BRIGANTINE, BRIG, a two-masted ship. (F., Ital.) Brig
is merely short for brigantine. Cotgrave has it, to translate the F.
brigantin, which he describes. F. brigantin. Ital. brigantino, a
pirate-ship. Ital. brigante, an industrious, intriguing man; also, a
robber, brigand. See Brigand.
BRIGHT, clear, shining. (E.) M. E. bright, Chaucer, C. T. 1064.
A. S. beorht (in common use). + Old Sax. berht, beraht (Heliand).
+Goth. bairhts. + Icel. bjartr. + O. H. G. peraht, M. H. G. berht,
shining. B. In the Goth, bairhts, the s is the sign of the nom.
case, and the t is formative, leaving a stem bairh-, signifying to shine ;
cognate with Skt. bhrdj, to shine, and with the stem flag- of Lat.
flagrare, to flame, blaze, burn; whence the sb. flag-ma, i.e.flamma,
a flame. From t/ BHARG, or BHRAG, to blaze, shine ; Fick, i.
152. Hence bright is co-radicate with flame. Der. bright-ly, bright-
ness, bright-en (Goth, gabairhtjan).
BRILL, a fish ; Rhombus vulgarls. (C.) Most likely, the same
word as the Cornish brilli, mackerel, the lit. meaning of which is
1 little spotted fishes ; ' the brill being ' minutely spotted with white ; '
Engl. Cycl. S. v. Pleuronectida:. In this view, brill stands for brithel,
formed by the dimin. suffix -el from Com. brith, streaked, variegated,
pied, speckled ; cognate with Gael, breac, W. brych, freckled, Irish
treac, speckled, a very common Celtic word, seen in the E. brock, a
badger, q. v. Cf. Corn, brithel, a mackerel, pi. brithelli, and (by con-
traction) brilli. So in Irish and Gaelic, breac means both ' spotted '
and ' a trout ; ' and in Manx, bract means both trout ' and ' mackerel.'
BRILLIANT, shining. (F.,-L.,-Arab.) Not in early use.
Dryden has brilliant, sb., meaning 'a gem;' Character of a Good
Parson, last line but one. F. brillant, glittering, pres. pt. of v. briller,
to glitter, sparkle. Low Lat. beryllare* (an unauthorised form), to
sparkle like a precious stone or beryl (Brachet). Low Lat. berillus,
beryllus, a gem, an eye-glass ; see Diefenbach, Glossarium Latino-
Germanicum ; cf. berillus, an eye-glass, brillum, an eye-glass, in Du-
cange. ^[ This etymology is rendered certain by the fact that the
G. brille, spectacles, is certainly a corruption of beryllus, a beryl ; see
Max Miiller, Lectures on the Science of Language, ii. 583 ; 8th ed
1875. See Beryl.
BRISTLE.
77
BRIM, edge, margin. (E.) M. E. brim, brym, margin of a river,
lake, or sea; Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, A. 1072; the same word is
constantly used in the sense of surge of the sea, surf; also, ocean,
waves of the sea. A. S. brim, surge, surf, sea, flood; Grein, i. 142;
the alleged A. S. brymme, a brim (Somner), being merely the same
word, and not a true form. + Icel. brim, surf. + G. brame, brume, the
outskirts, border ; M. H. G. brem, a border, brim. The latter is
derived from M. H. G. bremen, meaning (i) to roar, (2) to border;
cognate with Lat. fremere, to roar, and Skt. bhram, to whirl.
Similarly, Skt. bhiimi, a whirl-pool, is from Skt. bhram, to whirl.
The brim of the sea is its margin, where the surf is heard to roar.
See Max Miiller, Lect. on Science of Lang., 8th ed. ii. 241. See
Breese. Der. brim-fid, brimm-er.
BRIMSTONE, sulphur. (E.) Lit. bum-stone.' M. E. brimston,
brymston ; bremstoon, Chaucer, Prol. 629 (631 in some edd.) ; also brun-
ston, brenstoon, Wyclif, Gen. xix. 24 ; Deut. xxix. 2 3 ; cf. Icel. brennisteinn,
brimstone. M. E. bren-, burning (from the vb. brennen, to bum) ;
and stoon, a stone. (3. So also the Icel. brennisteinn is from Icel.
brenna, to bum, and steinn, a stone. See Burn and Stone.
BRINDLED, BRINDED, streaked, spotted. (Scand.) Shak.
has ' brinded cat ; ' Macb. iv. I. I ; brindled being an extended quasi-
diminutive form. Icel. brand-, in the comp. brondottr, brindled, said
of a cow, Cleasby and Vigfusson's Diet. App. p. 772. We also
find Icel. brand-h-osdttr, brindled-brown with a white cross on the
forehead. Icel. brandr, a brand, flame, firebrand, sword. Icel. brenna,
to burn. ^f Thus brinded is little more than another form of
branded; the letter i appears again in Brimstone, q. v. And see
Brand, and Burn.
BRINE, pickle, salt water. (E.) M. E. brine, bryne. Prompt.
Parv. p. 51. A. S. bryne, salt liquor, ^Elf. Gloss. (Bosworth) ; a
particular use of A.S. bryne, a burning, scorching; from the burning
taste. A.S. brinnan, byrnan, bcernan, to bum. + O. Du. brijn, brijne,
pickle, sea-water (Oudemans) ; whence Du. brem, brine, pickle. See
Burn. Der. brin-y.
BRING, to fetch. (E.) M. E. bringen (common). -A. S. bringan,
pt. t. brang, pp. gebrungen, Grein, i. 143 ; also brengan, pt. t. brohte,
pp. broht; the former being the strong and original form.+Du.6ri.
+ Goth, briggan (with gg sounded as ng) ; pt. t. brahta. + O. H. G.
pringan (G. bringen). An extension from ^ BHAR, to bear, carry ;
cf. Skt. Wai, to bear ; Benfey, p. 665. See Bear.
BRINK, margin; but properly, a slope. (Scand.) M.E. brink,
edge of a pit, Chaucer, C. T. 9275 ; a shore, Wyclif, John, xxi. 4.
Dan. brink, edge, verge. + Swed. brink, the descent or slope of a hill.
+ Icel. brekka ( = brenka), a slope, also a crest of a hill, a hill ; bringa,
a soft grassy slope, orig. the breast. ft. So, too, in Swedish, bringa
is the breast, brisket ; and Dan. bringe is the chest. Add prov. G.
brink, sward ; a grassy hill (Fliigel). y. We saw, above, that the
orig. sense of Swed. and Icel. bringa is 'breast.' The same relation
appears in Celtic. We have W. bryncu, a hillock, from W. and Corn.
bryn, a hill ; and (just as the W. brynti, filthiness, is derived from W.
bront, filth) we may at once connect W. bryn with W. bron, the breast,
pap, also, the breast of a hill. So, in Cornish, bron means a round
protuberance, breast, the slope of a hill. S. This points back to an
older conception, viz. that of ' roundness,' which appears, perhaps,
again in the Irish bru, the womb, belly, with the remarkable word
bruach, lit. great-bellied, but also meaning ' a border, brink, edge,
bank, mound ; ' O'Reilly. Further back, we are clearly led to the
^ BHRU, to swell, boil; see Fick, i. 696. See Bride, Brew.
BRISK, nimble, lively, smart, trim. (C.) Not in early authors;
used by Shak. and Milton. W. brysg, quick, nimble ; cf. brys, haste,
brysio, to hasten. + Gael, briosg, quick, alert, lively ; cf. briosg, vb., to
start with surprise, leap for joy ; also Irish briosg, a start, a bounce.
B. If in this case, the initial Celtic 6 stands for an older p, then
perhaps brisk is co-radicate with fresh, frisky. ' The English brisk,
frisky, and fresh, all come from the same source ;' Max Miiller, Lect.
on Science of Language, 8th ed. ii. 297. See Fresh, Frisky.
Der. brisk-ly, brisk-ness.
BRISKET, part of the breast-piece of meat. (F.,-C.) Ben
Jonson has brisket-bone; Sad Shepherd, i. 22. O. F. brischet, a form
given by Brachet, s. v. brechet, but bruschet in Littre ; however,
Cotgrave has : ' Brichet, m. the brisket, or breast-piece. Wedg-
wood gives the Norman form as bruchet. Bret, bruched, the breast,
chest, claw of a bird (Wedgwood) ; see the word hi Le Gonidec, who
notes that in the dialect of Vannes the word is brusk. Brachet gives
the W. brisket, a breast, and Webster and Littre the W. brysced,
the breast of a slain animal ; I cannot find either form. However,
the word is most likely of Celtic origin, and ultimately connected
with E. breast. See Breast.
BRISTLE, a stiff hair. (E.) M. E. bristle, berstle, Chaucer, Prol.
556. A.S. byrst, a bristle, Herbarium, 52. 2 (Bosworth); with
dimin. suffix -el. + Du. borstel, a bristle. + Icel. burst, a bristle. +
78
BRITTLE.
Swed. borsl, a bristle. + G. borste, a bristle. + Skt. hrith (orig. bhrish),
to bristle, to stand erect, said of hair ; cf. Skt. sahasra-brishti, having
a thousand points; Benfey, pp. 666, 1121; Fick, i. 159, iii. 207.
B. This word is closely connected with Brad, q. v. Fick gives
borsta as the Teutonic form for ' bristle,' and brosda as that for brad.
Der. bristle, verb ; bristl-y, bristl-i-ness.
BRITTLE, fragile. (E.) M. E. britel, brotel, brute! ; Chaucer has
brotel. Leg. of Good Women, Lucr. 206. Formed by adding the
suffix -el (A. S. -of) to the stem of the M. E. brutten or britten, to
break. On the suffix -el (-o/) see Koch, Gramm. iii. 49. The M. E.
brutten is from A. S. breotan, to break ; Grein, i. 142. + Icel. brjdta,
to break, destroy. + Swed. bryta, to break. + Dan. bryde, to break.
From a Teutonic stem brut, Fick, iii. 218 ; evidently only a variation
of the stem brak, to break. ^f The M. E. has also a form brickie,
used by Spenser, F. Q. iv. 10. 39, obviously from A. S. brecan, to
break. The Latin fragilis (E. fragile, frail) is from the same root.
See Break.
BROACH, to tap liquor. (F., L.) The M. E. phrase is setten on
broche, to set a-broach, to tap, Babees Boke, ed. Fumivall, p. 266.
Imitated from the F. mettre en broche, to tap a barrel, viz. by piercing
it ; from F. ' brocher, to broach, to spitt ; ' Cot. F. ' broche, a broach,
spitt ; ' Cot. See Brooch, Abroach.
BROAD, adj., wide. (E.) M. E. brod, brood, Chaucer, Prol. 155.
A. S. brad, Grein, i. 1 36. + Du. breed. + Icel. breidr. + Swed. and
Dan. bred. + Goth, braids. + O. H. G. preit (G. breit). B. The
suggested connection with Gk. irXarus and Skt. prath, to spread out
(Schleicher), can hardly be right, and is ignored by Curtius. Some
see a relation to the sb. board, which is also doubtful. Der. broad-ly,
broad-ness, broad-en, broad-side ; also breadth, q. v.
BROCADE, a variegated silk stuff. (Span.) A ' brocade waist-
coat' is mentioned in the Spectator, no. 15. Span, brocado, sb.,
brocade ; also pp., brocaded, embroidered with gold ; which explains
the use of brocade as an adjective. [The Span, form is much nearer
than F. brocard (brocar in Cotgrave), or the Ital. broccato ; the Port,
form is, however, brocado, but it appears to be only a substantive.]
Brocado is properly the pp. of a verb brocar, which no doubt meant
'to embroider,' answering to F. brocher, which Cotgrave explains
by ' to broach, to spit ; also, to stitch grossely, to set or sowe with
great stitches ; ' der. from F. broche, explained by ' a broach, or
spit; also, a great stitch.' See Brooch. Der. brocade, verb;
brocad-ed.
BROCCOLI, a vegetable resembling cauliflower. (Ital., L.)
Properly, the word is plural, and means ' sprouts.' Ital. broccoli,
sprouts, pi. of broccolo, a sprout ; dimin. from brocco, a skewer, also,
a shoot, stalk. Brocco is cognate with F. broche, a spit, also a
brooch. See Brooch.
BROCHURE, a pamphlet. (F..-L.) Mere French. F. brochure,
a few printed leaves stitched together. F. brocher, to stitch. See
Brocade.
BROCK, a badger. (C.) Used by Ben Jonson, Sad Shepherd,
Act i. sc. 4. M. E. brok, P. Plowman, B. vi. 31 ; cf. Prompt.
Parv. p. 53. A. S. broc, a badger (Bosworth), but the word is of
slight authority, and borrowed from Celtic. W. broch; Com.
broch ; Bret, broch ; Irish, Gaelic, and Manx broc, a badger ; the
Irish has also the form brech. B. It is most probable, as Mr.
