Humble-bee (not connected with the adjective humble), from M. E. hummelen, to keep humming a frequentative; the b being inorganic.

Humble-pie (not connected with the adjective humble), pie made of umbles, the entrails of a deer.

Husband, (not connected with bind), from Icelandic husbuandi, buandi, being the pres. participle of bua, to dwell; and hus, house.

Hussif (connected with house, but not with wife), a case containing needles, thread, etc. From Icelandic, húsi, a case, a cognate of house. The f is intrusive, from a mistaken opinion that the word was a short form of housewife.

Hussy, a pert girl; a corruption of housewife.

Icicle, (the ending cle is not the diminutive) a hanging point of ice.

The

A. S. form is isgicel, a compound of is, ice, and gicel, a small piece of ice; so that the word contains a redundant element. (The ic in icicle is entirely different from the ic in art-ic-le and in part-ic-le.)

Intoxicate, to drug or poison; from Low Lat. toxicum, poison; from Gr. toxon, a bow, plural toxa, bow and arrows-arrows for war being frequently dipped in poison.

Island (not connected with isle) =

water-land, a misspelling for iland (the spelling that Milton always uses). The s has intruded itself from a confusion with the Lat. insula, which gives isle.

Jaw, properly chaw, the noun for chew. Cognates are jowl and chaps. Jeopardy, hazard, danger. M. E. jupartie, from O. Fr. jeu parti, a game in which the chances are even, from Low Lat. jocus partitus, a divided game. Jerusalem artichoke (not at all connected with Jerusalem), a kind of sunflower. Italian girasole, from Lat. gyrus, a circle, and sol, the sun. (In order to clench the blunder contained in the word Jerusalem, cooks call a soup made of this kind of artichoke "Palestine soup !") Kickshaws, from Fr. quelquechose, something. There was once a plural -kickshawses.

Kind, the adjective from the noun kin.

Ledge, a place on which a thing lies. Hence also ledger.

Line (to line garments) to put linen inside them. (Linen is really an adjective from the M. E. lin, just like woollen, golden, etc.) Liquorice (not connected with liquor), in M. E. licoris; from Gr. glykyrrhiza, a sweet root. (For the loss of the initial g, compare Ipswich and Gyppenswich; enough and genoh; and the loss of ge from all the past participles of our verbs.)

Mead, meadow a place mowed. =

(=the biter or eater).

Hence also math, aftermath, and moth

Nostrils-nose-thirles, nose-holes. Thirl is a cognate of thrill, drill,

through, etc. (For change of position of r, compare turn, trundle; work, wright; wort, root; bride, bird, etc.)

Nuncheon, a corruption of M. E. none-schencke, or noon-drink. Then

this word got mixed up with the provincial English word lunch, which means a lump of bread; and so we have luncheon. Nutmeg, a hybrid compounded of an English and a French word. Meg is a corruption of the O. Fr. musge, from Lat. muscum, musk. Orchard = wort-yard, yard or garden for roots or plants.

cognate of wart and root.

Wort is a

Ostrich, from Lat. avis struthio. Shakespeare spells it estridge in " Antony and Cleopatra," iii. 13. 197, "The dove will peck the estridge." (Avis is found as a prefix in bustard also.)

Pastime = that which enables one to pass the time.

Pea-jacket (not connected with pea), a short thick jacket often worn by seamen; from the Dutch pije, a coarse woollen coat. Thus the word jacket is superfluous. In M. E. py was a coat; and we find it in Chaucer combining, with a French adjective, to make the hybrid courtepy, a short coat.

Peal (of bells), a short form of the word appeal; a call or summons. (Compare penthouse and appentis; sample and example; scutcheon and escutcheon; squire and esquire; etc.)

Penthouse (not connected with house), in reality a doublet of appendage, though not coming from it. O. Fr. appentis, from Lat. appendicium, from appendix, something hanging on to. (Pendēre, to hang.) Periwinkle, a kind of evergreen plant; formed, by the addition of the diminutive le, from Lat. pervinca, from vincire, to bind.

Periwinkle, a small mollusc with one valve.

A corruption of the A. S.

pinewincla, that is, a winkle eaten with a pin.

Pickaxe (not connected with axe), a tool used in digging. A corruption of M. E. pickeys, from O. Fr. picois; and connected with peak, pike, and pick.

Poach to put in the poke, pocket, or pouch.

dressed so as to keep the yoke in a pouch.
pox (=pocks), etc.

So poached eggs are eggs
Cognates are pock, small-

Porpoise (not connected with the verb poise); from Lat. porcum, a pig, and piscem, a fish.

