2. Counter (count, and suffix er), one that counts.

Counter (coun for con, and ter for tra), in opposition.

3. Dwers (dive, suffix er, and plural termination s), persons that dive.

Divers (Latin prefix di for dis, √ vert, and participial termination t), several, sundry.

4. Elder (Anglo-Saxon ellarn, German holder or hollunder), a kind of tree.

Elder (comparative degree of old), older, opposed to younger.

5. Flatter (comparative degree of flat), more flat.

Flatter (flat, and suffix er), that which makes flat.

Flutter (French flatter), to gratify.

6. Former (form, and suffix er), one that forms.

Former (Anglo-Saxon forma, “early," and er, the termination of

the comparative degree), prior.

7. Founder (found, and suffix er), a caster.

Founder (French fondre), to trip, fall.

Founder (found, and suffix er), one that lays the basis.

8. Fuller (comparative degree of full), more full.

Fuller (full, and suffix er), one that fulls cloth.

9. Guardship (guard, and suffix ship), the state of a guard. Ob

solete.

Guard-ship (guard, and ship), a vessel of war stationed in a harbor or river.

10. Horse-boat (horse in dative relation, and boat), a boat for carrying horses.

Horse-boat (horse in instrumental relation, and boat), a boat moved by horses.

11. Real (Latin stem re," thing," and suffix al), relating to a thing. Real (Latin stem re, for reg," king," and suffix al), the name of a Spanish coin.

12. Regale (Latin stem reg, "king," and suffix ale), the prerogative of monarchy.

Regale (prefix re, and gale), to refresh.

13. Render (rend, and suffix er), one that rends.

Render (French rendre), to return.

14. Repent (Latin rep, and suffix ent), creeping.

Repent (Latin prefix re, and derivative verb penit), to feel regret. 15. Tender (tend, and suffix er), one that tends.

Tender (French tendre, Latin tendere), to offer.

Tender (French tendre, Latin tener), soft.

16. Undated (Latin stem und, "wave," and suffix ated), waved.

Undated (prefix un, and dated), not having the time specified. 17. Wages (wage, and termination of third person es), ventures. Wages (French gages), hire, reward.

Examples like these, with their analogies, may lead young minds to pay more attention to the derivation and composition of words.

ILLUSIVE ETYMOLOGIES.

422. Foreign words, when received into any tongue, often pre sent a new and plausible, although false and unfounded, etymology. This takes place sometimes without any violence to the word itself but more frequently from some change or corruption in the pronun ciation or orthography. The word appears, as it were, new coined. This attraction or assimilation is perfectly natural; as, on the one hand, it avoids uncouth, barbarous sounds, which are offensive to the ear; and, on the other, it helps the memory, by associating the word with some other already known. As this is a subject of some importance to the philologist, we propose to give examples.

1. Caption, in the sense of a title, inscription, appears to the commo: apprehension to be derived from Latin caput, the head, as if a heading; whereas it is derived from Latin capio, to take or comprehend, as if a summary. This use of the word is probably an Americanism.

2. Cowcumber, so written and pronounced (compare Anglo-Saxon cucumer, from Latin cucumer), is associated in our minds with cow, the name of the animal; whereas ou or ow in English is the regular equivalent for an Anglo-Saxon u; as, Anglo-Saxon cu, English cow; Anglo-Saxon ful, English foul; Anglo-Saxon thu, English thou; Anglo-Saxon tun, English town. There is no sufficient reason for changing either the orthography or the pronunciation of this word, as written above.

3. Cray-fish or craw-fish is so written as if compounded of fish; whereas it is the Old English crevis, French écrevisse.

4. Delight is so written as if compounded of the Latin prefix de and the English noun light; whereas it comes from French délice, Latin delicia. Compare delicious, delicate.

5. A font or fount of types is in our conceptions confounded with font or fount, from Latin fons, a fountain; whereas it denotes liter ally a casting, from Latin fundo, to found or cast.

6. The frontispiece of a book is usually conceived of as a piece of picture in front of a book; whereas it denotes literally a front view, from Low Latin frontispicium, the fore-front of a house.

7. Jerusalem artichoke is a corruption of girasol artichoke. Compare French girasol, Italian girasole, literally turning toward the sun.

FF

8. July-flower is a corruption of gilly-flower. Compare Old English gillofre, Scotch gerafloure, French giroflée, Latin caryophyllum, literally nut-leaf.

9. Loadstone appears to our minds to be connected with load, a burden; whereas it is derived from the verb lead. obsolete words loadstar, loadsman, loadmanage.

Compare the

10. Madcap appears to be compounded with cap or caput, the head (compare cap-a-pie, from head to foot); whereas it is compounded of mad and cap, having a fool's cap on.

11. Preface appears to be compounded of face; whereas it is derived from Latin præfatio, a speaking before.

12. Rhyme is so written as if connected with rhythm, Greek rhuthmos, regular flow of language; whereas it is derived from AngloSaxon rim, German reim, having much the same meaning.

13. Shamefaced, as if having a modest face, is probably a corruption for shame fast; compare Old English shamefast in Chaucer and Froissart, and Anglo-Saxon sceamfæst, protected by shame.