Wedgwood suggests, that the animal was named from his white-
streaked face ; just as a trout is, in Gaelic, called breac, i.e. spotted,
and a mackerel is, in Cornish, called brithill, i. e. variegated ; see
Brill. (It is also remarkable that the word broc for badger exists in
Danish, and closely resembles Dan. broget, variegated.) Cf. Gael.
brocach, speckled in the face, grayish, as a badger ; brucach, spotted,
freckled, speckled, particularly in the face. C. Hence, brock
is from Gael, and Irish breac, speckled, also, to speckle; Welsh
brech, brindled, freckled ; Bret, briz, spotted, marked, brizen, a
freckle.
BROCKET, a red deer two years old. (F.) A corruption of F.
brocart. Cotgrave has : ' Brocart, m. a two year old deere ; which if
it be a red deere, we call a brocket ; if a fallow, a pricket ; also a
kinde of swift stagge, which hath but one small branch growing out
of the stemme of his home." So named from having but one
tine to his horn. F. broche, a broach, spit ; also, a tusk of a wild
boar ; hence, a tine of a stag's horn ; see Cotgrave. See Brooch.
BROGUES, stout, coarse shoes. (C.) In Shak. Cymb. iv. 2.
214. Gael, and Irish brog, a shoe. See Breeches.
BROIDER, to adorn with needlework. (F., - O. L. G.) In the
Bible, A. V., Ezek. xvi. 10. This form of the word was due to
BRONZE.
v. 30. F. 'broder, to imbroyder,' Cotgrave; a word more usually
spelt border, also in Cotgrave, with the explanation ' to border, gard,
welt ; also, to imbroyder,' &c. He also gives : ' Bordeur, an im-
broyderer.' Cf. Span, and Port, bordar, to embroider. The lit.
sense is 'to work on the edge,' or 'to edge.' F. bord, explained by
Cot. to mean ' the welt, hem, or selvedge of a garment ; ' whence also
E. border. See Border, [f]
BROIL (i), to fry, roast over hot coals. (C.) M. E. broilen.
' Brolyyn, or broylyn, ustulo, ustillo, torreo ; * Prompt. Parv. p. 53. See
Chaucer, Prol. 385. p. Origin doubtful ; but it is probable (as is
usual in words ending with / preceded by a diphthong) that the word
was originally dissyllabic, with the addition of-/ (M. E. -len) to render
the verb frequentative ; cf. crack-le from crack. y. If so, the root
is to be sought by comparison with Gael, bruich, to boil, seethe,
simmer ; sometimes, to roast, to toast. Cf. Irish bruighim, I seethe,
boil. Thus it is from the same root as fry; cf. la.t.frigere, to fry ;
Gk. <t>pvyftv, to parch ; Skt. bharj, to parch, bhrajj, to parch, roast.
See Fry. ^f Certainly not F. bruler, to bum; which = Lat.
peruslulare. But see Errata. [*]
BROIL (2), a disturbance, tumult. (F., - C.) Occurs in Shak.
I Hen. VI, i. 1. 53 ; iii. I. 92. Spelt breull in Bemers, tr. of Froissart,
vol. ii. c. 140. F. brouiller, explained by Cotgrave by 'to jumble,
trouble, disorder, confound, marre by mingling together ; to huddle,
tumble, shuffle things ill-favouredly ; to make a troublesome hotch-
potch ; to make a hurry, or great hurbyburly.' p. Probably of Celtic
origin ; cf. Gael, broighleadh, bustle, confusion, turmoil ; broiglich,
noise, bawling, confusion, tumult. Also Welsh broch, din, tumult,
froth, foam, wrath; brochell, a tempest. The word is not unlike
brawl (i), q. v. ; and the two words may be ultimately from the same
root. Cf. Lat./rag-or, noise ; and see Bark, to yelp as a dog; also
Brag, Imbroglio. But see Errata. [#]
BROKER, an agent, a middle-man in transactions of trade. (E.)
M. E. broker, brocour, P. Plowman, B. v. 130, 248. We also find
brocage = commission on a sale, P. Plowman, ii. 87. The oath of the
brokers in London is given in Liber Albus, ed. Riley, p. 273. Their
business was ' to bring the buyer and seller together, and lawfully
witness the bargain between them ; ' for which they were allowed a
commission on the sale, called a brocage, or, in later times, brokerage.
These latter terms are merely law terms, with the F. suffix -age ; but
the word is English. Webster is misled by the corrupt spelling
brogger; and from Mr. Wedgwood's elaborate explanation I dis-
sent, p. We cannot separate the sb. broker from the M.E. vb. broken,
meaning (i) to have the full and free use of a thing, and (2) to digest
(as in Prompt. Parv. s. v. brooke) ; now spelt brook, to put up with.
The only difficulty is to explain the sense of the word, the/orm being
quite correct. Perhaps it meant ' manager,' or ' transactor of busi-
ness.' 7. The verb broken (A.S. brucan = G. brauchen) was used, as has
been said, in various senses ; and the sense of ' to manage,' or ' con-
trive,' or perhaps ' to settle,' is not very widely divergent from the
known uses of the verb, viz. to use, employ, have the use of, digest
(meat), &c. ; besides which the derived A. S. sb. bryce meant use,
profit, advantage, occupation ; and the secondary vb. brycian meant
to do good to, to be of use to (Beda, v. 9); and the adj. bryce meant
useful. The Dan. brug means use, custom, trade, business, whence
brugsmand, a tradesman. See the numerous examples of the M.E.
broken or bruken (s. v. bruken) in Matzner's Worterbuch, appended to
his Altenglische Sprachproben. Cf. ' Every man hys wynnyng brouke
Amonges you alle to dele and dyght ' = let every man possess his
share of gain, to be divided and arranged amongst you all ; Richard
Coer de Lion, ed. Weber, 1. 4758. See Brook, vb. [f]
BRONCHIAL, relating to the bronchia or bronchia. (Gk.) The
bronchia: are the ramifications of the windpipe, passing into the lungs.
Bronchia is the scientific form ; but the more correct form is bronchia,
neut. plural. Gk. /3/x>7X' a . neut. pi., the bronchia, or ramifications
of the windpipe. Gk. Ppoyxos, the windpipe, trachea. Cf. Gk.
fSpa-fX' a > neut. pi., the gills of fishes ; ppayx *' a giM> also, a sore
throat, and (as an adjective) hoarse ; sometimes spelt flapayxos,
Curtius, ii. 401. p. Allied to Gk. flpdxfw, to roar, shriek ; only used
in the aorist tffpaxov, roared, shrieked, rattled. Cf. Skt. mih, orig.
biih, to roar; also spelt viimh, orig. brimh; Benfey, p. 888. The
Skt. barhita means the ' trumpeting of an elephant ; ' Fick, i. 684.
BRONCHITIS, inflammation of the bronchial membrane. (L.,
Gk.) A coined Lat. form bronchitis, made from Gk. ppo-tx os , the
windpipe. See above.
BRONZE, an alloy of copper with tin, &c. (F.,-Ital.) Not in
early use. In Pope, Dunciad, ii. 10; iii. 199. F. bronze, introd. in
l6th cent, from Ital. bronzo (Brachet). Ital. bronzo, bronze; cf. 06-
confusion with the totally different word to broid, the older form of
braid. In I Tim. ii. 9, broidered is actually used with the sense of : bronzare, to scorch, roast, parch. P. Diez connects it with Ital. bruno,
braiiledl See Braider in Eastwood and Wright's Bible Wordbook, brown, whence brunire, to polish, burnish, brunezza, swarthiness,
The older spelling of braider is broder; thus we find 'a spoyle of brown colour; and he says that, in the Venetian dialect, the word
dyuerse colours with brodered workes ' in the Bible of 1551, Judges, ^bronze means 'glowing coals.' Mr. Donkin says: 'the metal is so
BROOCH.
called from being used in soldering, an operation performed over
glowing coals." Cf. also M. H. G. bnmst, a burning. The word
brown is itself from the root of burn, so that either way we are led
to the same root. See Burn, and Brass.
BROOCH, an ornament fastened with a pin. (F., L.) So named
from its being fastened with a pin. M.E. broche, a pin, peg, spit,
Prompt. Parv. p. 5 2 ; also a jewel, ornament, id. ; cf. Chaucer, Prol.
158; Ancren Riwle, p. 420. O. F. broche, F. broche, a spit; also,
the tusk of a boar (Cotgrave). Low Lat. brocca, a pointed stick;
brochia, a tooth, sharp point ; from Lat. broccus, a sharp tooth, a
point (Plautus). B. The connection between Lat. broccus, and Gk.
flpiiKtiv, to bite, suggested by Fick, ii. 1 79, is unlikely ; see Curtius, who
connects Ppiixeiv with pippaiaitdv, to eat, Lat. Harare, from Gk. ^ BOP.
But the Lat. broccus is obviously related to Welsh procio, to thrust,
stab, prick (whence prov. E. prog, to poke) ; and to Gael, brog, to
spur, stimulate, goad ; whence Gael, brog, sb., a shoemaker's awl.
Cf. Irish brad, a goad, brodaim, I goad ; prov. Eng. prod, to goad.
C. Hence the sense of brooch is (i) a sharp point; (2) a pin; (3) an
ornament with a phi.
BROOD, that which is bred. (E.) M. E. brad, Owl and Nightin-
gale, 518, 1633; Rob. of Glouc. p. 70, 1. 16. A. S. brud, a form
given in Bosworth, but without authority ; the usual A. S. word from
the same root is brid, a young one. esp. a young bird ; Grein, i. 142.
+ Du. broed, a brood, hatch. + M. H. G. bruot, that which is hatched,
also heat ; whence G. brut, a brood. Cf. W. brwd, warm ; brydio, to
heat. p. The primary meaning is that which is hatched, or produced
by means of warmth. See Breed, and Brew. Der. brood, v. [t]
BROOK (i), to endure, put up with. (E.) M. E. brouke, which
almost invariably had the sense of ' to use,' or ' to enjoy ; ' Chaucer,
C.T. 10182 ; P. Plowman, B.xi. 117; Havelok, 1743. A. S. bnican,
to use, enjoy, Grein, i. 144. + Du. gebruiken, to use. + Icel. brulta, to
use. + Goth, brultjan, to make use of. + O. H. G. pruhhan (G. brau-
chen), to use, enjoy. + Lat. frui, to enjoy ; cf. Lat. fruges, fructus,
fruit. + Skt. bhuj, to eat and drink, to enjoy, which probably stands
for an older form bkruj ; Benfey, p. 656. y BHRUG, to enjoy, use ;
Fick, i. 701. Brook is co-radicate with fruit, q. v.
BROOK (2), a small stream. (E.) M. E. brook, Chaucer, C. T.
3920. A. S. broc, brooc, Grein, i. 144. + Du. broek, a marsh, a pool.
+ O. H. G. pruoch (G. brack), a marsh, bog. B. Even in prov.
Eng. we find : ' Brooks, low, marshy, or moory ground ; ' Pegge's
Kenticisms (E. D. S.) ; at Cambridge, we have Brook-lands, i. e. low-
lying, marshy ground. The G. bruch also means ' rupture ;' and the
notion in brook is that of water breaking up or forcing its way to the
surface ; from the root of break, q. v. Der. brook-let.
BROOM, the name of a plant ; a besom. (E.) M. E. brom,
broom, the plant ; Wyclif. Jerem. xvii. 16. A. S. brdm, broom, Gloss,
to Cockayne's Leechdoms. + Du. brem, broom, furze. B. The
confusion in old names of plants is very great ; broom and bramble
are closely related, the latter being, etymologically, the diminutive
of broom, and standing for bram-el; the second b being excrescent;
cf. Du. braam-bosch, a bramble-bush. C. Max Miiller connects
broom and bramble with Skt. bhram, to whirl, ' to be confused, to be
rolled up together;' Lect. on Science of Language, 8th ed. ii. 242.
See Bramble.
BROSE, a kind of broth or pottage (Gael.) ; BREWIS (F.,-
M. H. G.). 1. Erase is the Gael, broihas, brose. 2. An allied word is
brewis, for which see Nares and Richardson. In Prompt. Parv. we
find: 'Browesse.browes, Adipatum;' and see Way's note, where browyce
is cited from Lydgate. O. F. broues, in the Roman de la Rose, cited
by Roquefort, where it is used as a plural, from a sing. brou. Low
Lat. brodum, gravy, broth. M. H. G. brad, broth ; cognate with E.
broth, ^j It is no doubt because brewis is really a plural, and because
it has been confused with broth, that in prov. Eng. (e. g. Cambs. ) broth
is often alluded to as ' they ' or ' them.' See Broth, and Brew.
BROTH, a kind of soup. (E.) M. E. iro'A, Rob. of Glouc. p.
528. 1. 2. A. S. brtiS (to translate Lat. i'), Bosworth. + Icel. brod.
+ O. H. G. prot ; M. H. G. brut (G.gebrdude). From A. S. brei',wan.
to brew. See Brew, and Brose.
