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 VERBA NOMINALIA; 
 
 OR, 
 
 WORDS DERIVED FROM PROPER NAMES. 
 
 BY 
 
 RICHARD STEPHEN CHARNOCK, Ph.Dr., 
 
 F.S.A., F.R.G.S., F.R.S.S.A., F.R.S.N.A., 
 
 FELLOW OF THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON ; 
 
 FOIiEIGN ASSOCIATE OF THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PARIS ; 
 
 CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE NEW ENGLAND 
 
 HISTORIC-GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 'Nomina si nescis, perit cognitio rerum." 
 
 Coke on Littleton. 
 
 LONDON : 
 TRtJBNER & CO., 60, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 MDCOCLXVI. 
 
 ) J * ' 

 
 printed by 
 
 chakles jones, west harding street 
 
 (late sumfield and jones) 
 
 * «. * . *- » • ^**- * 
 
 * t- •- '- •■ * n fc <:
 
 'J 
 
 re 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 It must, without any research, have been apparent to 
 most people that many well-known words have had their 
 origin in Proper Names ; but whoever has made even a 
 slight study of the various branches of etymology will 
 ^ have discovered that the number of words so derived is 
 ^ , very large indeed. The ordinary reader of history may 
 know that " to roam " is to wander about on the pretence 
 of a pilgrimage to Rome ; that the word calico is derived 
 from Calicut ; humbug from Hamburg ; or that bayonets 
 ^ are supposed to have first seen the light at Bayonne. He 
 will doubtless be further interested in finding dimity re- 
 ferred to Damietta, marigold to the Virgin, mayduke to 
 Medoc, fuchsia to Dr. Fuchs, coffee to Kafa, quince to 
 Cydonia. This latter class of names, however, not being 
 usually met with in the narrative of great and exciting 
 ^ events, required an independent chronicler, and I deter- 
 mined to volunteer my services to investigate and register 
 them. The chief difficulty lay in deciding where to stop. 
 Should the work be confined to the most common words 
 found in a dictionary of the English language ? or should 
 it embrace also those used in the Arts and Sciences? 
 On the whole, I was inclined to think that these also 
 
 /^:3i8
 
 IV PEEFACE. 
 
 should be included, since terms teclmical in their origin 
 frequently force themselves into general use, after 
 which there is, through lapse of time, a difficulty in 
 framing for them an accurate genealogy. To remedy the 
 errors, omissions, and defects unavoidable in the first issue 
 of such a work, I beg the corrections, additions, and 
 suggestions of etymologists, with a view to a more com- 
 plete edition. In carrying out my design, I have availed 
 myself of all information within reach, and have, I 
 believe, generally acknowledged my authorities. To the 
 Rev. S. F. Creswell, M.A., of Lancaster School, Fellow 
 of the Royal Astronomical and Geographical Societies, I 
 am indebted for some useful information and many hints 
 and corrections. My learned friend also, at my request, 
 suggested the title, " Verba Nominalia," and he is quite 
 willing to father it. Some additions and corrections Avill 
 be found at the end of the work. 
 
 R. S. CHARNOCK. 
 
 Gray's Inn, 
 
 1st October, 1865.
 
 VERBA xNOMINALIA, 
 
 ABDERIAN. Foolish or incessant laughter is so named, 
 from Abdera, in Thrace, the birthplace of Democritus, who was 
 much given to laughter, and Avho was styled the Abderite. 
 See Whitaker ; Webster. 
 
 ACADEMY (L. academia, Gr. a>ca(5£ju,<a). A school, or semi- 
 nary of learning, holding rank between a university or a 
 college and a common school ; also, a school for teaching a par- 
 ticular art, or particular sciences, as a militaiy academy ; so 
 named from the Academe or school of Plato, originally, it is 
 said, a garden, grove, or villa near Athens, where Plato and 
 his followers held their philosophic conferences. 
 
 ACONITE. The herb wolfsbane or monkshood, a poisonous 
 plant ; so named from Acone, a place in Pontus famous for 
 poisonous herbs. 
 
 ADAMIC. A term given to common red clay, from the 
 mistaken opinion that Adam signifies " red earth." — Webster. 
 
 ADANSONIA. The Ethiopian sour gourd, or African cala- 
 bash-tree, a native of Africa, and one of the largest of the 
 vegetable kingdom; named from M. Adanson, who has given a 
 description of it. 
 
 ADONIA. In ancient history, festivals held in honour of 
 Adonis, principally celebrated by females among the Egyp- 
 tians and the Greeks, who spent two days in lamentations and 
 infamous pleasures. 
 
 ADONIC. A name given to a verse consisting of a dactyl and 
 spondee, in which was bewailed the death of Adonis, son of 
 Cinyras and favourite of Venus. Among the Anglo-Saxons 
 
 B
 
 2 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 the Adonic verse was a poetic verse consisting of one long, 
 two short, and two long syllables. 
 
 ADONIS. In botany, the generic term of bird's-eye, called 
 also pheasant's-eye, and so named because its flowers resemble 
 those of the anemone, into which flower Venus changed 
 
 Adonis. A term applied to a youthfully handsome man, more 
 
 graceful than vigorous. George IV. was contemptuously called 
 " a fat Adonis " (S. F. Creswell.) 
 
 ADULARIA. A mineral, a variety of orthoclase found in 
 granitic rocks, occurring in great perfection in the high 
 districts of Savoy. The name is derived from Adula, one of 
 the highest peaks of St. Gothard. The Valencianite Breit- 
 haupt is a variety of adularia, and was named from the Mexi- 
 can mine Valencia. 
 
 ^NEID (L. JEne'is). A heroic poem, written by Virgil, in 
 which ^neas is the hero. 
 
 ^OLIAN. Pertaining to ^olus, god of the winds; as ka- 
 lian harp. 
 
 ^OLIST. A devotee of -^olus; a pretender to inspira- 
 tion. 
 
 JEOLIPILE. A hollow ball of metal, with a pipe or slender 
 neck having a very small orifice, used in hydraulic experi- 
 ments ; named from jEoIus, and pila a ball. Bailey renders 
 aolopyk, an ancient device to prevent smoking chimneys, 
 from AfoXou -jtuXcci, the gates of -3<^olus. 
 
 JiiSCHYNITE. A black or dark brownish yellow ore from 
 the Ural Mountains ; an ore containing titanium, zirconium, and 
 cerium (Dana) ; probably named after vEschines, the Greek 
 orator, though for no better reason than that other celebrities 
 have been commemorated in the naming of metals, &c. 
 
 AFFENTHALER. A celebrated red wine made from 
 grapes, and growing in the Affenthal, near the Rhine. 
 
