New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-07-07

from Lat. PIP. dctas) act, action, ETC. Gee dGV nio
from the same root aStdte agitation, agitdfor Bee
Agitate Also from the same root dg-o'y, an., o
oRist See Agony. Also dmb-sS-"o"s' O. " anu Sow
AIR the atmosphere F..-L.s-Gk;l. d. =. Gr
cir, Spolt air in Mandevilles Travels J? 81 S ee
Fl air. air-Lat aSr, air-Gk; der, cir. mist; tne
seem being aFer according to Cgrtius 4oo; ooUd
aen, TO breathe; root ar 10 uhonses to IA
as auks to raks the latter being an alnson 70 's
relation between the Cir da1e'n ana tine ~; "G1'
grow. CT. Ski. to blow, and T. @tH"' W. "
| Der. ar verb; airy duicSs, dH-gun, ebc'
This it rust be confessed, is not very lively
reading and is even moro than usually open 20 the
| charge of a want OF connection which has been
brought against dictionaries books for perusai.
But to the student of language it is full OF
| Here in few lines have the whole history'oi
these two important words and OF their derivatives
! history stretching through thousands OF years
history which is not euess-woIk. like much OF 'h"'
| which has hitherto been offered to the woiiu %,
/ English etymology, but the result OF an ac'u"i
tracing of the words step by step. that Is Ie''A W
! letter. and Sound by sound with the guu.'i0o "
| national history and of geography, from ther pres
ont nm we must strangely say to roots which
critical ANALYSIS discovers in the prehistoric PERIOD
\ Wa have selected the two words IN question:
because their courses from their Aryan roots were
so plain that-they could be both briefly ana clearly
| set forth Some of the artclesi are much more eA-
| tardea and complex; many Of them, indeed so
| much 80 that we wonder at Mr. Skeats confession
| that he might perhaps have done better IL no had
| not made it rule not 10 spend more than three
| hours over one word.
By those who will look over its pages In an inqur-
inc spirit. Mr. Skeat's work will be found full OF
pleasant instruction and sometimes OF pleasant sur
| pliscs. Thus as to acorn. Passing by those VINO
| nd
the words they use Ia way of using language not 10
bo treated with conemptl, most OF those VINO fahcy
| that they do know something upon this subject
probably suppose that acorn has its name because IL
is the product of the oak, OdtcOrn Not So there
| "a neither oak nor corn in the word. 1t comes from
| acre n field and means originally. merely fruit OF
| the field This is shown very plainly and IL Is re-
| markable that as the c0gnate Dutch Wofd d1H .
related to akker, field. and not to ak, an OAK IL
has been generally dropped by the Dutch, ana DO"
the word most commonly used by them is ext an IN
toIl;cant conformity of usage to etymology which is
| almost unique.
Ruou is another interesting word as to which there
| is very widespread and deep-seated misconccp-
| ton It is supposed that it means something that
floats: and b,Oya,lt is regarded not opy as having
| the meaning floating adapted to soaring aloit Dut
| as being in itself significant OF that meaning On
the contrary, buoy means something that Is chaheu
It's the Dutch bOei. originally meaning a shacKie'
| from the Low Latin boid, fetter clog buoy
is so called because it. chained TO its place IKEA
| clog to aprisoners leg,
Rrideqroom is perverted both in form and IN
meaning. 1t is supposed to mean brides groom
| But IL has nothing to do with groom, and nothing
with bride 1t is properly bride-gnm gum or gone
| in Aogio-Saxon meaning man. and bride meaning
q married person. male or female; so that 6rtde7gun
| means merely n married man. The peryerson took
| place long ago.
| Butterfy Mr. Skeat tells us, has furnished amuse-
ment to many etymoogsts in the search Tor It's real
| meaning; and .he suggestion which he regards as
| the best because it rests on some evidence for
which we prefer to send readers his pages IS
| certainly extravagant enough But as the very
word exists IN AngO-SaXon, battOr teOGe we venture
to say that Its origin is not difficult OF discovery.
The commonest species of this insect is the small
| yellow one which appears in swarins over damp
spots ID and highways all Others are more or
| less rare 1T was called butterfly in the simple
language of rustics, because 1t looked ike butter
flying.
! Dollar. n word moro used in America than in any
other country and said by foreign cynlcs to he
heard here oftener than any othe., has singular
| and interesting origin. It's connection with the
poetica word dale little valley, would hardly be
suspected but it is etymologcaly that very word.
| comes
Now this word is an abbrevation of JOdchms-thdir;
the coin having been called because it was first
| coined from silver obtained from mines in Joachtnfs
| tbaI { e. .Joachin's dale in Bohemia, about the
| year 1878 Adollar is therefore merely daleer
| HiccOuqh is the product of perverson something
| like that which produced bridegroom The second
syllable results from the assumption that hccup is
a loose and vulgar way of saying MccOugh But
| couqh is no proper part of the word. butler' III
| Hudibras" gives hiccap, rhyming with hck up;
and the further back go the further we get away
from ooagk In Old English we find the word as
Mcket, and in Old French as hoquet Plainly it is
merely an initiative word, and hccup is the correct
| form. kiccoa0k the corruption.
Wfndlass is another result of popular msapprehen-
sion and presumption; it having been assumed
that the word was or ought to be, formed from the
verb ,cind and the lace. But the is intrudeG
| The word is properly tciad0s Old English for an
engine for winding.
Apron is properly ndpron and the loss of its
| proper form is OF some Importance because 1t con-
ceals its connection with ndpGy and with the Old
| French nape and the modern French nappe cloth
The change is consequent upon the misrepresentation
nv those who heard and spoke but did not read
| that " napronD was an apron" The same mis-
take, which was not uncommon of DID, has given us
adder. kind of snake instead of the prope" nGdder
These are but few of the many words winch we
have marked for the interest of their etymoogies as
we have turned Mr. Skeats pages. Most of them,
indeed have Dot the interest of novelty to students
of language; and they have been selected as those
best fitted to give the general reader notion of the
sort of information to be found in this dictionary.
There is little fault to be found with Nir. Skeats
work; and the less because Of his very modest pre-
tensions He does not offer his book as = final
authority upon all the words contained in IL; he
knows too much of his subject to do that. He ex-
pressly saws that it is rather intended as guide