BROTHEL, a house of ill fame. (E. ; confused with F., - O. Low
G.) a. The history of the word shews that the etymologists have
entirely mistaken the matter. It was originally quite distinct from
M.E. bordel ( = Ital. bordello). ft. The quotations from Bale
(Votaries, pt. ii), and Dryden (Mac Flecknoe, 1. 70) in Richardson,
shew that the old term was brothel-house, i. e. a house for brothels or
prostitutes ; for the M. E. brothel was a person, not a place. Thus
Gower speaks of 'A brothel, which Micheas hight' = a brothel, whose
name was Micheas; C. A. ed. Pauli, iii. 173; and see P. Plowman,
Crede. 772. Cf. 'A brothelrie, lenocinium;' Levins, 103. 34. We
also find M. E. brethel, a wretch, bretheling, a beggarly fellow ; and,
from the same root, the A. S. dbro'Sen, degenerate, base ; and the past
tense dbnf&on, they failed. A. S. Chron an. 1004. These forms
BRUIT.
79
are from the vb. dbreolSan, to perish, come to the ground, become
vile; connected with breillan, to break, demolish, Grein, i. 13, 142.
y. From the same root is Icel. laga-brjotr, a law-breaker. The Teu-
tonic stem is brut-, to break ; see Fick, iii. 218. 8. Thus brothel,
sb., a breaker, offender, and brittle, adj., fragile, are from the same
source. See Brittle. B. But, of course, a confusion between
brothel-house and the M. E. bordel, used in the same sense, was inevit-
able and immediate. Chaucer has bordel in his Persones Tale (see
Richardson), and Wyclif even has bordelhoas, Ezek. xvi. 24, shewing
that the confusion was already then completed ; though he also has
bordelrie = a brothel, in Numb. xxv. 8, which is a French form.
O. Fr. bordel, a hut ; dimin. of horde, a hut, cot, shed made of boards.
- O. Du. (and Du.) bord, a plank. See Board.
BROTHER, a son of the same parents. (E.) M. E. brother,
Chaucer, Prol. 529. A. S. brdlSor, Grein, p. 144. + Du. broeder. +
Icel. brofiir. + Goth, brdthar. + Swed. broder. -f- Dan. broder. +
O. H. G.pnioder (G. bruder). + Gael, and Irish brathair. + W. brawd,
pi. brodyr.+ Russian brat'. + Lat. frater. + Gk. Qpdrrjp. -} Church-
Slavonic bratru. + Skt. bhrdtri. B. The Skt. bhrdtri is from bhii,
to support, maintain; orig. to bear. ^BHAR, to bear. Der.
brother-hood, brother-like, brother-ly.
BROW, the eye-brow ; edge of a hill. (E.) M. E. browe, Prompt.
Parv. p. 53. A. S. bru, pi. brua, Grein, i. i44.-}-Du. braauw,in comp.
wenkbraauw, eye-brow, lit. wink- brow. + Icel. brun, eye-brow ; bra,
eye-lid. + Goth, brahw, a twinkling, in phr. in brahwa auxins in the
twinkling of an eye ; I Cor. xv. 52. + O. H. G. prdwa, M. H. G. bra,
the eye-lid. + Russian brave. + Gael, bra, a brow ; abhra, an eye-lid.
+ Bret, abrant, eye-brow. + Gk. otypvs, eye-brow. + Pers. abru. +
Skt. bhru, eye-brow. */ BHUR, to move quickly; see Fick, i. 163.
The older sense seems to have been ' eye-lid,' and the name to have
been given from its twitching. Der. brow-beat ; Holland's Plutarch,
p. 107. [t]
BROWM", the name of a darkish colour. (E.) M. E. broun,
Chaucer, Prol. 207. A. S. brun, Grein, i. 145. + Du. bruin, brown,
bay. + Icel. brunn. -f- Swed. brun. + Dan. bnnm. + G braun. B. The
close connection with the verb to burn, has been generally perceived
and admitted. It is best shewn by the Goth, brinnan, to burn, pp.
brunnans, burnt, and the Icel. brenna, to bum, pp. brunninn, burnt ; so
that brown may be considered as a contracted form of the old pp.
signifying burnt. See Burn. Der. brown-ish. Doublet, bruin.
BROWN-BREAD, a coarse bread. (E.) The word is, of
course, explicable as it stands ; but it may, nevertheless, have been a
corruption for bran-bread. In Wright's Vocabularies, i. 201, we find :
' Hie furfur, bran ; ' and at p. 198, ' Panis furfurinus, bran-bread.'
BROWZE, to nibble ; said of cattle. (F., - M. H. G.) Occurs in
Shak. Wint. Tale, iii. 3. 69 ; Antony, i. 4. 66; Cymb. iii. 6. 38 ; but
scarcely to be found earlier. A corruption of brousl. F. brouster,
also brouter, explained by Cotgrave by ' to brouze, to nip, or nibble
off the sprigs, buds, barke, &c. of plants ; ' a sense still retained in
prov. Eng. brut (Kent, Surrey), which keeps the t whilst dropping the
s. O. F. ' broust, a sprig, tendrell, bud, a yong branch or shoot ; '
Cot. M. H. G. broz, a bud (Graff, iii. 369) ; Bavarian brass, brosst, a
bud (Schmeller). B. The word is also Celtic; cf. Bret, brousta, to
browze; broust, a thick bush ; brous, brons, a bud, shoot. A collection
of shoots or sprigs is implied in E. brushwood ; and from the same
source we have brush. See Brush.
BRUIN , a bear. (Dutch.) In the old epic poem of Reynard the
Fox, the bear is named ' brown,' from his colour ; the Dutch version
spells it bruin, which is the Dutch form of the word ' brown.' The
proper pronunciation of the word is nearly as E. broin, as the ui is
a diphthong resembling oi in boil ; but we always pronounce it broo-in,
disregarding the Dutch pronunciation. See Brown.
BRUISE, to pound, crush, injure. (F..-M. H. G.) M.E.
briisen, Joseph of Arimathie, ed. Skeat, 1. 500; but more commonly
spelt brissen or brisen, Wyclif 's Bible, Deut. ix. 3 ; also broosen, id.
Numbers, xxii. 2=;. O. F. bruiser, bruser, briser, to break; forms
which Diez would separate; but wrongly, as Miitzner well says.
M. H. G. bresten, to break, burst; cognate with E. burst. See
Burst. Der. bruis-er. ^f Diez, E. Miiller, and others are
puzzled by the 'A. S. brysan, to bruise,' which nearly all etymo-
logists cite. The word is, however, authorised ; see further in Errata.
The Gaelic bris, brisd, to break, seems to be a genuine Celtic
word, [t]
BRUIT, a nimour; to announce noisily. (F., C.) Occurs in
Shak. Much Ado, v. 1 . 65 ; Macb. v. 7. 22. F. ' bruit, a bruit, a great
sound or noise, a rumbling, clamor,' &c. ; Cot. F. bruire, to make a
noise, roar. B. Perhaps of Celtic origin ; cf. Bret, bruchellein, to
roar like a lion; W. broch, din, tumult; Gael, broighleadh. bustle,
confusion, turmoil ; the guttural being preserved in the Low Lat.
brugitus, a murmur, din. Cf. also Gk. tfpvx<i<>nai, I roar; which
Curtius considers as allied to Skt. barh, to roar as an elephant, which
80
BRUNETTE.
is from the Indo-Eur. y BARGH, to roar (Fick, i. 151).
seems to be from the same source as Broil, a tumult, q. v.
BRUNETTE, a girl with a dark complexion. (F..-G.)
French ; but it occurs in the Spectator, No. 396. [The older E.
equivalent is ' nut-brown,' as in the Ballad of The Nut-brown Maid.]
BUDGE.
Bruit i familiarity, like E. ' old buck.' + Swed. bock, a buck, a he-goat. -f-
Dan. buk, a he-goat, ram, buck. + O. H. G. poch (G. bock), a buck,
Mere he-goat, battering-ram. + W. bwch, a buck ; bwch gafr, a he-goat. -J-
Gael. toe, a buck, he-goat. + Irish hoc, a he-goat. B. The root is
uncertain ; the G. form seems as if allied to M. H. G. bochen, G.
F. brunette, explained by Cotgrave as 'a nut-browne girle.' F. | pochen, to strike; with a supposed reference to butting; but the word
brunet, masc. adj., brunette, fern, adj., brownish ; Cot. Formed, with
dimin. suffix -et, from F. brun, brown. M. H. G. brun, brown ; cognate
with E. brown, q. v.
BRUNT, the shock of an onset. (Scand.) Seldom used except
in the phr. brunt of battle, the shock of battle, as in Shak. Cor. ii. 2.
1 04. However, Butler has : ' the heavy brunt of cannon-ball ; '
Hudibras, pt. i. c. 2. M. E. brunt, brant. 'Brunt, insultus, impetus;'
Prompt. Parv. p. 54. Icel. bruna, to advance with the speed of fire,
said of a standard in the heat of battle, of ships advancing under
full sail, &c. Icel. bruni, burning, heat. Icel. brenna, to burn ;
cognate with E. burn. See Burn. ^f The form of the sb. is
illustrated by Dan. brynde, conflagration, heat ; Goth, ala-brunsts, a
whole burnt-offering. The sense of ' heat ' has partly given way to
that of ' speed,' ' shock ; ' but the phrase ' heat of battle ' is still a
good one.
BRUSH, an implement for cleaning clothes; cf. brushwood, under-
wood. (F., LowLat., G.) M. E. brusshe, in the phrase 'wyped
it with a brutshe ; ' P. Plowman, B. xiii. 460 ; also : ' Brusche, bruscus,"
i.e. brush-wood, Prompt. Parv. O. F. brace, brocne, brosse, brush-
wood, small wood ; F. brosse, a bush, bushy ground, brush (Cotgrave).
Low Lat. brustia, a kind of brush, bruscia, a thicket. Bavarian
brass, brosst, a bud (Schmeller) ; M. H. G. broz, a bud (Graff, iii.
3^9)' 1T See Brachet, who explains that the word meant
originally ' heather, broom," then ' a branch of broom used to
sweep away dust.' Cf. F. broussailles, brush-wood, and note the
double sense of E. broom. See further under Browze. Der.
brush-wood.
BRUSQUE, rough in manner. (F., - Ital.) Spelt bruslc by Sir
Henry Wotton, d. 1639 (R.) He speaks of giving a brusk welcome '
-a rough one. F. brusque, rude; introduced in i6th cent, from
Ital. brusco (Brachet). Ital. brusco, sharp, tart, sour, applied to fruits
and wine. B. Of unknown origin ; Diez makes it a corruption
of O. H. G. bruttisc, brutish, brutal, which is clumsy. Ferrari (says
Mr. Donkin) derives it from the Lat. labruscus, the Ital. dropping
the first syllable. This is ingenious ; the Lat. labruscus was an adj.
applied to a wild vine and grape. ^f The notion of connecting
brusgue with brisk appears in Colgrave ; it seems to be wrong.
BRUTE, a dumb animal. (F., L.) Shak. has brute as an adj.,
Hamlet, iii. 2. no; and other quotations in Richardson shew that
it was at first an adj., as in the phr. ' a brute beast.' F. brut, masc.,
brute, fern, adj., in Cotgrave, signifying 'foul, ragged, shapeless,' &c.
Lat. brutus, stupid. Der. brut-al, brut-al-i-ty, brut-al-ise, brut-ish,
brut-ish-ness.
BRYONY, a kind of plant. (L., - Gk.) In Levins ; also in Ben
Jonson, Masques : The Vision of Delight. Lat. bryonia. Gk.
tfpvajvia. also ftpvuvrj, Gk. fip'vtii', to teem, swell, grow luxuriantly.
BUBBLE, a small bladder of water. (Scand.) Shak. has the
sb., As You Like It, ii. J. 152 ; also as a vb., ' to rise in bubbles,'
Macb. iv. I. ii. Not found much earlier in English. [Palsgrave
has : ' Burble in the water, bubelte,' and the same form occurs in the
Prompt. Parv. p. 56; but this is probably a somewhat different
word, and from a different source ; cf. Du. barrel, a bubble.] Swed.
bubbla, a bubble. + Dan. boble, a bubble ; to bubble. + Du. bobbel,
a bubble ; bobbelen, to bubble. B. The form of the word is clearly
a diminutive ; and it is to be regarded as the dimin. of blob, a bubble;
it is obvious that the form blobble would give way to bobble. In the
same way babble seems to be related to blab. See Blob, Bleb.
BUCCANIER, a pirate. (F.,- West-Indian.) Modern. Bor-
rowed from F. boucanier, a buccanier, pirate. F. boucaner, to smoke-
dry ; or, according to Cotgrave, ' to broyle or scorch on a woodden
gridiron.' F. boucan, 'a woodden gridiron, whereon the cannibals
broile pieces of men, and other flesh ; ' Cot. 0. The word boucan is
said to be Caribbean, and to mean ' a place where meat is smoke-
dried.' Mr. Wedgwood says : ' The natives of Florida, says Laudon-
niere(Hist. de la Floride, Pref. A.D. 1586, in Marsh), "mangent leurs
viandes rosties sur les charbons et boucantes, c'est a dire quasi cuictes
a, la fumee." In Hackluyt's translation, "dressed in the smoke, which
in their language they call boiicaned." Hence those who established
themselves in the islands for the purpose of smoking meat were
called buccaniers.' Webster adds : ' The name was first given to the
French settlers in Hayti or Hispaniola, whose business was to hunt
wild cattle and swine.'