 AGARIC (Gr. aya^iKOv, L. agaricus). In botany, the generic 
 term for the mushroom tribe of the fungi which grow in 
 decaying animal or vegetable matter, and said to be from 
 Agaria, in Sarmatia, (See Dioscorides.) In pharmacy the term is 
 applied to two species of fungi belonging to the Linna^an 
 genus Boletus, the one used as a cathartic, the other as a styptic,
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 3 
 
 and also for tinder and dyeing. The agaric mineral is one of 
 the purest of the native carbonates of lime ; it is found in clefts 
 of rocks, and is named from its resemblance to the agaric in 
 texture and colour. It has been considered as a variety of 
 meerschaum. The Germans call it hergmehl, mountain meal ; 
 the Italians, latte di luna, moon-milk. 
 
 AGATE (L. achates, gagates, Gr. yayarijtr). An ornamental 
 stone used in jewellery, and for some purposes in the arts ; 
 sometimes called Scotch pebble. Bochart deduces the word 
 from the Punic and Hebrew ^T])) akad, with a different prefix 
 Heb. y\i nalcad, spotted. Others derive the word from the 
 Greek a%ar^,v, a stone described by Theophrastus, and which, 
 according to him, was brought from the river Achates, in 
 Sicily ; now the Drillo, in the Val di Noto. Pliny (33, 10) 
 tells us achates (agates) were once in great demand ; that 
 they were found first in Sicily, near a river of the same name, 
 but afterwards in many places ; and he says there are many 
 varieties, as Phass-achates, Sard-achates, Hem-achates, Leuc- 
 achates, Dendr-achates, Ant-achates, and Carallo-achates. (See 
 also Solinus and Isidore.) There was also a river of Lycia 
 called Tayrjs, and Tayyrjs is the Greek name for the river 
 Ganges. 
 
 AHRBLEICHART. A strong red highly-prized wine made 
 from Burgundy grapes, growing in the neighbourhood of 
 Ahrweiler, in the Ahr Valley, in Rhenish Prussia. The last 
 part of the name is probably derived from hleich-roth-art, pale- 
 red-like. 
 
 ALALITE. A crystallized mineral first found by Bonvoisin 
 in the black rock at Musa, near the village of Ala, in Piedmont, 
 whence its name. See Cleveland. 
 
 ALCAICS. Several kinds of verse, so called from their in- 
 ventor AlcjBus, a lyric poet of Mitylene, in Lesbos, who 
 flourished about the 44th Olympiad. One kind consists of five 
 feet, a spondee or iambic, an iambic, a long syllable, and two 
 dactyls. — Encyc. 
 
 ALCANTARA. A Spanish military order, so named from 
 Alcantara, in Spain. 
 
 B 2
 
 4 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 ALCHORNEA. A genus of plants named after Mr. Stainsby 
 Alchorne, apothecary, of London. 
 
 ALDINE. A term applied to those editions, chiefly of the 
 Classics, which proceeded from the press of Aldus Manutius 
 of Venice, for the most part in the sixteenth century. The 
 term has also been lately applied to certain elegant editions of 
 English works. 
 
 ALDROVANDA. A genus of plants, of which there is but 
 one species, found in marshes in Italy and India ; named by 
 Monti after Ulisse Aldrovandi, prefect of the botanic garden 
 at Bologna, a great traveller, naturalist, and collector, styled 
 the modern Pliny, who was born in 1552, and died at Bologna 
 in 1605. 
 
 ALEXANDERS. An umbelliferous plant of the genus Smyr- 
 nium, found upon rocks on the sea-shore, and blossoming in 
 May and June. According to Pliny it was so called because 
 in Italy and Germany it had been denominated herha Alexan- 
 drina, having been supposed to be brought from Alexandria. 
 
 ALEXANDRINE or ALEXANDRIAN. A kind of verse 
 consisting of twelve syllables, or of twelve and thirteen alter- 
 nately ; so called from having been used in a French poem on 
 the life of Alexander. This species of verse is peculiar to 
 modei'n poetry, but well adapted to epic poems, and is less 
 current in English than among the French, whose tragedies 
 are generally composed of Alexandrine. See Webster. 
 
 ALGAROT or ALGAROTH. The name of an emetic 
 powder, a compound of the sesqui-oxide and sesqui-chloride of 
 antimony, obtained by pouring water into a solution of 
 the sesqui-chloride of that metal ; named from Algarotti, a 
 physician, who first applied it as an internal medicine. He 
 was born at Padua in 1712, and died at Pisa 1764. 
 
 ALICANTE. A sweet wine made at Alicante, in Spain. 
 
 ALLANITE. An ore of the metals cerium and lanthanium 
 having a pitch-black or brownish colour ; first discovered as a 
 species by Mr. Allan, of Edinburgh. — Dana. 
 
 ALLEMANDE. (Fr.) A slow air in common time; or grave 
 solemn music with a slow movement. Also, a brisk dance.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 5 
 
 or a figure in dancing (^Dictionary of Music). Originally from 
 Allemagne, i. e. Germany. 
 
 ALMAGrRERITE. A mineral, an anhydrous sulphate of 
 zinc, occurring at the mine at Barranco Jaroso, in the Sierra 
 Almagrera, in Spain. 
 
 ALPHONSIN. A surgical instrument for extracting bullets 
 from wounds ; so called from its inventor, Alphonsus Ferrier, of 
 Naples. It consists of three branches which close by a ring, 
 
 and open when it is drawn back (Enci/c.) A name applied 
 
 to certain astronomical tables which were published in 1252 
 under the patronage of Alphonso X., King of Castile and 
 Leon (P. Ci/c.') 
 
 ALTAITE. A mineral occurring with telluric silver at 
 Savodinsky, near Barnaoul, in the Altai Mountains, which 
 form a boundary between the Russian and Chinese dominions. 
 
 AMADOT. The name of a French pear ; a corruption of 
 Damoudet, the name by which it is known in Burgundy ; and 
 so called from Dame Oudet, who first cultivated it, and who 
 lived at Demigny, between Beaune and Chalons. See Menage; 
 also J. Ferrand, Traite des Espaliers. 
 
 AMBROSIN. In the Middle Ages, a coin struck by the 
 Dukes of Milan, on Avhich St. Ambrose was represented on 
 horseback, with a whip in his right hand. 
 
 AMMONIA. An alkali (often called volatile alkali) composed 
 of three equivalents of hydrogen and one of nitrogen. Some 
 derive the word from Gr. a/x^oe, sand, because originally found 
 in sandy ground. According to others it was named after 
 Jupiter Amnion, near whose temple in Egypt it was generated, 
 or from Ammonia, a Cyrenaic territory. 
 
 AMMONITE. The serpent-stone ov cornu Ammonis, a, io^^il 
 shell curved into a spiral form like a ram's horn, of various sizes, 
 found in strata of limestone and clay, and in argillaceous iron 
 ore ; named from Jupiter Ammon, who was represented in 
 statues as having ram's horns. 
 
 AMONTILLADO. A wine, so named from its resembling, m 
 a peculiar bitter-almond dry flavour, the wines of Montilla, 
 near Cordova, which are so much sought after. It is dear, 
 and used in enriching poorer and sweet wines.
 