14. Shotover, the name of a hill in Oxfordshire, England, is a corruption of French château vert, green castle.

15. Sparrowgrass, as if compounded of sparrow and grass, is a cor. ruption of sparage or asparagus, Latin asparagus.

16. Wiseacre, as if compounded of acre, is a corruption of German weissager, a diviner, a pretender to wisdom.

17. Belly-bound, for French belle et bonne, fair and good, a species of apple.

18. Bell Savage, for la belle sauvage, the wild beauty, the picture on the sign of an old public house in London.

19. Bully-ruffian, a corruption by English sailors of Bellerophon, the name of a French ship of war.

20. Fulsome, to the common apprehension compounded of full and some, as if full to satiety, cloying; whereas it is compounded of Anglo-Saxon ful, foul, and some, as if nauseous, odious.

21. Island, so written, as if compounded of Norman-French isle (Latin insula), and Anglo-Saxon land; whereas it is the same word with Anglo-Saxon caland, German eiland, water-land, compounded of Anglo-Saxon ea, water, and land. See Dr. NOAH WEBSTER. The orthography island is a hybrid word or malformation in language. 22. Sandy Acre, for Saint Diacre, holy deacon, a parish in Derby

shire.

23. Surname, sometimes written sirname, as if the name of one's sire; whereas it is derived from French surnom, additional name. 24. Righteous, so written, as if formed by means of the Latin suffix

eous; whereas the word comes from Anglo-Saxon rihtwis, Old English rightwys, skillful or expert in right.

25. Yeoman, plural yeomen, as if compounded with man; whereas the word comes from Anglo-Saxon gemæne, German gemein, common, as if a commoner.

26. Lieutenant. This word has, from the earliest times, been written or pronounced leftenant, supported, without doubt, by the idea that the second in command holds the left, while the first holds the right. The true derivation is from the French lieutenant, which signifies one holding or supplying the place of another.

27. Mussulman. The plural of this word, in respectable writers, is often written Mussulmen, as if the English word man entered into its composition. The true root, however, is salama, an Arabic word. This error is committed also in German. With regard to Boschman or Bushman (plural Boschmen or Bushmen), this objection does not lie; for it is a Teutonic word made up of Dutch bosch, a wood, and man. It is remarkable that for the words German, Norman, which are really made up of our word man, the plurals Germen, Normen are never thought of.

28. Parchment. This word seems, at first view, to have the termination ment, which occurs so often in English; but its true derivation is from Latin pergamena, scilicet charta; whence Italian pergamena, Spanish pergamino, Portuguese pergaminho, French parchemin, German and Dutch pergament, English parchment.

29. Key, a ledge of rocks near the surface of the water. This word appears to be connected with the instrument of that name in English, but is actually derived from Spanish cayo, a rock or sandbank.

The following examples are taken from WILLIAM HOLLOWAY: A General Dictionary of Provincialisms. Lewes, 1839. 8vo. Introd. 1. Bag of nails, for bacchanals, the picture on the sign of an old public house in Pimlico.

2. Beef-eaters, for French buffetiers, men stationed at the king's buffet, or side-board, to take care of it.

3. Bloody Mars, for French blé de Mars, March wheat, a species of wheat introduced into England a few years ago, on account of the stiffness of its straw, which rendered it fit for making into plait for bonnets.

4. Boarder of Dover Castle, for Norman-French bordar, the name still used in public documents of an officer who arrests the debtors in the Cinque-Ports for the purpose of taking them to Dover Castle where they are confred.

5. Boneless, for Latin Boreas, the north wind. In Kent, when the wind blows violently, they say "Boneless is at the door."

6. Catch-rogue, a Norfolk corruption of Norman-French cachereau, a bum-bailiff.

7. Country-dance, for French contre-danse, a dance in which the partners are arranged in opposition, or in opposite lines. It is remarkable that Girault-Duvivier, a French grammarian, states, vice versâ, that French contre-danse is a corruption of English countrydance. The true etymology, however, is evident from the concurrence of Portuguese contradanca, Spanish contradanza, and Italian contraddanza.

8. Goat and Compasses, for “God encompasses us," the motto on an old sign in the eastern part of London, in the time of the Puritans, having a pair of compasses.

9. Mount Widgeon pea, for Monte Videan pea, a species of pea introduced into England from Monte Video.

10. O yes! O yes! for Oyez! oyez ! Hear ye! hear ye! the old exclamation made by the criers to call people's attention to the notices they were about to give.

11. Pony, for Latin pone, behind, the person who sits behind the dealer at a game of cards, whose business is to collect the cards preparatory to the next deal.

12. Scarlet likeness, for scarlet lychnis, a flower.

13. Shallow Church, for Shadoxhurst, a village near Ashford, Kent. 14. Shepherd's Well, for Sibbald's Wold, a village near Dover, Kent. The following have been suggested by Dr. J. G. PERCIVAL:

Oyster Hills, in Hertfordshire, England, corrupted from the Latin Colles Ostorii, so called from the Roman general Ostorius, who constructed a fortified camp in that vicinity.

Katzenelnbogen, a county and town in Hesse, Germany; literally cat's elbow, but a corruption of Cattimeliboci, the name of a tribe of the Catti inhabiting Mount Melibocus.

Altrippen, a town in Germany, on the Upper Rhine, literally old ribs, but a corruption of the Latin Alta Ripa, high bank.

Manteuffel, man-devil, the name of a noble family in the north of Germany, corrupted from the French Mandeville.

The English have singularly corrupted many of the proper names in India, such as Suraja ud Doula, the celebrated nabob of Bengal, in Warren Hastings's time, to Sir Roger Dowler; Allahabad, literally the dwelling of God (Allah), to Isle of Bats; Chuhul Sitoon, the name of a palace in Gazipoor, to Chelsea Tune.

Similar corruptions are going on in the French and other foreign