BUCK (i), a male deer, goat, &c. (E.) M. E. biMe, Chaucer,
C. T. 3387. A. S. bucca, a he-goat, Levit. iv. 23. +Du. bok, a he-
goat. + Icel. bukltr, a he-goat ; boltlti, a he-goat ; also a term of
seems too widely spread for this. Fick (i. 162, 701) cites Zend
biiza, a goat, Skt. bukka, a goat (Benfey, p. 633), and suggests
-V/BHUG, to eat, to enjoy (Skt. bhuf).
BUCK (2), to wash linen, to steep clothes in lye. (C.) Shak.
has bud-basket, a basket for washing linen, Merry Wives, iii. 3. 2.
M. E. bouken, to wash linen ; P. Plowman, B. xiv. 19. Of Celtic origin.
Gael, buac, dung used in bleaching ; the liquor in which cloth is
washed ; also, linen in an early stage of bleaching. + Irish buac, lye;
buacachan, buacaire, a bleacher; with which cf. buacar, cow-dung.
[The remoter origin is clearly Gael. b6, W. buw, buwch, a cow ;
cognate with Lat. bos. See Cow.] ^ Hence also the very widely
spread derived verb, viz. Swed. byka, Dan. byge, O. Du. buiken, G.
beuchen, O. F. buer, to buck-wash ; a word which has given great
trouble ; Rietz suspected it to be of Old Celtic origin, and he is not
wrong. Der. buck-basket.
BUCKET, a kind of pail. (E. ; perhaps C.) M. E. boket, Chau-
cer, Kn. Tale, 675. A. S. hue, a pitcher, glossed by 'lagena,' and
occurring also in Judges, vii. 20 (Bosworth) ; with dimin. suffix -et.
P. The addition of the suffix appears in Irish buicead, a bucket, knob,
boss ; Gael, bucaid, a bucket, also a pustule. y. It seems to have
been named from its roundness ; from Gael, and Irish hoc, to swell.
^[ The word bowl (2), q. v., is of similar formation.
BUCKLE, a kind of fastening; to fasten. (F..-L.) The sb.
bokeling occurs in Chaucer, C. T. 2505. O.F. bode (F. boucle), the
boss of a shield, a ring ; from the latter of which senses ' buckle ' has
been evolved. Low Lat. bucula, the boss of a shield, as explained by
Isidore of Seville (Brachet). Ducange also gives buccula, meaning
(i) a part of the helmet covering the cheek, a visor; (2) a shield ;
(3) a boss of a shield ; (4) a buckle. The original sense of Lat.
buccula was the cheek ; dimin. of bucca, the cheek. See Buffet.
BUCKLER, a kind of shield. (F..-L.) Chaucer has bokeler,
Prol. 112; the pi. boceleris occurs in King Alisaunder, ed. Weber,
1189. O. F. bocler (F.bouclier) ; so named from the bode, or boss in
the centre. See Buckle.
BUCKRAM, a coarse cloth. (F..-M. H.G.) M.E. bokeram,
cloth; Prompt. Parv. p. 42. O. F. boucaran (F. bougran), a coarse
kind of cloth (Roquefort). Low Lat. boquerannus, buckram. Low
Lat. boquena, goat's skin. M. H. G. hoc, a he-goat ; cognate with E.
buck. See Buck. fl" This etymology is sufficient, as names of
stuffs were very loosely applied. Webster makes buckram a variation
of barracan, the name of a stuff resembling camlet, and derived, ac-
cording to Diez, from Pers. barak, a stuff made of camel's hair;
Rich. Diet. p. 263. Diez himself inclines to the derivation of the
present word from M. H. G. hoc.
BUCKWHEAT, the name of a plant. (E.) The Polygon-urn
fagopyrum. The word buckwheat means beech-wheat, so called from
the resemblance in shape between its seeds and the mast of the
beech-tree. The same resemblance is hinted at in the term fago-
pyrum, from Lat. fagus, the beech-tree. The form buck for beech is
Northumbrian, and nearer to A. S. hoc than is the Southern form. +
Du. boekweit. + G. buchweizen. See Beech.
BUCOLIC, pastoral. (Gk.) Elyot has bucolickes ; The Govemour,
bk. i. c. 10. Skelton has ' bucolycall relations ;' Garlande of Laurell,
1. 326. Lat. bucolicus, pastoral. Gk. &OVKO\IKUS, pastoral. Gk.
fliivKnXoi, a cow-herd. B. The derivation of ftovxoXos is not clear;
the first syllable is, of course, from Gk. tfoCs, an ox (from the same
root as beef, q. v., and cow, q. v.). 1. Curtius best explains jSouxoXos as
' cattle-driver,' from Gk. ^ KEA, to drive ; cf. Skt. kal, to drive, Gk.
KtXrjs, a race-horse, Lat. celer, swift. 2. Fick refers -KO\OS to the root
kar, to run ; cf. Skt. char, to go, Lat. currere, to run. 3. Liddell
and Scott suggest a connection with Lat. colere, to till.
BUD, a germ ; to sprout. (E. ?) The Prompt. Parv., p. 54, has :
'Budde of a tre, Gemma' and : ' Biiddun as trees. Gemma.' The word
does not appear earlier in M. E. ; but may have been an E. or Old Low
German word. Cf. Du. hot, a bud, eye, shoot ; batten, to bud, sprout
out. This is closely related to the O. F. boter, to push, to butt.
whence the deriv. baton, a button, a bud ; this F. word being of Teu-
tonic origin, p. Or perhaps ' to bud ' is a mere corruption of O. F.
boter. Either way, the ultimate origin is the same. See Button,
and Butt (i).
BUDGE (i), to stir, move from one's place. (F., - L.) Shak.
has budge, to stir, Haml. iii. 4. 18. F. bouger, to stir; Prov. bolegar,
to disturb oneself; answering to Ital. bulicare, to bubble up.
Formed, as a frequentative, from Lat. bullire, to boil. See Boil.
P. This derivation is made clearer by the facts that the Span, bullii
BUDGE.
means not only ' to boil,' but ' to be busy, to bestir oneself,' also
' to move from place to place ; ' whilst the deriv. adj. bullicioso means
brisk, active, busy.' So also Port, bulir, to move, stir, be active;
bulifofo, restless.
BUDGE (2), a kind of fur. (F..-C.) Milton has: ' those budge
doctors of the Stoic fur ; ' Comus, 707 ; alluding to the lambskin fur
worn by some who took degrees, and still worn at Cambridge by
bachelors of arts. Halliwell has: 'budge, lambskin with the wool
dressed outwards ; often worn on the edges of capes, as gowns of
bachelors of arts are still made. See Fairholt's Pageants, i. 66 ;
Strutt, ii. 102; Thynne's Debate, p. 32; Pierce Penniless, p. n.'
Cotgrave has : ' Agnelin, white budge, white lamb." Another sense
of the word is ' a bag or sack ; ' and a third, ' a kind of water-cask ; '
Halliwell. These ideas are connected by the idea of skin of an
animal ; ' which served for a bag, a water-skin, or for ornamental
purposes. Budge is a doublet of bag ; and its dimin. is budget. See
further under Budget, and Bag. [f]
BUDGET, a leathern bag. (F., - C.) Shak. has budget (old edd.
bowget), Wint. Tale, v. 3. 20. F. 'bougette, a little coffer, or trunk
of wood, covered with leather ; . . . also, a little male, pouch, or
budget;' Cot. A dimin. of F. 'bouge, a budget, wallet, or great
pouch ; ' id. ; cf. O. Fr. boulge (Roquefort). Lat. bulga, a little bag ;
according to Festus, a word of Gaulish origin (Brachet). Gael, bolg,
builg, a bag, budget. See Bag.
BUFF, the skin of a buffalo ; a pale yellow colour. (F.) Buff
is a contraction of buffe, or btfffle, from F. buffle, a buffalo. ' Buff, a
sort of thick tanned leather ; ' Kersey. ' Buff, Buffle, or Buffalo, a
wild beast like an ox ; ' id. ' The term was applied to the skin of
the buffalo dressed soft, buff-leather, and then to the colour of the
leather so dressed ; ' Wedgwood. See Buffalo.
BUFFALO, a kind of wild ox. (Span., - L., - Gk.) The pi.
buffollos occurs in Sir T. Herbert's Travels, ed. 1665, p. 43. The
sing, buffalo is in Ben Jonson, Discoveries, Of the magnitude of any
fable. Borrowed from Span, bufalo, Spanish being much spoken in
North America, where the name buffalo is (incorrectly, perhaps)
given to the bison. [But the term was not really new in English ;
the Tudor Eng. already had the form buffle, borrowed from the
French. Cotgrave has : ' Buffle, m. the buffe, buffle, bugle, or wild
ox; also, the skin or neck of a buffe.'] Lat. bufalus, used by For-
tunatus, a secondary form of bubalus, a buffalo. Gk. 0ov/3a\ot, a
buffalo; Polyb. xii. 3, 5. Gk. flovs, an ox; see Beef, ft]
BUFFER (i), a foolish fellow. (F.) Jamieson has 'buffer, a
foolish fellow." The M. E. buffer means ' a stutterer.' ' The tunge
of bufferes [Lat. balborum] swiftli shal speke and pleynly ; ' Wycl.
Isaiah, xxxii. 4. M. E. buffen, to stammer. O. F. bufer, to puff out
the cheeks, &c. See Buffet (i). p. The word is, no doubt, partly
imitative; to represent indistinct talk ; cf. Babble.
BUFFER (2), a cushion, with springs, used to deaden concussion.
(F.) Buffer is lit. a striker; from M.E. buffen, to strike; prov.
Eng. buff, to strike, used by Ben Jonson (see Nares). O. F. bufer,
buffer, to strike. See Buffet (i).
BUFFET (i), a blow; to strike. (F.) M. E. buffet, boffet, a blow ;
esp. a blow on the cheek or face ; Wycl. John, xix. 3. Also buffeten, bo-
feten, translated by Lat. colaphizo, Prompt. Parv. p. 41 . Also bufetung,
a buffeting, Old Eng. Homilies, i. 207. O. F. bufet, a blow, esp. on the
cheek. O.F. bufe, a blow, esp. on the cheek; bufer, buffer, to strike; also,
to puff out the cheeks. B. Some have derived the O. F. bufe, a blow,
from the Germ, puff, pop ! also, a cuff, thump ; but the word is not old
in German, and the German word might have been borrowed from the
French. No doubt buffet is connected with puff, and the latter, at
least, is onomatopoetic. See Puff. C. But the O. F. bufe may
be of Celtic origin ; the /being put for a guttural. Cf. Bret, bochad,
a blow, buffet, esp. a blow on the cheek ; clearly connected with
Bret, boch, the cheek. D. The M. E. had a form bobet as well as
boffet; cf. 'bobet, collafa, collafus;' Prompt. Parv. p. 41; 'bobet on
the heed, coup de poing ; ' Palsgrave. Now bobet is clearly a dimin.
of bob, a blow, with its related verb bobben, to strike; words in which
the latter 4 (or bb) likewise represents a guttural, being connected
with Gael, hoc, a blow, a box, a stroke, and prob. with E. box. See
Box, verb. E. The Celtic words for cheek are Bret, both, Welsh
boch. Corn, boch, all closely related to Lat. bucca, the cheek, which
Fick (i. 151) connects with Lat. buccina, a trumpet, and the Skt.
butt, to sound ; from the ^ BUK, to puff or snort. The original
idea is thus seen to be that of puffing with violence ; hence, cheek ;
and hence, a blow on the cheek.
BUFFET (2), a side-board. (F.) Used by Pope, Moral Essays
(Ep. to Boyie), 1. 153; Sat. ii. 5. F. 'buffet, a court cupboord, or
high-standing cupboord ; also, a cupboord of plate ; ' Cot. B.
Origin unknown (^Brachet). Diez gives it up. That it may be con-
nected with buffeter, sometimes used (see Cotgrave) for ' to marre a
vessel of wine by often tasting it before it is broached, or, to fill it up
BUILD.
81
&
with water,' is probable. Cf. ' Buffer, to puff, or blow hard ; also, to
spurt, or spout water on.' But the word remains obscure, and the
various conjectures remain without proof.
BUFFOON, a jester. (F.) Holland speaks of 'buffoons,
pleasants, and gesters ;' tr. of Plutarch, p. 487. Pronounced buffon,
Ben Jonson, Every Man, ii. 3. 8. For the suffix, cf. ball-oon. f.
bouffon, which Cotgrave explains as '^buffoon, jester, sycophant,' &c.
Cf. Span, bufa, a scoffing, laughing at ; equiv. to Ital. buffa, a trick,
jest ; which is connected with Ital. buffare, to joke, jest ; orig. to puff
out the cheeks, in allusion to the grimacing of jesters, which was a
principal part of their business. See Buffet (i). Der. buffcon-ery.