 6 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 AMPHITRITE, A genus of marine animals of the order 
 Mollusca, very common about the southern coasts of Devon- 
 shire ; named from Amphitrite, wife of Neptune and goddess 
 of the sea. 
 
 ANACREONTIC. A poem composed in the manner of 
 Anacreon, a Greek poet, whose odes and epigrams are cele- 
 brated for their delicate, easy, and graceful air, and for their 
 exact imitation of nature. The Anacreontic verse consists of 
 three feet and a half; the first foot is either a spondee or 
 iambus, or an anapest ; the rest are usually spondees or 
 iambuses. 
 
 ANDALUSITE. A mineral, of a greyish or a pale reddish 
 tint, sometimes in rhombic prisms ; composed chiefly of silica 
 and alumina ; from Andalusia, in Spain, where it was first 
 discovered. 
 
 ANDERSONIA. A genus of shrubs, natives of Australia; 
 cl. Pentandria, or. Monogynia ; named after Dr. O. Anderson. 
 
 ANDESINE. A mineral occuring in the Andes, at Marmato, 
 in the rock called andesite, a whitish syenite; also in the 
 syenite of Alsace, in the Vosges. 
 
 ANDREOLITE or ANDREASBERGOLITE. A mineral; 
 the harmotome or cross-stone; from Andreasberg, a town of 
 Hanover, in the mining district of Klausthal. 
 
 ANDROMEDA. A constellation containing from twenty- 
 three to twenty-seven stars ; called by the Arabians Marali 
 Miisalseleth, or the Woman Chained. Hence probably its 
 Greek name of Andromeda, who, according to Greek poets, 
 was chained to a rock by the Nereids and released by Perseus. 
 
 A genus of plants, nat. or, Ericacece, shrubs and natives 
 
 of Lapland, North America, and Russia. 
 
 ANGLE SITE. Native sulphate of lead, occurring at Parry's 
 Mine, in Anglesea, whence its name. It is also found in Corn- 
 wall, Cumberland, Derbyshire, the Hartz, the Black Forest, 
 and in Prussia, Sardinia, Andalusia, and Siberia. 
 
 ANGOLA. The same as mohair; the wool of the Angola or 
 Angora goat. Some derive the name from Agnolia. It is 
 rather from Angora or Enguri (Ancyra), in Asia Minor, 140 
 miles north of Konieh. At Angora stuffs and yarn are manu-
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 7 
 
 facturcd from the fiuo wool of this goat, of which wool 500,000 
 okes (11,200 cwt,) are estimated to be annually exported. 
 
 ANGOLA. The name of a pea called pigeon-pea, a species 
 of cytisus, from Angola, a kingdom of Congo, in Africa. 
 
 ANNABERGITE. A mineral occurring on white nickel, 
 and supposed to result from the decomposition of this ore, named 
 from Annaberg, in Saxony, where it occurs. It is also found 
 at Allemont in Dauphiny, at Kamsdorf near Saalfeld, at 
 Riechelsdorf, and at other mines of mineral ores. 
 
 ANTIGORITE. A mineral, consisting of silica, magnesia, 
 protoxide of iron, alumina, and water, from the Antigorio 
 Valley, to the north of Domo d'Ossola, in Piedmont. 
 
 APPLE. The fruit of the apple-tree, by some supposed to 
 have been originally from Avella or Abella, in Italy. 
 
 ARDASSINESor ARDASSINE. A very fine sort of Per- 
 sian silk, said to take its name from the district of Ardeshir, in 
 Persia. It is little inferior in fineness to the sourbastis or 
 rather cherbasses, although it is not much used in the silk 
 manufactures of Lyons and Tours, because it will not bear 
 hot water in the winding. The vulgar French name was for- 
 merly ablaque, and it is called in German ardassines, ardessines, 
 ardassiner-seide, logir, and perlen-seide. 
 
 ARENDALITE,. Another name of epidote or pistacite ; 
 epidote being the name given to it by Haiiy, and pistacite by 
 Werner. The word is probably derived from Arendal, in Nor- 
 way, in the district of Nedernaes. 
 
 ARFWEDSONITE. A ferruginous variety of hornblende, 
 named after Arfwedson. 
 
 ARGAND. A name given to an improved lamp, invented by 
 Argand, in 1780, in which, by means of a hollow wick, and a 
 glass chimney, a strong and clear light is produced by placing 
 the flame between two currents of air. — Brande. 
 
 ARGYLLIA. A genus of plants bearing beautiful flowers, 
 natives of South America ; named in honour of the Duke of 
 Argyle. 
 
 ARGUS. A porcelain shell beautifully variegated with spots 
 resembling those in a peacock's tail. The mythic Argus had 
 a hundred eyes, some of Avhicli were open while the others
 
 8 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 were closed. Juno, in recompense of his fidelity in guarding lo, 
 fixed his eyes to the wings and tail of the peacock, and trans- 
 formed him into that bird. The name of a species of cimex 
 
 found in Surinam, and of several birds, fishes, and insects. 
 
 ARIANISM. The doctrines or creed of Arius, a presbyter 
 of the Church of Alexandria in the fourth century. 
 
 ARICINA. A vegetable alkaloid obtained from the bark of a 
 species of cinchona, and first brought from Arica, in Peru. 
 
 ARISTARCH. A severe critic (Knotoles) ; from Aristarchus, 
 a critic distinguished for severity among the ancients. 
 
 ARISTARCHIAN. Severely critical, like Aristarchus. 
 
 ARISTOTELIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Philadelpha 
 cece ; named after Aristotle. 
 
 ARISTOTELIANISM. The philosophy or doctrines of 
 Aristotle, a disciple of Plato, and founder of the Peripatetic 
 school of philosophers. 
 
 ARKANSITE. A mineral ; a variety of brookite, from 
 Magnet Cove, Hot Springs County, Arkansas. 
 
 ARMENIACA (Gr. apu.Bvia.y.ov). The apricot; so called from 
 having been brought originally from Armenia. It is now a 
 genus of plants, uat. or. Amygdalece. — Crahh. 
 
 ARMINIANISM. The doctrines or tenets of Arminius, of 
 Holland, who flourished at the close of the sixteenth and the 
 beginning of the seventeenth century. 
 
 ARMSTRONG. A celebrated rifled cannon named after its 
 inventor, Mr. William (now Sir William) Armstrong. 
 
 ARRACAN. Rice from Aracan or Arracan, a British pro- 
 vince of Further India, in the presidency of Bengal. 
 
 ARRAGONITE. Carbonate of lime crystallised in rhombic 
 prisms, differing from common carbonate of lime, or calcareous 
 spar, in its crystallization ; so named from Arragon, in Spain, 
 where it was first observed. 
 
 ARRAS. Tapestry ; hangings wove with figures ; named 
 from Arras, capital of Artois, in the French Netherlands, 
 where it was manufactured. 
 
