The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-04-17
For the Hill Country Club.

We will notice a few more of the
words whose derivation was sent us by
M. r. d. ID. Academy is from Acdd-
enlid, beautiful garden and grove near
Athens, where Plato taught, and this
place was so named from Academus,
who lived long before Plato. Maxim,
from maximum, the greatest, is say
ing having a great deal of meaning in
few words. Calculate is from calcuG,
pebbles used by the Romans in COM
putting numbers. School is from a
Greek word meaning leisure" and
was only for those who had leisure.
The people of Laconia used what we
call the ldconic form of speech. Hur-
cules wrought brculedn tasks. Vulcan,
the fire-god, was supposed to have his
workshop in rolcdnOeS. The Trojan
hero gave us the word hector. Artimesia,
in erecting a magnificent sepulcher to
her husband, Mausolus, king of Caria,
founded more lasting memorial in
the new word she gave TO the world,
mduSOlcm. Tantalize is from Tantalus,
aking of Phrygia, chained by the water,
with choice fruit hanging over his head =,
till he died from hunger aud thirst
Metropolis is from two Greek words
meaning mother" and " city," and
the name mother-city " was applied to
the chief cities in olden times, because
they used to send out colonies to found
other cities and towns; whereas now
the metropolis is the place to which
people flock from all the country around
Tariff is from Taritd, Moorish fortress
on the Strait of Gibraltar, where tax
was levied on ships passing in or out
of the Mediterranean. The dahlia was
named for Dahl, Swedish botanist :;
the camellia was brought from the
East by Camelli; the fuchsa was named
in honor of Fuchs, German botanist !;
(and the Scribe wants to say here
what may be surprise to some-that,
according to Webster, the name of
this last plant should be pronounced
took-si.a, in accordance with its origin. }
The hyacinth received its name from a
beautiful youth in Greek mythology,
"having sprung, as was thought, from
the ground moistened with his blood. :"
The same contributor speaks of the
interest that often attaches to proper
nouns, names of countries, cities and
rivers, and says that many man bears
in his name badge of his forefathers'
calling or position"
Those who have been interested in
our study of words would enjoy reading
little book by Arthur Gilman called
Stories from the Dictionary" 1t is
made up of articles from his pen which
appeared in Wide AUake few years
since.
A member of the club asks whence
we derive the termination cough -
seen in such words as enough, plough,
cough, though, ETC., and how it came
to have so many sounds, and if it ever
had any particular meaning or force.
This termination is not properly a
sufliX, and there is no single way of ac-
counting for all these words. Each one
has to be studied by itself, although
they all seem to have come to us by
way of one of the Gothic languages
either the Anclo-SaXon or the Danish.
1t is true, Max Muller speaks of
"plough as coming from Sanskrit
and Greek words meaning boat, and
thinks that the Aryans spoke of a
plough sailing across the fields as a
boat sails across the sea. But Profess
sor Skeat, in his Psychological Dictior-
airy, dares to call this fanciful, notwith-
standing the high authority of Max
Muller. Professor Skeat speaks of a
Gothic sufliX uh, as appearing in
though" and although" but gives
no very satisfactory explanation con-
corning it, while Lynd's Etymology
gives though" as from the Gothic
that, the past participle' of thafan, to
allow, As to the pronunciation of these
words, Webster says that gil final, ex-
cept when preceded by the vowel /,
used generally to have the sound of t,
as it does now in many of these words.
lie quotes Smollet as having said that
the common people gave the sound of
t to Oh in though" which would not
be strange, if the derivation given by
Lynd is correct. Webster also says
that in poets of the Elizabethan period
we sometimes find naught placed tc
rhyme with "oft," taught" with
"aloft," ETC.; and he says daughter .
used to be pronounced dUter.
We have received from " Clover.
patch" as a contribution to our Review
an interesting sketch of the author OF
Utopia" which we hope to have
room for the next time.