BUG (i), BUGBEAR, a terrifying spectre. (C.) Fairfax speaks
of children being frightened by' strange bug-beares;' tr. of Tasso, Gier.
Lib. bk. xiii. st. 18. Here bug-bear means a spectre in the shape of
a bear. The word bug was used alone, as in Shak. Tarn. Shrew, i. 2.
211. Shak. himself also has bugbear, Troil. iv. 2. 34. W. bwg, a
hobgoblin, spectre ; butgan, a spectre. + Irish puca, an elf, sprite
(Shakespeare's PucK). + Gael, (and Irish) bocan, a spectre, apparition,
terrifying object. + Com. bucca, a hobgoblin, bugbear, scarecrow.
P. Probably connected further with Lithuanian baugiis, terrific, fright-
ful, bugstu, bugti, to be frightened, bauginti, to frighten (Fick, i. 162) ;
which Fick further connects with Lat./B^a, flight, fugare, to put to
flight, and Skt. bhuj, to bow, bend, turn aside, cognate with E. bow,
to bend. See Bow (i). And see below.
BUG (2), an insect. (C.) This is merely a particular application
of the Tudor-English bug, an apparition, scarecrow, object of terror.
The word is therefore equivalent to ' disgusting creature.' So in
Welsh we find bwg, butgan, bwci, a hobgoblin, bugbear; bucai, a
maggot. See above.
BUGABOO, a spectre. (C.) In Lloyd's Chit-chat (R.) It is
the word bug, with the addition of W. bw, an interjection of threaten-
ing, Gael, bo, an interjection used to frighten children, our ' boh 1 '
BUGLE (i), a wild ox; a hom. (F., L.) Bugle in the sense
of ' horn ' is an abbreviation of bugle-horn, used by Chaucer, C. T.
1 1565. It means the hom of the bugle, or wild ox. Halliwell has :
'Bugle, a buffalo ; see King Alexander, ed. Weber, 5112 ; Maunde-
ville's Travels, p. 269 ; Topsell's Beasts, p. 54 ; Holinshed, Hist, of
Scotland, p. 1 7.' No doubt bugle was confused with bvffle or buffalo
(see Buffalo), but etymologically it is a different word. O.F. bugle,
a wild ox (whence, by the way, F. beugler, to bellow). Lat buculus,
a bullock, young ox (Columella) ; a dimin. of Lat. bos, cognate with
E. cow. See Cow.
BUGLE (2), a kind of ornament. (M. H. G.) a. Bugles are
fine glass pipes, sewn on to a woman's dress by way of ornament.
Mr. Wedgwood quotes from Muratori, shewing that some sort of
ornaments, called in Low Latin bugoli, were worn in the hair by the
ladies of Piacenza in A. D. 1388. 0. I think there can be little
doubt that the word is formed, as a diminutive, from the M. H. G.
bouc, or bouch, an armlet, a large ring, a word very extensively used
in the sense of a ring-shaped ornament ; the cognate A. S. bedg, an
armlet, neck-ornament, ring, ornament, and the Icel. baugr, spiral
ring, armlet, are the commonest of words in poetry. The dimin.
bugel is still used in German, signifying any piece of wood or metal
that is bent into a round shape, and even a stirrup. The Icel. bygill
also means a stirrup; the provincial Eng. bule (contracted from
bugle) means the handle of a pail, from its curved shape. y. A
bugle means, literally, ' a small ornament (originally) of a rounded
shape;' from the verb bow, to bend, O. H. G. bougen, biegen (G.
beugen), to bend, Icel. buga, beygja, to bend. See Bow(i), to bend,
^f The original sense of ' roundness ' was quite lost sight of, the mere
sense of ' ornament ' having superseded it. There is not necessarily
an allusion to the cylindrical shape of the ornament.
BUILD, to construct a house. (Scand.) M. E. bulden, bilden,
Layamon, 2656 ; Coventry Mysteries, p. 20 ; also builden, P. Plow-
man, B. xii. 288; and belden, P. Plowman, Crede, 706. The earlier
history of the word is not quite clear ; but it is most likely a Scand.
word, with an excrescent d (like the d in boulder, q. v.). O. Swed. bylja,
to build (Ihre). ft. Formed from O. Swed. bol, bole, a house, dwelling ;
Ihre, i. 220, 221. + Dan. bol, a small farm. + Icel. id/, a farm, abode;
betli, byli, an abode. B. In the same way it may easily be the case
that the A. S. bold, a dwelling, house, abode (Grein, i. 132) is not an
original word ; but borrowed from Icel. bul, with the addition of an
excrescent d. The introduction of d after / is a common peculiarity
of Danish ; thus the Danish for to fall is falde, and the Danish for
a ball is bold. [The alleged A. S. byldan, to build, is late ; there
is an A. S. byldan, but it means ' to embolden,' being simply formed
from the adj. beald, bold; but see Errata. [#] C. The Icel.
bol, Dan. bol, O. Swed. bol, a house, dwelling, is probably to be re-
ferred back (as Ihre says) to Icel. bua, O. Swed. bo, to live, abide,
dwell ; akin to Skt. bhu, to be. Thus to build means ' to construct a
place in which to be or dwell. 1 See Be. Der. build-er, build-ing.
82
BULB.
5T The Lowland Scotch big, to build, from Icel. bygtya, to build, is
certainly a derivative of Icel. baa, to dwell. Hence bi-g and bui-l(d)
only differ in their endings.
BULB, a round root, &c. (F., - L., - Gk ) Not in early use. In
Holland's Plutarch, p. 577; and bulbous is in Holland's Pliny, bk.
xix. c. 4; vol. ii. p. 13. F. bulbe. Lat. bulbus. Gk. /3oX/3os, a bul-
bous root, an onion. Der. bulb, verb ; bulb-ed, bulb-ous. [f]
BULGE, to swell out. (Scand.) This word, in the sense of ' to
swell out,' is very rare except in modern writers. I can find no early
instance. Yet btilgja, to swell out, pp. btdgin, swollen, occurs in O.
Swedish (Ihre), and in Swed. dialects (Rietz) ; the Icelandic has a pp.
bdlginn, swollen, also angry, from a lost verb ; and the root is very
widely spread, p. The A. S. belgan is only used in the metaphorical
sense, to swell with anger, which is also the case with the O. H. G.
pelgan, M. H. G. b'elgen ; and again we find an O. H. G. pp. Itifolgan,
inflamed with anger, which must originally have meant ' swollen.'
So we have Goth, ufbauljan, to puff up. Again, cf. Gael, bulgach,
protuberant ; obs. Gael, bolg, to swell out, extend, &c. Y. All these
examples point to an early base BHALGH, to swell, Fick, ii. 422.
Der. The derivatives from bhalgh*, to swell, are very numerous, viz.
ball, boil (a pustule), bowl, bilge, billow, belly, bag, boiled (swollen),
bole (of a tree), bulk, &c. % We commonly find bulge in Eliza-
bethan English used in the sense of ' to leak,' said of a ship ; this is
but another spelling of bilge, q. v. [t]
BULK (i), magnitude, size. (Scand.) M. E. bollie, a heap,
Prompt. Parv. p. 43. Icel. btilti, a heap; bulkast, to be bulky. +
Dan. built, a lump, clod ; bulket, lumpy. + Swed. dial, bullk, a knob,
bunch ; bullhig, bunchy, protuberant (Rietz) ; O. Swed. bolt, a heap
(Ihre). B. The Swed. dial, words are connected with Swed. dial.
buljna, to bulge ; Swed. bulna, to swell. The original idea in bulk is
'a swelling;' cf. the adj. bulky. See Bulge. Der. bultt-y, bulk-i-ness.
BULK (2), the trunk of the body. (O. Low G.) Used by Shak.
Hamlet, ii. 1 . 95 . O. Dutch bulcke, thorax ; Kilian. + Icel. bukr, the
trunk of the body. + Swed. buk, the belly, -f Dan. bug, the belly. +
G. bauch, the belly. The latter forms have lost an original /, as is
the case with Bag. See Bag, Belly, Bulge. B. The Gael.
bulg signifies (i) the belly, (2) a lump, mass; thus connecting bulk,
the trunk of the body, with bulk, magnitude. The notion of ' bulg-
ing ' accounts for both. See above.
BULK (3), a stall of a shop, a projecting frame for the display of
goods. (Scand.) In Shak. Cor. ii. i. 226; Oth. v. I. I. Halliwell
has : ' Bulk, the stall of a shop ; ' with references. He also notes
that the Lincolnshire bulkar means (i) a beam ; and (2) the front of
a butcher's shop where meat is laid. The native E. word balk gener-
ally means a rafter, and does not give the right vowel. The change
of vowel shews that the word is Scandinavian, as also may be in-
ferred from its being a Lincolnshire word. Icel. bdlkr, a beam, rafter ;
but also, a partition. [The Icel. a, is like E. ow in cow.'] Florio
translates the Ital. balco or balcone (from a like source) as ' the bulk
or stall of a shop.' See Bulk-head and Balcony.
BULK-HEAD, a partition in a ship made with boards, forming
apartments. (Scand.) A nautical term. Had it been of native
origin, the form would have been balk-head, from balk, a beam. The
change of vowel points to the Icel. bdlkr, a balk, beam, also a parti-
tion, the Icel. d being sounded like ow in aw. Moreover, the E. balk
means ' a beam, a rafter ;' the Icel. bdlkr, and Swed. balk, also mean
' a partition.' See further under Balk ; and see Bulk (3).
BULL (i), a male bovine quadruped. (E.) M. E. bole, bolle,
Chaucer, C. T. 2141; bide, Ormulum, 990. Not found in A. S.,
though occurring in the Ormulum and in Layamon ; yet the dimin.
bulluca, a bull-ock, little bull, really occurs (^Bosworth). + O. Du.
btlle, a bull (Kilian) ; Du. bul. + Icel. boli, a bull ; baula, a cow. +
Russian voT , a bull. p. From A. S. bellan, to bellow. See Bellow.
Der. bull-dog, bull-finch, &c. ; dimin. bull-ock.
BULL (ji, a papal edict. (L.) In early use. M. E. bulle, a papal
bull ; P. Plowman, B. prol. 69 ; Rob. of Glouc. p. 473. Lat. bulla,
a stud, a knob ; later, a leaden seal, such as was affixed to an edict ;
hence the name was transferred to the edict itself. + Irish bill, a
bubble on water ; the boss of a shield. Der. From the same source:
bull-et, q. v., bull-et-in, q. v. ; bull-ion, q. v. ^f The use of bull in the
sense of ' blunder ' is due to a contemptuous allusion to papal edicts.
BULLACE, wild plum. (Celtic.) Bacon has the pi. bullises ;
Essay on Gardens. ' Solas frute, pepulum ; ' and ' Bolas tre, pepu-
lus;' Prompt. Parv. p. 42. ' Pepulus, a bolaster;' Ort. Voc., qu. in
Way's note; id. Gael, bulaistear, a bullace, sloe. + Irish bulos, a
prune. + Bret, bolos, better polos, explained as ' prune sauvage,' i. e.
bullace. The O. F. beloce, belloce, ' espece de prunes,' is given by
Roquefort ; and Cotgrave has : ' Bellocier, a bullace-tree, or wilde '
plum-tree;' words probably derived from the Breton. Klorio, in his '
Ital. Diet., has: ' Bulloi, bulloes, slowne' [sloes], ^f It is obvious
that the M. E. form bolasler = Gael, bulaistear ; it seems probable that ^
BUMBOAT.
j,
' bolaster was first turned into bolas-tre (bullace-tree), as in the Prompt.
Parv., and then the tre was dropped, [t]
BULLET, a ball for a gun. (,F.,-L.) In Shak. K. John, ii. 227,
41 2. F. boulet, ' a bullet ; ' Cot. A dimin. of F. boule, a ball. Lat.
bulla, a stud, knob ; a bubble. See Bull (j).
BULLETIN, a brief public announcement. (F.,-Ital.,-L.)
Burke speaks of ' the pithy and sententious brevity of these bulletins ; '
Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs (R.) F. bulletin, 'a bill,
ticket, a billet in a lottery;' Cot. Ital. bulletino, a safe conduct,
pass, ticket. Formed, by the dimin. suffix -ino, from bulletta, a pass-
port, a lottery-ticket; which again is formed, by the dimin. suffix
-etta, from bulla, a seal, a pope's letter. Lat. bulla, a seal ; later, a
pope's letter. See Bull (2).