 ARTEDIA, A genus of umbelliferous plants, named in 
 honour of P. Artedia, the associate of LinnjEus. 
 
 ARTEMISIA {aprsjMia-ix, Tlippoc. et Diosc.) The Greek
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 9 
 
 name for a plant called in English mother herb ; from Artemis, 
 the Greek name of Diana, who presided over women in childbed. 
 The name is now applied to a genus of plants, nat. or. Compo- 
 sitce, the species of which are known by the names of mug- 
 wort, southernwood, and wormwood. In antiquity, certain 
 
 festivals celebrated yearly in honour of Artemis or Diana, in 
 various parts of Greece, particularly at Delphi, where a mul- 
 let was sacrificed to the goddess. 
 
 A SI ARCH. A term applied to the chiefs or pontiffs of Pro- 
 consular Asia, who had the superintendence of the public 
 games. — Acts xix. 
 
 ASSASSIN. One who kills, or attempts to kill by surprise 
 or secret assault ; one who takes any advantage in killing or 
 attempting to murder, as by attacking one when unarmed, 
 Voltaire says, " In the time of the Crusades there was a 
 wretched little people of mountaineers inhabiting the caverns 
 near the road to Damascus. These brigands elected a chief 
 whom they named Cheik-Ehissisin (called by the Crusaders 
 the ' Old Man of the Hill '), who was imagined to be a 
 great prince because he had caused a Count Montserrat and 
 some other crusading nobles to be robbed and murdered on 
 the highway. These people were called Ehississin, whence the 
 word assassin " Thierry (Hist, Norm. Conq., vol. 2), speaking 
 of Philip of France, a.d. 1192, says, "He immediately as- 
 sembled his barons, and showed them letters just arrived, he 
 said, from beyond the seas, and which warned him to be on his 
 guard, for that the King of England had from the East sent to 
 kill him. Such was the name, then quite new in European 
 languages, by which were designated certain Mahometans, 
 fanatics in religion and patriotism, who thought to gain Para- 
 dise by devoting themselves to kill by surprise the enemies of 
 their faith. It was generally believed that there existed in the 
 defiles of Mount Libanus a whole tribe of these enthusiasts, 
 subject to a chief called the ' Old Man of the Mountain,' and 
 that the vassals of this mysterious personage joyfully ran to 
 meet death at the first signal from their chief. It will be 
 readily understood that the name of these men, who poniarded 
 people without the slightest warning of their attack, stabbed
 
 10 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 generals of armies in the very midst of their soldiers, and who, 
 so they had struck their victim, themselves died laughing, 
 necessarily inspired the Western Crusaders and pilgrims with 
 great alarm. They brought back so vivid a memory of the 
 terror they had felt at the mere word assassin, that this word 
 soon passed into every mouth, and the most absurd tales of 
 assassination readily found in Europe people disposed to credit 
 them." The name haschischi, by which the chief was desig- 
 nated in Arabic, is said to be derived from hashish, an intoxi- 
 cating plant of which these people made frequent use to stupify 
 themselves : but qu. the second form of the Arabic hassa, 
 which signifies " to kill." For further information see De 
 Sacy, Chrest. Arabe ; and Notes and Queries, 2nd S., No. 57. 
 
 ASTRACAN. The name of a scarlet shawl, and of a black 
 jacket worn by women, and first brought from Astracan or 
 Astrakhan. 
 
 ATAC AMITE. A native chloride of copper, originally found 
 in the form of sand in the Desert of Atacama, between Chili 
 and Peru. — Dana. 
 
 ATELLAN. A dramatic representation, satirical or licen- 
 tious, after the manner of the dramas at Atella, in ancient 
 Italy. 
 
 ATHAMANTA. A genus of plants of the nat. or. Umbelli- 
 ferce, so called from Mount Athamas, in Sicily, where the 
 species were first found. 
 
 ATHANASIAN; denoting a formulary, confession, or ex- 
 position of faith, formerly supposed to have been drawn up by 
 Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, in the fourth century; but 
 this opinion is now rejected, and the composition is by some 
 ascribed to Hilary, Bishop of Aries. It is a summary of what 
 was called the orthodox faith. 
 
 ATHEN^UM. In the United States, a building or apart- 
 ment where a library, periodicals, and newspapers are kept for 
 public i^erusal, so named from the Athenaeum (Gr. ASryva/ov) of 
 ancient Athens, a public school or place where poets, philoso- 
 phers, and rhetoricians met for the purpose of arguing, reciting, 
 and declaiming.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 11 
 
 ATLANTES, ATLANTIDES, or ATLAS (called also 
 Zelamones and Persians). In architecture, a name given by the 
 Greeks to the figures or statues of men used to support en- 
 tablatures with mutules, instead of pilasters or columns; from 
 Atlas, who is fabled to have borne the heavens on his shoulders, 
 near the Hesperides. 
 
 ATLAS. A collection of maps in a volume, supposed to be 
 so called from a picture of Atlas supporting the heavens, pre- 
 fixed to some collections. A term now also applied to works 
 in which subjects are exhibited in a tabular form or arrange- 
 ment, as a historical or ethnographical atlas ; a large square 
 folio, resembling a volume of maps, called also atlas folio. 
 
 The first vertebrae of the neck, articulating immediately 
 
 with the occipital bone, and thus supporting the globe of the 
 head, as Atlas was said to support the world. 
 
 ATTIC. A story in the upper part of a house, with small 
 windows in or above the cornice; a part of a building standing 
 on the cornice, similar in form to that of a pedestal, and 
 either broken or continued. The name is said to be derived 
 from the Attic order of architecture, an order of small square 
 pillars at the uppermost extremity of a building, which was 
 intended to conceal the roof and give greater dignity to the 
 design, and which had its origin at Athens. The Romans 
 employed attics in their edifices, as may be seen in the remains 
 of their triumphal arches, and in the Forum of Nerva. In the 
 ruins of Athens no attics are to be found. There is one over 
 a Corinthian colonnade at Thessalonica, with breaks forming 
 dwarf pilasters over the columns, and with statues placed in 
 front of the pilasters, as in the arch of Constantino. " The 
 word attic is also now applied to a kind of building in which 
 no roof or covering is to be seen, as was usual in the houses of 
 the Athenians." — Crahb. 
 
 ATTICISM. The peculiar style and idiom of the Greek 
 language used by the Athenians ; refined and elegant Greek ; 
 
 concise and elegant expression. A particular attachment to 
 
 the Athenians ; applied especially to the act of siding with the 
 Athenians during the Peloponnesian War.
 
 12 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 AUDEANISM. Anthropomorphism, or the doctrine of 
 Audeus, a Syrian of the fourth century, who maintained that 
 God has a human shape ; from Gen. i. 26. — Encyc. 
 