Posthumous (work), a work that appears after the death of the author; from Lat. postumus, the last. The h is an error; and the word has no connection with the Lat. humus, the ground.

Privet, a half-evergreen shrub. A form of primet, a plant carefully cut and trimmed; and hence prim. (For change of m into v (or p), compare Molly and Polly; Matty and Patty, etc. V and p are both labials.) Proxy, a contraction of procuracy, the taking care of a thing for another. Lat. pro for, and cura, care.

Quick, living. We have the word in quicklime, quicksand, quicksilver; and in the phrase "the quick and the dead."

Quinsy, a bad sore throat, a contraction of O. Fr. squinancie, formed, by the addition of a prefixed and strengthening s, from Gr. kynanchē, a dog-throttling.

Riding, one of the three divisions of Yorkshire. The oldest form is Trithing or Thrithing (from three and ing, part; as in farthing=fourth part, etc.) The t or th seems to have dropped from its similarity and nearness to the th in north and the t in east; as in North-thrithing, East-trithing, etc. Sexton, a corruption of sacristan, the keeper of the sacred vessels and vestments; from Lat. sacer, sacred. But the sexton is now only the grave-digger. (In the same way, sacristy was shortened into sextry.) Sheaf a collection shoved together. Shove gives also shovel; and the

frequentatives shuffle and scuffle.

Soup, a cognate of sop and sup.

Splice (to join after splitting), a cognate form of split and splinter. Squirrel, from 0. Fr. escurel; from Low Lat. scuriolus; from Gr. skia, a shadow, and oura, a tail. Hence the word means "shadow-tail." Starboard, the steering side of a ship—the right, as one stands looking to the bow.

Stew, the verb corresponding to stove.

Steward, from A. S. stiward, from the full form stigweard; from stige, a sty, and weard, a keeper. Originally a person who looked after the domestic animals.

Stirrup, modern form of A. S. stigrap, from stigan, to climb, and ràp, a rope. Cognates are sty, stile, stair.

Straight, an old past participle of stretch. (Strait is a French form of the word strict, from Lat. strictus, tied up.)

Strong, a nasalised form of stark. Derivatives are strength, strengthen, string, etc.

Summerset (not connected either with summer or with set), or somersault, a corruption of Fr. soubresault, from Lat. supra, above, and saltum, a leap. (There is a connection between the b and the m-the one sliding into the other when the speaker has a cold.)

Surgeon (properly a hand-worker), a contraction of chirurgeon; from Gr. cheir, the hand, and ergein, to work.

Tackle, that which takes or grasps, holding the masts of a ship in their places. The le is the same as that in settle (a seat), girdle, etc. Tale, from A. S. talu, number. Derivatives are tell and till (box for money), but not talk, which is a Scandinavian word.

Tansy, a tall plant, with small yellow flowers, used in medicine; from O. F. athanasie; from Gr. athanasia, immortality.

Thorough, a doublet of through, and found in thorough-fare, thoroughbred, etc. (The dr, thr, or tr is also found in door, thrill, trill, drill, nostril, etc.)

Treacle, from M. E. triacle, a remedy; from Lat. theriaca, an antidote against the bite of serpents; from Gr. therion, a wild beast or poisonous animal. Milton has the phrase "the sovran treacle of sound doctrine." (For the position of the r, compare trundle and turn; brid and bird; etc.)

Truffle, an underground edible fungus; from Italian tartufola; tar being = Lat. terræ, of the ground, and tufŏla=tuber, a root. Trifle is a doublet of truffle.

Twig, a thin branch of a tree. The tw here is the base of two, and is found also in twin, twilight, twice, twine; and probably also in tweak, twist, twinkle, etc. (Twit is not in this class; it comes from atwitan, to throw blame on.)

Verdigris (not connected with grease), the rust of brass or copper. From Lat. viride aeris, the green of brass. (The g is intrusive, and has not yet been accounted for.)

Walrus, a kind of large seal; from Swedish vallross a whale-horse. The older form of ross is found in Icelandic as hross, which is a doublet of the A. S. hors. The noise made by the animal somewhat resembles a neigh.

Wassail, a merry carouse; from A. S. wes haél = Be well! Wes is the imperative of wesan to be (still existing in was); and hael is connected with hail! hale (Scand.), whole (Eng.), and health.

Whole, a misspelling, now never to be corrected, of hole, the adjective connected with hale, heal, health, healthy, etc. The w is probably an intrusion from the S.-W. of England, where they say whoam for home, woat for oat, etc. If we write whole, we ought also to write wholy instead of holy.

WORDS THAT HAVE GREATLY CHANGED IN MEANING.