isle, (Lat. insula,) and Anglo-Sax. land; whereas it is the same word with Anglo-Sax. ealand, Germ. eiland, water-land, compounded of Anglo-Sax. ea, water, and land. See Dr. Noah Webster. The orthography island would be a hybrid

word or malformation in language.

22. Sandy Acre, for Saint Diacre, holy deacon, a parish in Derbyshire.

23. Surname, sometimes written sirname, as if the name of one's sire; whereas it is derived from Fr. surnom, addi

tional name.

24. Righteous, so written, as if formed by means of the Latin suffix eous; whereas the word comes from AngloSax. rihtwis, Old Eng. rightwys, skillful or expert in right.

25. Yeoman, plur. yeomen, as if compounded with man; whereas the word comes from Anglo-Sax. gemæne, Germ. ge mein, 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 salam, an Arabic word. This error is committed also in German. With regard to Boschman or Bushman, (plur. 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 Lat. Pergamena, scil. charta; whence Ital. pergamena, Span. pergamino, Portug. perga minho, Fr. parchemin, Germ. and Dutch pergament, Eng. 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 Span cayo, a rock or sand-bank.

So also in German, Latin, and Greek:

Germ. armbrust, a cross-bow, as if compounded of arm, arm, and brust, breast. The true derivation is from Middle

Lat. arcubalista or arbalista.

Germ. fene-grete, fenu-greek, as if formed with Grete, Margaret; used by the German peasantry for Lat. fænum Græсит. See Pott, Etym. Forsch. I. xxxiv.

Germ. holzbock, an insect, as if wood-buck, from Germ. bock, a buck; whereas it is connected with Eng. bug.

Germ. Mailand, Milan, as if May-land; whereas it is derived from Lat. Mediolanum, Ital. Milano.

Germ. umgewandten Napoleon, overthrown Napoleon; used by the German peasantry for Lat. unguentum Neapolitanum, Naples ointment. See Pott, Etym. Forsch. I. xxxiv.

Germ. meerschaum, as if foam of the sea, from meer, sea, and schaum, foam, is said to be derived from a Levantine word, mersam, denoting a species of clay, which is its meaning in German.

Germ. sündfluth, as if the flood on account of sin, from sünde, sin, and fluth, flood, is said to be derived from sint vluot, in the sense of great flood.

Germ. ratzenkahl, as if bare as a rat, is a corruption of Fr. radical.

Germ. reinefiren, as if to make pure, is a corruption for renoviren, from Lat. renovo, to make new again.

Low Lat. aquilæ lignum, as if eagle wood; whereas it is derived from Sansc. aghil.

Lat. aurichalcum, as if composed of gold and brass, is a corrupt orthography for orichalcum, Gr. oreichalcos, mountain copper ore.

Lat. Hibernia, as if the wintery land, which gave rise to an ancient report that Ireland was uninhabitable on account of the cold. The true derivation is supposed to be from Erin,

western isle.
Lat. Heliogabalus, as if the first part of the compound

D D

were the Gr. Helios; whereas it is, without doubt, derived from Heb. Eloah, God.

Lat. Hierusalem, as if Holy Salem, (the first part of the composition being derived from Gr. Hieros); whereas it is derived from Heb. Jerushalayim, the habitation of peace.

Lat. baccalaureus, a bachelor, as if baccâ laureâ donatus, crowned with the bay-berry. The true derivation is from Fr. bachelier, for bas chevalier, an inferior knight.

Also, Lat. bacularius, a bachelor, as if baculo donatus, presented with a stick or staff, either as an emblem of au thority, or as a discharge. The true derivation is from Fr. bachelier, for bas chevalier, an inferior knight.

Gr. Astrarche, as if ruler of the stars, the title of a goddess, is a corruption of Gr. Astarte, Heb. Ashtoreth.

Gr. sarxiphagos, as if flesh-eating, is a corruption of Lat. saxifraga, stone-breaking.

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 Fr. buffetiers, men stationed at the king's buffet, or side-board, to take care of it.

3. Bloody Mars, for Fr. ble 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-Fr. 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 confined.

5. Boneless, for Lat. 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-Fr. cachereau, a bum-bailiff.

7. Country-dance, for Fr. contre-danse, a dance in which the partners are arranged in opposition, or in opposite lines. It is remarkable that Girault-Duvivier, a French grammari

an, states vice versâ that Fr. contre-danse is a corruption of Eng. country-dance. The true etymology, however, is evident from the concurrence of Portug. contradanca, Span. contradanza, and Ital. 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 Lat. 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, Eng., 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 names in our country; such as Isle of Nore, for Isle aux Noix, Walnut Island; shoot, for chute, a fall or rapid; backus and back-house, for the Dutch bakhuys, bake-house; steelwagon and stillwagon, for the German stellwagen, etc.

DIMINUTIVES.

§ 366. A DIMINUTIVE (French diminutif) is a word formed from another word to express a little thing of the kind.

Diminutives have been divided into three classes, accord. ing to their meaning: 1. Those which express Simple Diminu tion. 2. Those which express Endearment. 3. Those which express Contempt. They are distinguished by various term. inations:

I. Those which end in kin; as, Mannikin, from man; lambkin, from lamb; ladikin or lakin, from lady; pipkin, from pipe; Malkin, from Mary; Peterkin, from Peter; Hopkin, from Hob; Watkin, from Wat or Walter; Wilkin, from Will; Hodgkin, from Hodge.

II. Those which end in ock; as, Bullock, from bull; hil ock, from hill; paddock, from Anglo-Saxon pad or pada, a

toad.

III. Those which end in ie, and which are almost peculiar to the Lowland Scotch; as, Ladie, minnie, wifie.

IV. Those which are formed by a change of vowel; as, Kitten, from cat; chicken, from cock.

V. Those which end in et; as, Lancet, trumpet, pocket, from the old word pock, a bag, streamlet.

VI. Those which end in el; as, Cockerel, pickerel, satchel. VII. Those which end in ling; as, Darling, duckling, changeling, nursling, suckling, stripling, bantling, seedling In lordling, hireling, and underling, there is the idea of contempt.

"In Anglo-Saxon the termination -ing is regarded as patronymic, just as ons is in Greek. In the translation of the Bible the son of Elisha is called Elising. In the AngloSaxon Chronicle occur such genealogies as the following: Ida was Eopping, Eoppa Esing, Esa Inging = Ida was the son of Eoppa, Eoppa of Esa, Esa of Inga. In Greek, Ιδα ἦν 'Εοππείδης, Εοππα Ησείδης, Ησα Ιγγείδης.”LATHAM.