 AUGUST D'OR. A gold coin of Saxony, double, single, 
 and half, reckoned at 10, 5, and 2^ rix-dollars ; the august 
 of 1754 being equal to 16s. 2d., that of 1784 to \Qs. 3fc?.; 
 named after August, Elector of Saxony, who succeeded his 
 brother Maurice in 1553 ; or August Frederick, the name of 
 two subsequent electors. 
 
 AUGUSTINE. The name of a French pear, doubtless so 
 called after St. Augustine ; whence, perhaps, the pear named 
 St. Austin. 
 
 AUTUNITE. A mineral found in crystals, massive, and in- 
 vesting other minerals, in granite at St. Symphorien, near 
 Autun, and at St. Yrieux, not far from Limoges, in France. 
 
 AUVERNAT. A wine from Auvergne, in France. 
 
 AVELLANA, or Nux Pontica ; filbert. A sort of nut, so 
 called from Avellanum, a town of Campania, where they 
 abounded. 
 
 AVELLANE. In heraldry, a cross, the quarters of which 
 resemble a filbert nut. See Avellana. 
 
 AVERNAT. A sort of grape {Johnson) ; Yiroperlj Auvernat, 
 from Auvergne, in France. 
 
 AVERRHOA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Oxalidacece, 
 called after Averrhoes, a physician of Cordova, in Spain. 
 
 AVERROIST. One of a sect of Peripatetic philosophers 
 who appeared in Italy before the restoration of learning ; so 
 denominated from Averroes, a celebrated Arabian author. 
 
 AVICENNIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Myojioracece, 
 called after Avicenna, a Persian philosopher and physician. 
 
 AZORITE. A mineral, according to A. A. Hayes con- 
 sisting of niobite of lime ; from the Azores.
 
 VERBA NOMINAI.IA. 13 
 
 B. 
 
 BABEL. Confusion, disorder {Beaumont); from the confu- 
 sion at the Tower of Babel ; a name which has been ridicu- 
 lously derived from the Hebrew l^lbn bilbll, confusion, from 
 balal, to mix or confuse ; but which is more reasonably from 
 (J-u^ bdb-bel, the gate or court, i. e. the city, of Bel or Belus. 
 
 BABYLONICS. The title of a fragment of the history of 
 the world, ending 267 years before Christ, composed by 
 Berosus, a priest of Babylon. 
 
 BACALHAO (For. bacalhdo, Sp. bacalldo). The fish we 
 call poor jack, ling, cod-fish, salt fish ; so named from Bacalhoa, 
 an island oflT the S.E. coast of Newfoundland, where it is 
 found. " Llamose Bacallao por el pais en cuya mar se pesca, 
 que tiene este nombre." {Dice, de la Acad. Espan.) 
 
 BACCHANAL, BACCHANALIAN. One who indulges 
 in drunken revels ; a drunkard ; one who is noisy and riotous 
 when intoxicated ; from Bacchus, god of wine, and son of 
 Jupiter and Semele. 
 
 BACCHANALIA, BACCHANALS. Festivals at Rome in 
 honour of Bacchus, celebrated in spring and autumn with 
 games and shows, which for their licentiousness were sup- 
 pressed by a solemn decree of the Senate. 
 
 BACCH AN ALIANS. Those who performed rites in honour 
 of Bacchus. 
 
 BACCHARIS. A name given to a plant by the Greeks in 
 honour of Bacchus ; a genus of plants now commonly called 
 ploughman's spikenard, nat. or. Compositce. — Crabb. 
 
 BACCHIUS {Bay-y^sios). In ancient poetry, a foot composed 
 of three syllables, the first short, and the two last long, as in 
 avari ; so called because it was used in hymns to Bacchus. 
 
 BAECKIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Myrtacece; so named 
 from A. Baeck, physician to the King of Sweden. — Crabb. 
 
 BAGNOLS. A red wine of a rich sweet flavour, from 
 Bagnols, dep. Gard, south of France. 
 
 BAIKALITE. A greenish variety of augite, occurring in
 
 14 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 grouped or radiated circular prisms (^Danci) ; from Lake Baika, 
 in Siberia. 
 
 BAIZE or BAYS. A coarse woollen stuff having a long 
 nap. In the singular it is hay, and is by some rendered " frieze 
 of Baige " (It. Baja), an ancient city of Italy, Naples (now in 
 ruins). 
 
 BALASSOR. An Indian stuff made of the bark of a tree ; 
 doubtless so named from Balasore, a maritime district of 
 British India, in the presidency of Bengal, having a town of 
 the same name. 
 
 BALDACHIN. In architecture, a structure in the form of a 
 canopy, supported by columns, and often used as a covering to 
 insulated altars ; the term is also used for a shell over a door 
 {Ency. Johnson). The It. has baldachino, the Sp. haldaquino, a 
 rich silk or canopy carried over the host ; the Fr. baldaquin, a 
 canopy. Lunier deduces the French word from the name of 
 a city in Babylonia. 
 
 BALDERDASH. Derived from the name of the Scandina- 
 vian god Baldur, whence also the village of Balderton, in 
 Notts. — aS'. F. Creswell. 
 
 BAMLITE. A mineral found in long slender prisms and 
 crystalline masses, with quartz in gneiss, at Briikke, near 
 Brevig, in the parish of Bamle, in Norway. 
 
 BANIAN. A man's undress or morning gown, as worn by 
 the Banians in the East Indies, a peculiar caste or class among 
 the Hindoos. They believe in a metempsychosis, and will 
 neither eat flesh nor kill noxious animals. Hence it is said 
 " Banian days," in seamen's language, are those days in the 
 week in which the sailors have no fresh meat served out to 
 them. 
 
 BANISTERIA. A genus of plants of the nat. or. Malpi- 
 ghiacea;, called after the Rev. J. Banister, a botanist. — Crabb. 
 
 BANKSIA. A genus of plants, consisting of bushes or 
 small trees found in Australia, where they are called honey- 
 suckle trees; named after Sir Joseph Banks, the accomplished 
 naturalist, &c. 
 
 BANTAM. A very small variety of fowl with feathered legs, 
 brought from Bantam, a residency of the Dutch East Indies,
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 15 
 
 forming the western extremity of the island of Java. A 
 
 kind of painted or carved work resembling that of Japan, 
 only more gaudy. 
 
 BARALITE. Black slate with cavities filled with a l>lack 
 powder ; a silico-aluminate of iron found at Baralon, Cote du 
 Nord, France. 
 
 BARB. A horse of the Barbary breed, much esteemed for 
 its swiftness. 
 