BULLION, a stud, a boss; uncoined metal. (F., L.) Skelton
has bullyon, a boss, a stud ; Garlande of Laurell, 1165; see Dyce's
note. F. bouillon, a boiling ; also, according to Cotgrave, ' a studde,
any great-headed, or studded, nails.' Low Lat. bullionem, ace. of
bullio, a mass of gold or silver ; also written bulliona. Low Lat. bull-
are, to stamp, or mark with a seal. Low Lat. bulla, a seal ; Lat.
bulla, the head of a nail, a stud. [In the sense of boiling' or 'soup.'
the F. bouillon is from Lat. bullire, to boil, from the same Lat. bulla,
in the sense of a bubble.] % Mr. Wedgwood shews that the
O. F. bullione (Stat. 9 Edw. Ill, St. 2. c. 14) meant the mint itself,
not the uncoined metal, which is only a secondary meaning. This
explains the connection with the Lat. bulla, a seal, at once. See
Blount's Nomolexicon. B. The mod. F. word is billon ; which
Littre derives from F. bille, a log; see Billet (2). [t]
BULLY, a noisy rough fellow ; to bluster. (O. Low G.) Shak.
has bully for 'a brisk dashing fellow ; ' Merry Wives, i. 3. 6, 1 1, &c. ;
Schmidt. Also bully-rook in a similar sense, Merry Wives, i. 3. 2 ;
ii. I. 200. Mr. Wedgwood cites ' Platt-Deutsch buller-jaan (bully
John), buller-buk, buller-brook, a noisy blustering fellow, from the last
of which is doubtless our bully-rook;' see Bremen Worterb. i. 159.
These words correspond to Du. bulderaar, a blusterer, bulderbas, a rude
fellow, bulderen, to bluster, rage, roar, bulderig, boisterous, blustering
(all with excrescent d, as in Boulder, q. v.). Cf. O. Du. bollaer, a
tattler, bollen, to tattle ; bolle, a bull, -f- Swed. buller, noise, clamour,
bullra, to make a noise, bullerbas, a noisy person, bullersam, noisy.
P. From Du. bul, a bull ; a rough unsocial man. + Swed. bulla, a bull.
From the notion of bellowing. See Bull, Bellow.
BULWARK, a rampart. (Scand.) In Shak. Hamlet, iii. 4. 38. -
Dan. bulvark, a bulwark ; Swed. bolverk. + Du. bolwerk. + G. bollwerk.
Corrupted in F. to boulevarde, from the Du. or G. form. Kilian
explains bol-werck, or block-werck by propugnaculum, agger, vallum; '
shewing that bol is equivalent to block, i. e. a log of wood. [I regard
the word as Scandinavian, because these languages explain the word
at once ; the Du. bol is not commonly used for ' log,' nor is G. bofile
anything more than ' a board, plank.'] p. From Dan. bul, a stem,
stump, log of a tree ; nczri, work. + Icel. bulr, bolr. the bole or trunk
of a tree ; bola, to fell trees, y. Thus the word stands for bole-work,
and means a fort made of the stumps of felled trees, [t]
BUM, buttocks. (E.) Used by Shak. Mids. Nt. Dr. ii. I. 53. A
mere contraction of bottom. In like manner, the corresponding O
Friesic boden is contracted in North Friesic into bom ; Richtofen.
BUM-BAILIFF, an under bailiff. In Shak. Twelfth Nt. iii. 4
194. Blackstone (bk. i. c. 9) says it is a corruption of bound-bailiff,
which seems to be a guess only. The etymology is disputed.
P. Todd quotes from a Tract at the end of Fulke's Defence of the
English translations of the Bible, 1583, p. 3.; : ' These quarrels . . are
more meet for the bum-courts than for the schools of divinity. In
this saying, if the term of bumcourts seem too light, I yield unto the
censure of grave and godly men.' He also quotes the expression
' constables, tithing-men, bailiffs, bumme or shoulder-marshals ' from
Gay ton's Notes on Don Quixote, bk. ii. c. 2. He accordingly suggests
that the term arose from the bailiff or pursuer catching a man ' by
the hinder part of his garment ; ' and he is probably right. y. Mr.
Wedgwood derives it from the verb ' bum, to dun ' in Halliwell ; but
this may be a familiar contraction of the word bumbailiff itself.
BUMBLE-BEE, a bee that hums. (O. Low G.) The verb
bumble is a frequentative of boom. O. Du. bommelen, to buzz, hum
(Oudemans) ; Bremen bummeln, to sound. O. Du. and Du. bommen,
to sound hollow (like an empty barrel). See Boom (i), and
Bump (2). |er As both boom and hum signify 'to buzz,' the
insect is called, indifferently, a bumble-bee or a humble-bee.
BUMBOAT, a boat used for taking out provisions to a ship.
(Dutch.) Mr. Wedgwood quotes Roding's Marine Diet, to shew
that Du. bumboot means a very wide boat used by fishers in South
Holland and Flanders, also for taking a pilot to a ship. He adds :
'probably for bunboot, a boat fitted with a bun, or receptacle for
keeping fish alive.' This is very likely right. The word bun is also
Dutch ; and was formerly spelt ban or bonne. See Oudemans, who
BUMP.
j
gives ban or bonne with the sense of box, chest, cask ; also bonne, the
hatch of a ship. O. Du. bonne also means a bung, now spelt bom in
Dutch, thus exhibiting the very change from to m which is required.
Besides, the sound nb soon becomes mb.
BUMP (i), to thump, beat; a blow, bunch, knob. (C.) Shak.
has bumf, a knob, Rom. i. 3. 53. W. puimp, a round mass, a lump ;
puimfio, to thump, bang. + Com. bom, bum, a blow. + Irish beum, a.
stroke ; also, to cut, gash, strike. + Gael, beum, a stroke, blow ; also,
to smite, strike. ^f In this case, and some other similar ones, the
original word is the verb, signifying ' to strike ; ' next, the sb. signi-
fying ' blow ; ' and lastly, the visible effect of the blow, the ' bump '
raised by it. Allied to Bunch, q. v. ; also to Bun, and Bunion.
BUMP (2), to make a noise like a bittern. (C.) ' And as a bittour
bumfs within a reed;' Dryden, Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 194; where
Chaucer has biimbleth, C. T. 6544. W. bwmp, a hollow sound;
aderyn y bwmp, a bittern ; cf. Gael, bnabhall, a trumpet, Irish bubhal,
a hom. The same root appears again in Lat. bombus, Gk. ftiinlios, a
humming, buzzing. The word is clearly imitative. See Boom (i).
BUMPER, a drinking-vessel. (F.) Dryden has bumpers in his
translation of Juvenal (Todd's Johnson). This word appears in
English just as the older bombard, a drinking-vessel (Tempest, ii. 2. 21),
disappears. Hence the fair conclusion that it is a corruption of it.
For the etymology, see Bombard. ^f A fancied connection with
bump, a swelling, has not only influenced the form of the word, but
added the notion of fulness, so that a bumper generally means, at
present, ' a glass filled to the brim.'
BUMPKIN, a thick-headed fellow. (Dutch?) Used by Dryden,
who talks of ' the country bumpkin,' Juvenal, Sat. 3, 1. 295. The
index to Cotgrave says that the F. for bumkin is chicambault ; and
Cot. has : ' Chicambaull, m. The luffe-block, a long and thick piece
of wood, whereunto the fore-saile and sprit-saile are fastened, when
a ship goes by the wind.' I think it clear that bum/tin (then pro-
nounced nearly as boomkin) is the dimin. of boom, formed by adding
to boom (a Dutch word) the Dutch dimin. ending -Iten ; so that the
word signifies 'a small boom,' or 'luff-block;' and metaphorically, a
blockhead, a wooden-pated fellow ; perhaps originally a piece of
nautical slang. The Dutch suffix -Iten is hardly used now, but was
once in use freely, particularly in Brabant ; see Ten Kate, ii. 73 ; it
answers exactly to the E. suffix -kin, which took its place, [f]
BUN, a sort of cake. (F., Scand.) Skelton has bun in the sense
of a kind of loaf given to horses; ed. Dyce, i. 15. O. prov. F. bugne,
a name given at Lyons to a kind of fritters (Burguy) ; a variation of
F. bigne, a swelling rising from a blow (Burguy). p. These F.
words are represented by the mod. F. dimin. beignet, a fritter ; the
connection is established by Cotgrave, who gives the dimin. forms as
bugnet and bignet, with this explanation : ' Signets, little round
loaves, or lumps made of fine meale, oile, or butter, and raisons :
buns, Lenten loaves ; also, flat fritters made like small pancakes.'
y. The word is of Scandinavian origin ; see Bunion, Bunch, [t]
BUNCH, a knob, a cluster. (Scand.) M. E. bimche, Debate of
the Body and Soul, Vernon MS. ; where the copy printed in Matzner
has bulche, 1. 370. Icel. bunki, a heap, pile. + C>. Swed. bunlte, any-
thing prominent, a heap (Ihre) ; Swed. dial, bunlte, a heap (Rietz). +
Dan. bunlte, a heap. O. Swed. bunga, to strike (Ihre) ; Swed. dial.
bunga, to bunch out, &c. (Rietz). p. The notion of 'bunching
out ' is due to ' striking,' as in other cases, the swelling being caused
by the blow ; see Bump (i). Cf. Du. bonken, to beat, belabour; M.E.
bunchen, to beat, P. Plowman, A. prol. 71 ; B. prol. 74. See Bang.
y. Cf. also W. pwng, a cluster ; pwg, what swells out ; pwmf, a round
mass, lump ; pwmpio, to thump, bang ; pwmplog, bossed, knobbed.
Der. btmct:-y.
BUNDLE, something bound up, a package. (E.) M. E. bundel
(ill-spelt btmdelle). Prompt. Parv. p. 55. A. S. byndel, an unauthorised
form, given by Somner ; a dimin., by adding suffix -el, of bund, a
bundle, a thing bound up ; the plural bunda, bundles, occurs as a
gloss of Lat. faiciculot in the Lind. MS. in Matt. xiii. 30. + Du.
bcndel, a bundle, -f- G. bi'mdel, a dimin. of bund, a bundle, bunch,
truss. A. S. bindan, to bind. See Bind.
BUNG, a plug for a hole in a cask. (C. ?) M. E. lunge. Prompt.
Parv. p. 55. ' Bung of a tonne or pype, bondel ; ' Palsgrave. Etym.
uncertain. Perhaps of Celtic origin. 1. Cf. W. bwng, an orifice,
also a bung ; O. Gael, buine, a tap, spigot ; Irish buinne, a tap,
spout ; also, a torrent. 2. Again, we find an O. Du. bonne, a bung,
stopple, for which Oudemans gives two quotations ; hence mod. Du.
bom, a bung. 3. Yet again, we find the F. bonde, of which Pals-
grave has the dimin. bondel, cited above. Cotgrave explains bonde
by ' a bung or stopple ; also, a sluice, a floodgate.' This F. bonde is
derived by Diez from Suabian G. tnmte, supposed to be a corruption
of O. H. G. spunt, whence the mod. G. sfund, a bung, an orifice. To
derive it from the O. Du. bonne would lie much simpler.
BUNGALOW, a Bengal thatched house. (Pers., - Bengalee.) In
BURBOT.
83
Rich. Pers. Diet., p. 293, we find : ' Pers. bangalah, of or belonging
to Bengal ; a bungalow.' From the name Bengal, [f]
BUNGLE, to mend clumsily. (Scand.) Shak. has bungle, Hen. V,
ii. 2. 115; Sir T. More has bungler, Works, p. 1089 c. Prob. for
bangle, and that for bangle, formed from bang by suffix -le, denoting to
strike often, and hence to patch clumsily. p. This is rendered very
probable by comparison with Swed. dial, bangla, to work ineffectually
(Rietz). Ihre gives an Old Swed. bunga, to strike, and Rietz gives
bonka and bunlta as variants of Swed. dial, banka, to strike. See
Bang. Der. bungl-er. [f]
BUNION, a painful swelling on the foot. (Ital., Teut. ?) Not
in early use. Rich, quotes bunians from Rowe's Imitations of Horace,
bk. iii. ode 9; written, perhaps, about A.D. 1700. Ital. bagnone,
bugno, any round knob or bunch, a boil or blain ; cf. O. F.
bugne, bune, buigne, a swelling (Burguy) ; F. bigne, a bump, knob,
rising, or swelling after a knock (Cotgrave). Icel. bunga, an eleva-
tion, convexity; bunlti, a heap, bunch. See Bunch, p. The prov.
Eng. bunny, a swelling after a blow, in Forby's East Anglian Dialect,
is from the O. F. bugne. See Bun. ^ The O. F. bugne is from
the Icel. bunga or bunki. The Ital. bugnone is from Ilal. bugno,
the same as the O. F. bugne, with the addition of the Ital. aug-
mentative suffix -one. [t]
BUNK, a wooden case or box, serving for a seat by day and a bed
by night; one of a series of berths arranged in tiers. (Scand.) A
nautical term ; and to be compared with the Old Swed. bunke, which
Ihre defines as 'tabulatum navis, quo cseli injurise defenduntur a
vectoribus et mercibus.' He adds a quotation, viz. ' Gretter giorde
sier grof under bunka ' = Gretter made for himself a bed under the
boarding or planking [if that be the right rendering of ' sub tabulate'].
The ordinary sense of O. Swed. bunke is a pile, a heap, orig. some-
thing prominent. The mod. Swed. bunke means a flat-bottomed
bowl; dialectally, a heap, bunch (Rietz). For further details, see
Bunch.
BUNT, the belly or hollow of a sail ; a nautical term. (Scand.)
