in England that parliament petitioned against them in 1601-2. It was finally decreed that none should be created by royal patent, 16 Chas. I., 1640.

"

Naughty. Naught (identical with nought) means "nothing;" A. S. ne-awiht, nâwiht, nâht. From "nothing" naught came to mean good for nothing," "bad." So in the Bible we have (Jer. xxiv. 2) "naughty figs." Hood was probably unaware how good his pun was when he made Miss Kilmansegg think

That those who had naught were called naughty.

Go and be naught was commonly used in the older language as equivalent to go and be hanged. Cf. As you like it, 1. i. Nickname. This word is a corruption of an eke-name, an additional name; then being run on in pronunciation, and the words being commonly written as one, the division was at a later time made in the wrong place. So we have newt for an ewt, an evas for a neyus (Fr. niais, a nestling), &c. It is interesting to notice that in the patois-French of the West Indies the s of les has become distinctly the first letter of all nouns properly commencing in a vowel or an ʼn mute, and is sounded like z, e.g. bird is zoiseau, grass is zerbe.

Panic. Grk. тavikóv (deîμa), fear inspired by Pan. "The first author of it (general shout) was Pan, Bacchus's lieutenantgeneral in his Indian expedition; where being encompassed in a valley with an army of enemies far superior to them in numbers, he advised the god to order his men in the night to give a general shout; which so surpriz'd the opposite army that they immediately fled from their camp. Whence it came to pass that all sudden fears impressed upon men's spirits without any just reason were called by the Greeks and Romans panick fears." -Potter, On Greece, Bk. III. ch. viii.

Pedlar. Peds or pads in East Norfolk mean paniers (see Marshall's Glossary, 1787). The Promptorium Parvulorum explains pedde in the same way. A peddare, or pedlar, a packman, one who carries goods in a ped for sale. The market in Norwich was known as the "ped-market." The old Roman road from Holme to Ixworth was called "the Peddar Way." The form pedlere occurs in Langland's Vision, and in the Paston Letters (v. 58) we find Sir John giving orders for his instruments to be trussed in a pedde."

Pittance. Diez derives this word from pit, small. Wedgwood very ingeniously, and on good grounds, gets it from apitançant, or appétissant, appetising. The medieval form of the word is pictancia, or pitancia, and its meaning the portion of food given to a monk at each meal-It. pietanza, pitanza; Sp. and Ptg. pitanza (see Du Cange)-then a small allowance in general. Littré thinks that the meaning of pitance has been greatly influenced by the very similar word pietatem. Brachet boldly derives it from pietatem. It is impossible to decide with absolute certainty, but the evidence brought forward by Wedgwood is much the strongest.

Poltroon. It. poltrone; Fr. poltron, a lie-a-bed, a lazy fellow, a scoundrel, from poltra, a bed. Cf. Ger. polster; E. bolster. Analogous to this word is the Fr. paillard, a lazy fellow, a rascal, from paille, straw. See Chambers's Etymological Dictionary, and Wedgwood's Dictionary.

Rabble. Du. rabbelen, to gabble; Swiss räbeln, to clatter; räblete, gräbel, an uproar, a crowd of people; Lat. rabula, a bawling advocate; It. rabulare, to prattle. See Wedgwood, who quotes from the Faery Queene :

And after all the raskall many ran

Heaped together in rude rabblement.

"extra

Ransom. Fr. rançon; O. Fr. raançon, raençon, raention; Lat. re-emptionem, redemptionem, a buying back. Redemptio also meant a buying up, bribing, and a farming of the revenue; hence rançonner is given by Cotgrave as meaning also to extort, oppress; and ransom in Scotch had the meaning of an vagant price "-cf. Jamieson's Dictionary. How can the puir live in thae times, when every thing's at sic a ransom ?" Salary. See note, p. 116. Sorcerer. Fr. sorcier. From L. Lat. sortiare (from sors, lot)

"

was derived sortiarius, one who tells fortunes by lot; hence Fr. sorcier; Sp. sortero; It. sortiere.

Stipulate. Lat. stipulari, to conclude a bargain, from stipula, a straw or stalk, this being emblematically used in making an engagement. "Veteres enim, quando sibi aliquid promittebant, stipulam tenentes frangebant."-Isid. Hispal. Orig. v. 24, quoted by Littré. "Their bargains (in the Isle of Man) are compleated, and confirmed, by the giving and taking of as mean a matter as straw; as of old also 'per traditionem stipulæ,' from whence

L

the phrase of stipulation came."-Sadler's Rights of the Kingdom, p. 175. 1649. The custom is not yet extinct in the West Indies. Sumpter-horses. See note, p. 124.

Sybarite. See note, p. 130.

Syllogism. Gkr. ovdλoyısμós, a reckoning or judging of things brought together, a collecting of premises, an inference or conclusion drawn from premises (Lat. præmissa, things spoken of or rehearsed before). In a syllogism there must be three parts: first, the general statement, or major premise; secondly, the statement of the fact from which an inference is to be drawn, or the minor premise; thirdly, the inference itself: e.g. "All men are mortal"-major premise. "John is a man "—minor premise. "Therefore John is mortal "-inference. Trinket. Fr. trinquet; It. trindetto; Ptg. traquet, the first of which Cotgrave gives as "the top, or top-gallant, of any mast; the highest sail of the ship." Compare "Suddenly with a great gust the trinket and the mizen were rent asunder."-Hackluyt, Voyages, iii. 411. It then seems to have been applied to the streamer or pennon at the masthead, and Florio gives trinci as "cuts, jags, or snips of garments." From "ornamental jags or tags of a garment" it came to mean ornamental trimmings in general. Trinket is more commonly derived from Wal. trankot: Fr. triquenique, a rattle, a trifle.

INDEX.