 BARBARIAN. A man in his rude savage state; an uncivi- 
 lized person ; a cruel, savage, brutal man ; one destitute of 
 pity and humanity. The Greeks and Romans denoiniuated 
 most foreign nations barbarians ; and many of these were less 
 civilized than themselves, or unacquainted with their language, 
 laws, and manners ; but with them the word was used less 
 reproachfully than with us. Some derive the L. word harbarus, 
 Gr. ^ocpfSxpos, Russ. varvar, from Heb. hardr (Pip. barhdr) "to 
 separate," " one who is separated," " a foreigner." Passow 
 says, " the word was used of all defects which the Greeks 
 thought foreign to themselves and natural to other nations; but 
 as the Hellenes and barbarians were most of all separated by lan- 
 guage, the word had always reference to this: yXiuaffo, (3apj3oipa 
 (foreign tongue). The word is most probably derived from the 
 Berbers, i. e. the inhabitants of Berbery or Barbary, in the 
 North of Africa ; from lav-bar, " sons of the west," which the 
 West Arabs, &c., call themselves. Cf. Miiller, Univ. Hist. b. 
 xxxii. s. 1. 
 
 BAREGE. A light plain woollen stuff for shawls, ladies' 
 dresses, &c., so named from being manufactured at Barege, at 
 the foot of the Pyrenees, famous for its mineral waters. 
 
 BARNARDIA. A genus of Chinese bulbous plants, so 
 called in honour of E. Barnard, Esq., F.R.S. 
 
 BARNHARDTITE. A mineral composed of dopper and 
 iron, from a mine on the land of Dan Barnhardt, Cabarras 
 County, North Carolina ; also found at other places in the 
 same county, and in the neighbourhood of Charlotte, in 
 Mecklenburg County. 
 
 BARRERIA. A genus of plants, whose species are shrubs, 
 natives of Guinea ; called after Prof. Barrere, of Perpignan.
 
 16 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 BARRINGTONIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. MyrUicece, 
 called after the Hon. Daines Barrington. — Crahb. 
 
 BARTSIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Scroplmlariacece, 
 called after John Bartsch, a physician. — Crahh. 
 
 BASSEIN. Rice from Bassain or Bassein, a seaport town 
 of Pegu, taken by the British, in May, 1852. 
 
 BASSIA, a genus of plants, nat. or. SapotacecB, named 
 after Ferdinand Bassi, curator of the Botanic Garden as 
 Bologna. — Crahh. 
 
 BASSORINE. A constitutuent part of a species of gum 
 from Bassora, in Asiatic Turkey, as also of gum ti^agacanth 
 and some guija resins. — Ure. 
 
 BASTITE. A mineral of an olive and pistaccio green, found 
 in the euphotide of the Baste and other places in the Harz, 
 It is another name for schiller spar. 
 
 BATIST (Fr. hatiste). A French linen cloth of a very fine 
 thread and very close tissue, used for pocket handkerchiefs and 
 body linen, chiefly made in deps. Nord, Pas de Calais, and 
 La Somme ; but also made in the Netherlands, in Bohemia, 
 Silesia, and Switzerland, and, those most esteemed, in India. 
 It had its name from Baptiste, its first manufacturer. - 
 
 BAUHINIA. A genus of plants, shrubs, or. Monogynia; 
 natives of India ; named in honour of the brothers Gaspard 
 and John Banhin, celebrated botanists. 
 
 BAULITE. A mineral, consisting of silica, alumina, lime, 
 soda, and potash, analysed by Genth. The name was first 
 given by Forchammer to a greyish-white porous metal from 
 the Baula Mountain, in Iceland, having nearly the same com- 
 position as the crystals analysed by Genth. 
 
 BAVARO Y. Formerly a kind of cloak or surtout ; pez'haps 
 originally written havarois ; from Bavaria. 
 
 BAVAROISE. (Fr.) Tea sweetened with syrup of capillaire; 
 a kind of milk posset, first made by the Bavarians. 
 
 BAYONET (Fr. halonette, Sp. bayoneta, It. haionetta). 
 A short pointed instrument of iron, or broad dagger, formerly 
 with a handle fitted to the bore of a gun, where it was inserted 
 for use after the soldier had fired ; but now made with an iron 
 handle and ring which go over the muzzle of the piece, so that
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 17 
 
 the soldier fires with his bayonet fixed. {Encyc.) Ford says 
 the bayonet is said to have been first used by some Basques at 
 Bayonne, in the war of 1814, who stuck their knives into their 
 muskets' muzzles ; others assert that the bayonet was first in- 
 vented in 1671 ; but it is without doubt of a much more 
 ancient origin. The word does not appear in Palsgrave's 
 Dictionary, published in 1530. In Cotgrave's Dictionary, first 
 published in 1611, we find " bayonnette, a kind of small flat 
 pocket dagger, furnished with knives ; or a great knife to hang 
 at the girdle like a dagger ;" also " hayonnier, an arbalestier 
 (an old word)," which is rendered " a crosse-bow-man, that 
 shoots in or serves with a crosse-bow ; also a crosse-bow- 
 maker." Again, Puysegur, who was sent to Flanders in 1642, 
 in his memoirs speaks of the use of the bayonet at Bergues, 
 Ypres, Dixmunde, and Laquenoc. Miege (Great French Diet., 
 Lond. 1688) renders ^^bayonette (Fr.) a dagger, or knife dagger- 
 like, such as the dragoons wear." Phillips (World of Words) 
 gives " bayonette, a long dagger much in use of late, and carried 
 by the grenadiers." In the Diet. Anglo-Britan., or a General 
 Eng. Diet. (John Kersey, 1715), we find " bayonette (Fi\) a 
 broad dagger with a round taper handle, to stick in the muzzle 
 of a musket." The New World of Words (Edw. Phillips, 
 fo. 1720) has ^'bayonette, a broad dagger without a guard, made 
 with a round taper handle, to stick in the muzzle of a musket, 
 so that it may serve instead of a pike to receive the charge of 
 a horse." Les Travaux de Mars, ou I'Art de la Guerre (par 
 Manusson Mallet, .Amst. 1685, tom. iii. 30) gives " une 
 bayonette, ou une petite lame montee dans un manche de bois ; 
 le soldat s'en sert dans quelques occasions comme une demi- 
 pique, en mettant son manche dans le canon de sou mousquet 
 ou son fusil." The name of this instrument is also found 
 written bayonet, and we find also baggonnetts and bajonetts ; 
 indeed, as late as 1735 the word was written and printed 
 bagonet. In the Glossary appended to Memoirs Historical and 
 Military of the Marquis Feuquiere (trans, from the French, 
 Lond. 1735) bagonet is rendered " a short broad dagger made 
 with iron handles and rings that go over the muzzle of the 
 firelock, and are screwed fast, so that the soldier fires with the 
 
 c
 
 18 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 bagonet on the muzzle of the piece, and is ready to act against 
 horse." Roquefort (Gloss, de la Langue Romaine, 1808) 
 renders baionier " arbalatrier, a crossbow-man." The general 
 opinion seems to be that the bayonet was first invented at 
 Bayonne, in France, whence it had its name. Mr. I. Y. Aker- 
 man (Notes on Origin and Hist. Bayonet, Archeeol. xxviii., 
 428) says, " I have sought in vain for the origin and source of 
 the tradition that the bayonet was invented at Bayonne. The 
 story runs that in a battle which took place in a small hamlet in 
 the environs of that city, in the middle of the seventeenth century, 
 between some Basque peasants and a band of Spanish smug- 
 glers, the former, having exhausted their ammunition, defeated 
 their opponents by charging them with their long knives 
 fastened in the muzzle of their muskets. Such an event may 
 have occurred, but it requires authentication, and the relation 
 begets a suspicion that the mere similarity of name has laid the 
 foundation of the supposed connection of the bayonet with 
 Bayonne. True or false, the story is immortalized in the verse 
 of Voltaire, who, in the eighth book of the " Henriade," thus 
 alludes to this occasion : — 
 
 " Cette arme, que jadis, pour depeuplerla terre, 
 Dans Bayonne inventa le demon de la guerre, 
 Rassemble en meme temps, digne fruit de I'enfer, 
 Ce qu'ont de plus terrible et la flamme et le fer." 
 