In Kersey's Diet. a. Wedgwood explains it from Dan. bundi, Swed.
bunt, a bundle, a bunch ; and so Webster. If so, the root is the verb
to bind. P. But I suspect it is rather a sailor's corruption of some
Scandinavian phrase, formed from the root which appears in Eng. as
bow, to bend. Cf. Dan. bugt, a bend, turn, curve ; Swed. bugt, a
bend, flexure ; Dan. bug, a belly ; bug paa Seil, a bunt ; bug-gaarding,
a bunt-line ; bug-line, bowline ; bug-spryd, bowsprit ; bugne, to bend ;
de bugnende Seil, the bellying sails or canvas ; Swed. buk pA ett iegel,
the bunt of a sail ; bugning, flexure. Thus the right word is Swed.
buk, Dan. bug ; confused with bugne, to bend, and bugt, a bend.
BUNTING (i), the name of a bird. (E. ?) M. E. bunting, bount-
ing ; also buntyle, badly written for bunlel. ' Buntinge, byrde, pratellus ; *
Prompt. Parv. p. 56. ' A bouniing ; ' Lyric Poems, ed. Wright, p.
40. 'Hie pratellus, a buntyle;' Wright's Vocab. i. 221. Cf. Low-
land Scotch buntlin, a bunting. Origin unknown. B. The variations
buntle, buntlin, suggest that the root is a verb bunt, with a frequenta-
tive bunlle. The M. E. bunlen means to push with the head, to poke
the head forward ; cf. Bret, bounia, bunta, to push, shove. On the
other hand, we find Lowl. Sc. bun/in, short and thick, plump, bun!,
a rabbit's tail ; Welsh bontin, the rump ; bontinog, large-buttocked.
^[ Any connection with G. bunt, variegated, is mos/ unlikely.
BUNTING (2), a thin woollen stuff, of which ship's flags are
made. (E. ?) I can find no quotations, nor can I trace the word's
history. The suggestion of a connection with High G. bunt, variegated,
is unlikely, though the word is now found in Dutch as bont. Mr.
\Vedgwood says : ' To bunt in Somerset is to bolt meal, whence
bunting, bolting-cloth, the loose open cloth used for sifting flour, and
now more generally known as the material of which flags are made.'
I have nothing better to offer ; but wish to remark that it is a mere
guess, founded on these entries in Halliwell : ' Bunt, to sift : Somer-
set ; ' and ' Burning, sifting flour : West.' It is not said that bunting
is ' a bolting-c/o/A.' The verb bunt, to bolt flour, is M. E. bon.'en, to
sift, and occurs in the Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 93. See above, [t]
BUOY, a floating piece of wood fastened down. (Du., L.) It
occurs in Hackluyt's Voyages, vol. iii. p. 411. Borrowed, as many
sea-terms are, from the Dutch. Du. boei, a buoy; also, a shackle,
fetter. Low Lat. boia, a fetter, a clog. ' Raynouard, Lex. Rom. ii.
232, quotes "jubet compedibus constringi, quos rustica lingua boias
vocat." Plautus has it in a pun, Capt. iv. 2. 109, ". . Boius est ; boiam
terit ; " ' note to Vie de Seint Auban, 1. 680, ed. Atkinson ; q. v.] - Lat.
boi<e, pi. a collar for the neck, orig. made of leather, p. Perhaps from
Gk. /3ofios, /3ofos, made of ox-hide ; from Gk. @ovi, an ox. See Beef.
^f A buoy is so called because chained to its place, like a clog chained
to a prisoner's leg. Cf. 'In presoune, fetterit with froyi's, sittand;'
Harbour's Bruce, ed. Skeat, x. 766. Der. buoy-ant, buoy-nnc-y.
BUR, BURDOCK ; sej Burr.
j BURBOT, a fish of the genus Lola. (F..-L.) It has 'on the
G 2
84
BURDEN.
BURROW.
nose two small beards, and another on the chin ; ' Webster. F.
barbate, a burbot. Lat. barbn, a beard. See Barbel.
BURDEN ( i ), BURTHEN, a load carried. (E.) M. E. bir^aw,
Havelok, 807. A. S. byr'Sen, a load (Grein). + Icel. byrdr, byrSi. +
Swed. borda. + Dan. byrde. + Goth, baurtkei. + O. H. G. burdi, burdin ;
M. H. G. and G. burde. + Gk. Qo/rros, a burden. Cf. Skt. bhri, to
bear, carry. / BH AR, to bear. See Bear. Der. burden-some.
BURDEN (.'), the refrain of a song. (F.,-Low Lat.) The same
word as bourdon, the drone of a bagpipe or the bass in music. M. E.
burdoun, Chaucer, Prol. 674. F. bourdon, 'a drone or dorre-bee ;
also, the humming or buzzing of bees ; also, the drone of a bagpipe ; '
Cot. Low Lat. burdonem, ace. of burdo, a drone or non-working bee,
which is probably an imitative word, from the buzzing sound made
by the insect ; bur- being another form of buzz, q. v. ^f The M. E.
bourdm also means a pilgrim's staff, which is another meaning of the
F. bourdon. The Low Lat. bnrdo also means (i) an ass, mule, (2) a
long organ-pipe. Diez thinks the ' organ-pipe ' was so named from
resembling a ' staff,' which he derives from bnrdo in the sense of
'mule.' But perhaps the 'staff 1 was itself a pitch-pipe, as might
easily have been contrived, [t]
BUREAU, an office for business. (F., L.) Used by Swift and
Burke ; see Richardson. F. bureau, a desk, writing-table, so called
because covered with baize. Cotgrave has : ' Bureau, a thick and
course cloth, of a brown russet or darke-mingled colour ; also, the
table that's within a court of audit or of audience (belike, because it
is usually covered with a carpet of that cloth) ; also the court itself.'
And see Brachet, who quotes from Boileau, vitu de simple bureau.
O.Fr. burel, coarse woollen stuff, russet-coloured. O.f.buire (F. bare),
reddish-brown. Lat. burrus, fiery-red (pick, ii. 154). + Gk. iwppos,
flame-coloured. Gk. nip, fire. See Fire. ^ Chaucer has ' borel
folk,' i. e. men roughly clad, men of small account, where borel is
from the O. F. burel above. Der. bureau-cracy ; see aristocracy.
BURGANET, BURGONET, a helmet. (F.) See Shak. Ant.
and Cleop. i. 5. 24. F. bourguignotte, ' a Burganet, Hufkin, or Spanish
Murrion ' [morion, helmet] ; Cot. So called because first used by
the Burgundians ; cf. ' Bourguignon, a Burgonian, one of Burgundy ; '
Cot. (3. So, in Spanish, we have borgouota, a sort of helmet ; a la
Burgono'a, after the Burgundy fashion ; Borgoita, Burgundy wine,
y. And, in Italian, borgognone, borgognotla, a burganet, helr.iet.
BURGEON, a bud ; to bud. (F.) M. E. borioune (printed bor-
joune), a bud ; Arthur and Merlin, p. 65 (Halliwell's Diet.). ' Gramino,
to borioune (printed borionne) or kyrnell ; ' Prompt. Parv. p. 276, note
3. F. bourgeon, a young bud ; Cot. B. Diez cites a shorter form
in the Languedoc boure, a bud, the eye of a shoot ; and he supposes
the word to have been formed from the M. H. G. buren, O. H. G.
purjan, to raise, push up. If so, we are at once led to M. H. G. bor,
0. H. G. par, an elevation, whence is formed the word in-por, up-
wards, in common use as G. empor ; cf. G. emporung, an insurrection,
1. e. a breaking forth. Cf. Gael, borr, borra, a knob, a bunch ; borr,
to swell, become big and proud. See Burr.
BURGESS, a citizen. (F..-M. H. G.) M. E. burgeys, Chaucer,
Prol. 369; Havelok, 1328. O.F. burgeis, a citizen. Low Lat.
burgcmis, adj., belonging to a city. Low Lat. burgus, a small fort
(Vegetius). M. H.G. bare, a fort; cognate with E. borough. See
Borough.
BURGHER, a citizen. (E.) In Gascoigne, Fruites of Warre,
st. 1 4. Formed by adding -er to burgh = borough. See Borough.
BURGLAR, a housebreaker, thief. (F., L.) Dogberry misuses
burglary, Much Ado, iv. 2. -,t. Florio [ed. 1680, not in ed. 1611]
interprets Ital. grancelU by ' roguing beggars, bourglairs ' (Wedg-
wood). Burglar is an old F. law term. It is made up of F. bourg,
town, and some dialectal or corrupted form of O. F. leres, a robber,
Lat. latro. Roquefort has : ' Lere, leres, lerre, voleur, larron ; lalro ; '
and see laron in Burguy. Hence the Low Lat. burgulator, a burglar,
nocturnal thief; commonly shortened to burgator. See Larceny
and Borough. Der. burglar-y, burglar-i-ous.
BURGOMASTER, a chief magistrate of a town. (Dutch.)
' Euery of the foresayd cities sent one of their burgomasters vnto the
town of Hague in Holland ; ' Hackluyt, Voyages, i. 157. Du. burge-
meestcr, a burgomaster ; whence it has been corrupted by assimilating
burge- to burgo-, crude form of Low Lat. burgus, a town (Latinised
form of borough or burgh), whilst mcester is spelt in the E. fashion.
Du. burg, a borough, cognate with E. borough, q. v. ; and meester, a
master (Lat. magister), for which see Master.
BURIAL, a grave ; the act of burying. (E.) M. E. buriel, a grave ;
Trevisa, ii. 27 ; Uriel, a tomb, Wycl. Matt, xxvii. 60. But the form
is corrupt ; the older Eng. has burieh, which is a singular, not a
plural substantive, in spite of its apparent plural form. ' Beryels,
sepulchrum;' Wright's Vocab. i. 178. 'An buryels,' i.e. a tomb;
Rob. of Glouc., p. 204. A. S. birgels, a sepulchre; Gen. xxiii. 9;
the commoner form being birgen, Gen. xxiii. I. Formed, by suffix
-els, from A. S. byrgan, to bury. See Bury. ^f Other examples
of the suffix -els or -else occur in A. S. ; e. g. fetels, a bag. Josh. ix. 4 ;
re'dels or redelst, a riddle, Numb. xii. 8.
BURIN, an engraver's tool. (F., Ital., G.) Borrowed from
F. burin ; a word borrowed from Ital. borino (Brachet). Probably
formed from M. H. G. boren (O. H. G. poron, G. bohren), to bore ;
cognate with E. bore. See Bore.
BURL, to pick knots and loose threads from cloth ; in cloth-
making. (F., Low Lat.) To burl is to pick off burls or knots in
cloth, the word being properly a sb. Halliwell has : 'Burle, a knot,
or bump ; see Topsell's Hist. Beasts, p. 250. Also, to take away
the knots or impure parts from wool or cloth. " Desquamare vestts, to
burle clothe ; " Elyot. Cf. Herrick's Works, ii. 15.' M. E. burle, a
knot in cloth; see Prompt. Parv. p. 56. Prov. Fr. bouril, bourril, a
flock or end of thread which disfigures cloth ; cited by Mr. Wedg-
wood as a Languedoc word. F. bourre, expl. by Cotgrave as ' flocks,
or locks of wool, hair, &c. serving to stuff saddles, balls, and such
like things.' Low Lat. burra, a woollen pad (Ducange). See Burr.
BURLESQUE, comic, ironical. (F.,-Ital.) Dryden speaks of
' the dull burlesque ; ' Art of Poetry, canto i. 1. 81. It is properly an
adjective. F. burlesque, introd. in ifith cent, from the Ital. (Brachet.)
Ital. burlesco, ludicrous. Ital. burla, a trick, waggery, fun, banter.
B. Diez suggests that burla is a dimin. from Lat. burra, used by Au-
sonius in the sense of a jest, though the proper sense is rough hair.
This supposition seems to explain also the Span, borla, a tassel, tuft,
as compared with Span, borra, goat's hair. See Burr. ^ Mr.
Wedgwood cites ' Gaelic burl, mockery, ridicule, joking ; ' this
seems to be a misprint for hurt. No doubt some Italian words are
Celtic ; but the Gaelic forms are not much to be depended on in
elucidating Italian.
BURLY, large, corpulent, huge. (E.) M. E. burli, Perceval,
269; borlic, large, ample, Reliq. Antiquae, i. 222; burliche, Morte
Arthur, ed. Brock, 586. o. Of Eng. origin, though the first part of
the word does not clearly appear except by comparison with the
M. H.G. burlih, purlih, that which raises itself, high; from the root
discussed under Burgeon, q. v. |3. We thus see that the word is
formed by adding the A. S. suffix -lie, like, to the root (probably
Celtic) which appears in the Gael, and Irish borr, borra, a knob, a
bunch, grandeur, greatness; whence borrack, a great or haughty proud
man, and Gael, borrail, swaggering, boastful, haughty, proud; words
which are the Celtic equivalents of burly. See Burr, [t]
BURN, to set on fire. (E.) M. E. bernen, Ancren Riwle, p. 306 ;
also brennen (by shifting of r), Chaucer, C. T. 2333. A. S. beernan,
also byrnan, to bum; Grein, i. 77, 153; also beornan, p. 109; and
brinnan, in the comp. on-brinnan, ii. 340. + O. Fries, barna, berna. +
Icel. brenna. + Dan. brcende. + Swed. briinna. + Goth, brinnan. +
O. H. G. prinnan ; M. H. G. brinnen ; G. brennen. B. Prob. con-
nected with Lat. feruere, to glow, and perhaps with furere, to rage.