 Voltaire, however, was not the inventor of the figment, if it is 
 really to be regarded as such, for we find bayonet thus 
 glossed in the Dictionary of Menage, published in 1694 : — 
 " Bayonette, sorte de poignard, ainsi appelee de la ville de 
 Baionne." On the whole it would seem most probable that the 
 word bayonet is a diminutive formed from Bayonne (in Sp. 
 Bayona). It does not follow, however, that the bayonet was 
 invented at Bayonne in France. There are places called Bayon 
 and Bayona in Spain, in provinces Oviedo, Pontevedra, 
 
 Toledo, and Madrid. In machinery, a term applied to pins 
 
 which play in and out of holes made to receive them, and 
 which thus serve to engage or disengage parts of the machinery 
 {Nichohon).
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 19 
 
 BEAUGENCY. A fine red wine made from grapes growing 
 in the neighbourhood of Beaugency, France, dep. Loiret. 
 
 BEAUJOLAIS. A celebrated wine made at Beaujolais, a 
 district of France, part of the ancient Lyonnais, the capital of 
 which was Beaujeau. 
 
 BEAUNE. A fine wine made from grapes grown at Beaune, 
 a town of France, dep. Cote-d'Or, renowned for its vineyards, 
 
 BEAUVAIS. A beautiful tapestry made at Beauvais, in 
 France, dep. Oise. 
 
 BECHAMEL. A fine French white sauce made of strong 
 pale veal gravy, and now very much served at good English 
 tables ; said to have been named after the Marquis de Becha- 
 mel, maitre d'hotel to Louis XIV. Sauce a la bechamel ; De 
 la morue a la bechamel ; Une bechamel de brochet ; Bechamel 
 maigre. 
 
 BEDLAMITE. An inhabitant of a madhouse; a madman ; 
 from Bedlam, a hospital for lunatics in Lambeth, Surrey, 
 properly Bethlehem, and anciently a religious house. Shak" 
 speare used bedlam figuratively for a place of uproar. 
 
 BEGONIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. BegoniacecB, called 
 after Michael Begon. — Crabb. 
 
 BELCHER. A kind of neckkerchief of a blue colour with 
 white spots (blue birdseye). In pugilistic encounters it is the 
 fashion for each combatant to provide himself with a quantity 
 of kerchiefs, which may be used either as hand or neckker- 
 chiefs, of a different colour and pattern fi'om those of his oppo- 
 nent. These kerchiefs are distributed among the supporters 
 of each party, who after the fight pay to the successful 
 champion a sovereign each for the same. The Belcher 
 neckkerchief derives its name from the celebrated pugilist 
 James Belcher. 
 
 BENEDICT. A married man ; a man newly married ; 
 so called from Benedict, a young lord of Padua, one of the 
 dramatis personcB in Much Ado about Nothing, who says, " When 
 I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think that I should 
 live to be married." 
 
 BENGAL. A thin stuff made of silk and hair, for women's 
 apparel, so called from Bengal. — Bailey; Johnson. 
 
 c 2
 
 20 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 BERAUNITE. A mineral, supposed to be a hydrous phos- 
 phate of peroxide of iron, found in limonite near Beraun, in 
 Bohemia. 
 
 BERENGrELITE. A mineral consisting of carbon, hydrogen, 
 and oxygen, found in the province of St. Juan de Berengela, 
 in South America. 
 
 BERENICE. In chemistry, another name for amber, 
 perhaps from its power of attracting hair &c. Berenice, 
 in astronomy, is a name given to seven stars in the tail of the 
 constellation Leo, in honour of Berenice, wife of Ptolemy 
 Evergetes, who offered her hair in sacrifice to the gods for the 
 pi'esei'vation of her husband. 
 
 B ERE SITE. A mineral, a fine-grained granite containing 
 pyrites ; from near Beresof, in the Ural. 
 
 BERGtAMO. a coarse tapestry manufactured with flocks of 
 wool, silk, cotton, hemp, and ox or goat's haii', said to have 
 been invented at Bergamo, in Italy. — Encyc. 
 
 BERGAMOT (Fr. Bergamotte). A species of pear (Bergamotte 
 de Hollande, Bergamotte Suisse) ; a species of citron, at first 
 casually produced by an Italian, who grafted a citron on the 
 stock of a Bergamot pear-tree, the fruit of which has a fine 
 taste and smell, and whose essential oil is in high esteem as a 
 perfume. According to some the pear was named from Ber- 
 gamo, in Italy, whence it is said to have been first brought ; 
 others assert that the pear was first brought from Turkey, and 
 they derive the word from the Turkish beg, bey, lord ; arnioud, 
 
 pear ; " prince of pears." A species of snufi' perfumed with 
 
 bergamot. In France, the word bergamotte is also used to denote 
 little boxes of sugar plums (bonbonnieres), lined with the peel 
 of this kind of citron. 
 
 BERGERA. A genus of plants nat. or. Monogynia, named 
 in honour of Professor Berger, of Kiel. 
 
 BERGIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. pentagynia, named in 
 honour of Dr. Bergius, of Stockholm. 
 
 BERGMANITE. A variety of scapolite, by some regarded 
 as a distinct species, of a grayish colour, of different shades ; 
 found in Norway ; named after Bergman, the mineralogist. 
 BERTHIERA. A genus of plants, of which there is but one
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 21 
 
 species, the Berthiera Qiiianensis ; a shrub, native of Guinea, 
 named in honour of Professor Berthier, of Paris. 
 
 BERTHIERITE. A mineral, consisting of antimony, sul- 
 phur, iron, and zinc ; named after M. Berthier. 
 
 BERTHOLETIA. A name given to the Brazil nut tree, a 
 tall tree of South America, the fruit of which is well known in 
 our markets ; named after M. Bertholet. 
 
 BERYTUS. A genus of hemipters, an order of insects, so 
 named from Berytus, now Beyrout, Syria. 
 
 BERZELINE. A name for sileniuret of copper, given in 
 honour of Berzelius. A mineral occurring in minute octahe- 
 dral crystals, found in Italy, is thus named by Necker. 
 