See VBHUR, to be active, rage, in Fick, i. 163. If this be the
case, burn is related to brew, and fervent. Der. burn-er.
BURN, a brook. See Bourn (a).
BURNISH, to polish. (F..-G.) Shak. has burnished, Merch.
Ven. ii. I. 2 ; M. E. burnist, Gawain and Grene Knight, ed. Morris,
212 ; burned, Chaucer, C. T. 1985. O.F. burnir, brunir, to embrown,
to polish ; pres. pt. burnissant (whence the E. suffix -ish). O. F. brun,
brown. M. H. G. brun, brown ; cognate with A. S. brun, brown.
See Brown. Der. burnish-er. [t]
BURR, BUR, a rough envelope of the seeds of plants, as in the
burdock. (E.) M. E. burre, tr. by ' lappa, glis ; ' Prompt. Parv. p.
56 ; cf. borre, a hoarseness or roughness in the throat, P. Plowman,
C. xx. 306. In Cockayne's A. S. Leechdoms, iii. 316, we find:
'Burr, pi. burres, bur, burs, Arctivm lappa; Gl. Rawlinson, c. 607 ;
Gl. Sloane, 5.' Apparently an E. word. + Swed. borre, a sea-hedge-
hog, sea-urchin ; tardborre, a burdock. + Dan. borre, burdock. + Ital.
borra, cow-hair, shearings of cloth, i\c. ; which, with Low Lat.
reburrus, rugged, rough, and Lat. burra, refuse, trash, point back to
a Lat. burrus *, rough ; with which Fick (ii. 1 7) compares the Gk.
Pippon, Bdpuv, rough, rugged, given by Hesychius. The ultimate
notion seems to be that of ' rough.' Cf. also Gael, borra, a knob,
bunch ; borr, to swell ; Irish borr, a knob, hunch, bump ; borraim, I
swell. And cf. F. bourre in Brachet. Der. burr, a roughness in
the throat, hoarseness ; bur-doclt. ^f There is a difficulty in the
fact that the word begins with b in Latin as well as in Scandinavian.
The original word may have been Celto-Italic, i. e. common to Latin
and Celtic, and the Scand. words were probably borrowed from the
Celtic, whilst the Romance words were borrowed from the Latin.
BURROW, a shelter for rabbits. (E.) M. E. borwgh, a den,
cave, lurking-place ; ' Fast byside the borwgh there the barn was
inne' = close beside the burrow where the child was; William of
Paleme. 1. 9. In the Prompt. Parv. p. 56. we find : ' Rurwle, burwlh
\buruich ?] burwe, burrowe, town ; burgus.' Thus burrow is a mere
BURSAR.
BUTT.
85
o
if borough. p. The provincial Eng. burrow, sheltered, is Plays, ed. Hazlitt, i. 74; basse, a kiss. Court of Love, 1. 797; '1
L. S. beorgan, to protect ; i.e. from the same root, -y. The | basse or kysse aperson;' Palsgrave. This is clearly if. baiser, to kiss ;
vanation ol
from the A.
vb. to burrow is der. from the sb. See Borough. Der. burrow,
verb.
BURSAR, a purse-keeper, treasurer. (Low Lat., Gk.) Wood,
in his Athenoc Oxonienses, says that Hales was ' bursar of his college'
(R.) Low Lat. bunarius, a treasurer. Low Lat. bursa, a purse, with
suffix -arms, denoting the agent. Gk. Pvpaa, a hide, skin ; of which
purses were made. See Purse. Der. bursar-skip.
BURST, to break asunder, break forth. (E.) M. E. bersten,
bresten, Chaucer, C. T. 1982 ; P. Plowman, B. vii. 165. A. S. berstan,
Grein, i. 92. + Du. bersten, to burst asunder. -f- Icel. bresta. +
Swed. brista. + Dan. brisie. + O. H. G. prestan, M. H. G. bresten (G.
bersten). + Gael, bris, brisd, to break. + Irish brisaim, I break.
B. The Teutonic stem is BRAST, Pick, iii. 216; which seems to be
a mere extension of the stem BRAK, the original of our break. See
Break
BURTHEN; see Burden (i).
BURY (i), to hide in the ground. (E.) M. E. burye, P. Plowman,
B. xi. 66. A. S. byrgan, byrigan, Grein. i. 1 5 2 ; closely related to A. S.
beorgan, to protect ; for which see Borough. Der. buri-al, q. v.
^f It is remarkable that there is another A. S. verb, meaning ' to
taste,' which also has the double spelling byrgan and beorgan.
BURY (2), a town ; as in Canterbury. (E.) A variant of borough,
due to the peculiar declension of A. S. burh, which changes to the
form byris; in the dat. sing, and nom. and ace. plural. See Borough.
BUSH (i), a thicket. (Scand.) The word is rather Scand. than
F., as the O. F. word was merely bos (F. bois) ; whereas bush is due
to a F. pron. of the M. E. busk.} M. E. busch, bush, Chaucer, C. T.
1519; busch, bust, P. Plowman, B. xi. 336; busk, Will, of Palerne,
819, 3069. Dan. bust, a bush, shrub. + Swed. buste, a bush. + Du.
bosch, a wood, forest. + O. H. G. busc (G. busch). [The Low Lat.
boscus, Ital. bosco, F. bois, are derived from the Teutonic.] B. Cf.
Du. bos, a bunch, bundle, truss. Mr. Wedgwood suggests the notion
of ' tuft ; ' perhaps it may be, accordingly, connected with 6oss. See
Boss. Der. busti-y, bush-i-ness.
BUSH (2), the metal box in which an axle of a machine works.
(Dutch.) Modern, and mechanical. Du. bus, a box ; here the
equivalent of the E. box, which is similarly used. Lat. buxus, the
box-tree. See further under Box (i).
BUSHEL, a measure. (F.,-Low Lat.,-Gk.) M. E. bushel,
Chaucer, C. T. 4091. O.F. boissel ; Burguy, s. v. boiste. Low Lat.
boissellus, bnscellus. a bushel ; also spelt bussellus. 'Lovi Lat. biissiilns,
bussula, bussola, a little box. Low Lat. bussida, a form oibuxida, the
ace. case of buxis = Gk. mifis, a box. See Box (3).
BUSK (i), to get oneself ready. (Scand.) M. E. buste, busken,
P. Plowman, B. ix. 133. Icel. buaslt, to get oneself ready; see
Cleasby and Vigfusson's Icel. Diet. pp. 87, col. I, and 88, col. I ;
from Lat. basium, a kiss.
BUSS (2), a herring-boat. (F..-L.) In Rob. of Brunne, tr. of
Langtoft, pp. 149, 153, 158, 169. O.F. busse, base, buce, a sort of
boat ( Burguy). [+ Du. buis, a herring-boat. + G. b'use, buise (Fliigel's
G. Diet.)] Low Lat. bussa, a kind of a larger boat; buscia, a kind
of boat ; also, a box. B. Merely a variation of the word which
appears in F. as boite (O. F. boiste), and in E. as box ; alluding to the
capacity of the boat for stowage. See Bushel, Box (2).
BUST, the upper part of the human figure. (F.,-Ital.) Used
by Cotgrave ; see quotations under Busk (2). F. buste, introduced
in 1 6th century from Ital. (Brachet). Ital. busto, bust, human body,
stays ; cf. bustino, bodice, corset, slight stays. Low Lat. buslum, the
trunk of the body, the body without the head. B. Etym. uncertain.
Diez connects it with Low Lat. busta, a small box, from Lat. ace.
buxida; see Box (i). Compare the E. names chest and trunk. Others
refer to Low Lat. busta, or busca, a log of wood, O. Fr. busche, F.
buche ; for which see Bush (i). ^f ^ we take the latter, we can at
once explain busk (O. F. basque") as derived from the same Low Lat.
busca. See Busk (2).
BUSTARD, a kind of bird. (F., - L.) 'A bustard, buteo, picus ; '
Levins, 30, 12. Used by Cotgrave, who has : 'Bisiarde, a bustard.'
[Sherwood's Eng. and Fr. Dictionary, appended to Cotgrave, has :
' A bustard, or bistard, bistard, otilarde, houtarde, custards, houstarde,
hostarde ; ' whence houstarde has been copied into Todd's Johnson as
boustarde !] We thus see that it is a corruption of F. bistard ; possi-
bly due to confusion with buzzard. Lat. avis tarda, a slow bird.
Pliny has : ' proximse iis sunt, quas Hispania aves tardas appellat,
Graecia airlSat;' Nat. Hist. x. 22. p. Thus bistard is for avis-lard,
with the a dropped ; so in Portuguese the bird is called both abetarda
and betarda. The mod. Fr. has made avis tarda into outarde ; cf. the
form oustarde quoted above. ^f Thus Diez, who is clearly right.
BUSTLE, to stir about quickly, to scurry. (Scand.) Shak. has
bustle, to be active, Rich. Ill, i. I. 152. Icel. bustla, to bustle, splash
about in the water ; bustl, a bustle, splashing about, said of a fish. A
shorter form appears in the Dan. base, to bounce, pop ; Swed. busa
pA en, to rush upon one ; Swed. dial, busa, to strike, thrust (,Rietz).
B. Halliwell gives the form bustle (with several references) ; this
is probably an older form, and may be referred back to A. S.
bysgian, to be busy. In any case, bustle and busy are probably from
the same ultimate source. See Busy.
BUSY, active. (E.) M.E. bisy, Chaucer, Prol. 321.- A. S.bysig,
busy, Grein, i. 153 ; cf. bysgu, labour, bysgian, to employ, fatigue. +
Du. bezig, busy, active ; bezigheid, business, occupation ; bezigen, to
use, employ. (3. Cf. Skt. bhuranya, to be active ; from ^ BHUR,
to be mad, whence Lat./rr ; Benfey, p. 657. ^[ The attempt
to connect busy with F. besoin seems to me futile ; but it may yet be
Dasent, Burnt Njal, pref. xvi, note. It stands for bua-st, where bua true that the O. Fr. busoignes in the Act of Parliament of 1372,
is to prepare, and -sk is for sit (cf. G. sich), oneself. The neut. sense quoted by Wedgwood in the phrase that speaks of lawyers ' pursuant
of bua is to live, dwell, from ^ BHU, to be. fl" The Gael, busg-
ainnich, to dress, adom (old Gael, busg) is merely borrowed from the
Scand. Gaelic has borrowed many other words from the same source.
BUSK (2), a support for a woman's stays. (F.) Bust now means
a piece of whalebone or stiffening for the front of a pair of stays ;
but was originally applied to the whole of the stays. a. Cotgrave
has: 'Hue, a buste, plated body, or other quilted thing, worne to
make, or keep, the body straight ;' where hue means the trunk of the
body ; see Bulk. p. He also has : ' Basque, ... a buske, or buste.'
y. Also : ' Buste, m. as Buc, or, a bust ; the long, small (or sharp-
pointed) and hard quilted belly of a doublet ; also the whole bulk,
or body of a man from his face to his middle ; also, a tombe, a sepul-
chre." B. It is tolerably clear, either that F. busque is a corruption
of F. buste, caused by an attempt to bring it nearer to the F. hue,
here cited from Cotgrave ; or otherwise, that buste is a corruption of
busque, which is more likely. See Bust.
BUSKIN, a kind of legging. (Dutch?) Shak. has bustin'd,
Mids. Nt. Dr.ii. i. 71. Cotgrave has: 'Brodequin, a buskin.' Origin
unknown. Some suggest that it stands for bruskin or broskin, and is
the dimin. of Du. broos, a buskin. Brachet derives F. brod&juin from
the same Du. word, [f]
BUSS (i), a kiss; to kiss. (O. prov. G. ; confused with F..-L.)
Used by Shak. K. John, iii. 4. 35. -O. and prov. G. (Bavarian)
bussen, to kiss ; Schmeller. Webster refers to Luther as an authority
for bus in the sense of a kiss. + Swed. dial, pussa, to kiss ; puss, a
kiss (Rietz). Cf. also Gael. bus,\V.bus, mouth, lip, snout. B. The
difficulty is to account for the introduction into England of a High-
German word. Most likely, at the time of the reformation, it may
have happened that some communication with Germany may have
rather modified, than originated, the word. For, in M. E , the form
is bass. Cf. ' Thus they kiss and bass;' Calisto and Melibsea, in Old
<8
busoignes en la Court du Roi,' suggested the form bisinesse in place of
the older compounds bisihede and bisischipe ; see Stratmann. Der.
busi-ness, busy-body. [1j
BUT (i), prep, and conj., except. (E.) M. E. bate, Havelok, 85 ;
buten, Layamon, 1. 23. A. S. biitan, conj. except, prep, besides, with-
out ; contr. from be-utan, Grein, i. 1 50. 