 BESIDERY, or Le Bezi d'Hery ; the wilding of Heri. 
 A pear, so named from the Forest of Heri, in Bretagne, between 
 Rheims and Nantes, where it was found. 
 
 BERKELEYA. A genus of small ball-shaped sea-weeds ; 
 named in honour of the Rev. Dr. Berkeley. 
 
 BERLIN. A vehicle of the chariot kind, named from 
 Berlin, Prussia, where it was first made. Others derive 
 the name from It. berlina, a sort of stage or pillory, and a 
 coach. 
 
 BESLERIA. A genus of plants, the species of which are 
 either shrubs or perennials ; named after Basil Besler, a Ger- 
 man botanist. 
 
 BESANT or BEZANT. A very ancient gold coin stamped 
 at Byzantium. See Bezant. 
 
 BESSEMER. A steel invented by Mr. Bessemer. 
 
 BETON Y (Fr. betoine). A name common to diflferent species 
 of j)lants of the genus Betonica, celebrated for almost every 
 medicinal virtue. The word Betonica is said to be corrupted 
 from Vettonica, which is further derived from the Vettones or 
 Vetones, an ancient people of Spain, who first used this plant. 
 Much has been written in praise of betony ; indeed, in Italy, 
 " You have more virtues than betony " is a proverbial com- 
 pliment. 
 
 BEZANT. A round flat piece of bullion without any im- 
 pression, which is supposed to have been the current coin of 
 Byzantium. The bezant was, in all probability, introduced into
 
 22 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 coat armour by the Crusaders. Being always of metal, bezants 
 ought to be emblazoned or, or argent. — Crabb. 
 
 BEZANTY. In heraldiy, an epithet for a cross composed 
 of bezants. See Bezajjt. 
 
 BIDDERY or BIDRI. A species of inlaid ware of excel- 
 lent form and graceful patterns, composed of copper, lead, tin, 
 and spelter ; so named from being made at Biddree, a town of 
 Hindustan, in the presidency of Bombay. 
 
 BIEBERITE. A mineral of a flesh and rose-red colour, 
 found in the rubbish of old mines at Bieber, near Hanau, 
 and at Leogang, in Salzburg. 
 
 BIGGIN (formerly ^z^'^ew, Fr. legiiin). A sort of female head- 
 dress ; so named from being worn by the Beguines, a religious 
 sect in Flanders, who, without having taken the monastic vows, 
 are united for the purposes of devotion and charity, and who 
 live together in houses called beguinages, 
 
 BIGNONIA. An extensive genus of plants, consisting 
 mostly of shrubs, natives of South America, named in honour 
 of the Abbe Bignon, librarian to Louis XIV. 
 
 BIGOT. Derived by Menage from ''by God-;' by others 
 from bigote (Sp.) a moustache. Probably from the Beguttse or 
 Beguines, a religious community in Belgium. — *S'. F. Creswell. 
 
 BILBO. A sort of rapier, so named from Bilboa, in Spain, 
 where the best were made. Hence probably bilboes, spars or 
 bolts of iron, with shackles, used to confine the feet of prisoners 
 at sea ; hence, the punishment of offenders in this manner is 
 called by the same name. 
 
 BISANTIUM, BESANT, orBESANTINE. A gold coin 
 of Byzantium, formerly current in England, equal to half 
 a ducane silver, or two shillings sterling. See Besant. 
 
 BISTOURY (Fr. bistoiiri). A surgical instrument for 
 making incisions, either fixed in a handle like a knife, or else 
 the blade moveable like a lancet ; named from Pistoria, in Italy, 
 where it was first made. 
 
 BIVON-^A. Cruciferous plants found in Italy, named 
 after M. A. Bivoni Bernardi. 
 
 BLAKEA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Monogynia, named 
 after M. Blake.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 23 
 
 BLANKET. A cover for a bed, made of coarse wool loosely- 
 woven, and used for securing against cold. Some assert that 
 blankets had their name from three brothers at Worcester, by 
 whom they were first invented; that, according to Nash's history, 
 a family of the name resided there in the reign of Edward I., 
 and that at Caines, adjoining the city, is a place still called the 
 Blanquets. According to another writer, blankets were first 
 manufactured in Bristol, and derived their name from 
 their inventors, who lived either in St. Thomas Street or 
 Temple Street, although the writer does not deny that the 
 inventors may have been Worcestershire men. A correspondent 
 of iV^. and Q. says : — " There were three brothers of the name 
 of Blanket who were connected with Bristol in the Middle 
 Ages. I find it first occurring in the annals of the city in the 
 year 1340, when Thomas Blanket was bailiff; his brother 
 Edmund held the same office in 1349, and was member of 
 Parliament for the town in 1369, to which dignity a third 
 brother, Edward, who was the eldest of the three, had been 
 elected in 1362. The trio seem to have been extensively 
 engaged in the manufacture of coarse woollen cloths, for which 
 at that time Bristol was much celebrated ; but to Thomas, the 
 youngest of the three, the introduction of the article of bedding 
 called after the family name is probably due. The cloths made 
 by the brothers, although of the coarser sorts, were sold by 
 them in large quantities to be made into garments for the 
 peasantry, who until their time had worn only coarse cloths 
 made from hemp. Blankets soon came to be used by sportsmen, 
 soldiers, and travellers, in lieu of the loose mantle and puckered 
 cloak and cape, which, as well as the long loose robe or gown, 
 were inconvenient. The former could be readily thrown across 
 the shoulders, or used to wrap about the wearer in cold or wet 
 weather ; and Edward I. found them very useful in his army 
 when encamped against the Welsh and Scots. When stump 
 bedsteads came into use among the wealthy, about the reign of 
 Edward III. (before which time they had slept on rushes, straw, 
 or fern, laid upon the floor), blankets, soon afterwards manu- 
 factured, came to be part of the necessary furniture, and re- 
 peated mention is made of them in the Expenses of the
 
 24 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 Great Wardrobe of Edward III., from 29 Sep., 1347, to 31 
 Jan., 1349." See Archasologia, vol. xxxi. In Rymer's Foedera, 
 and in the Close Rolls of 13 Edw. III., we find letters of pro- 
 tection given to Thomas Blanket against the burgesses of 
 Bristol, who had obstructed him in the manufacture of blankets. 
 Bailey gives also plonlcets, a kind of coarse woollen cloth (An. 
 
 1, R. III., c. 8), "otherwise called vervise" {Coioel). Among 
 
 printers, woollen cloths or white baize laid between the tjonpans 
 of a printing-press to produce a fair impression of the letter. 
 The French has blanchet, the blanket of a printer's press, which 
 would seem to be a diminutive of hlanche, white. Bailey derives 
 blanket in both senses from the French blanchet, and gives also 
 bkmquet as the name of a sort of pea. 
 
 BLARNEY. Smooth deceitful talk, flattery (Irish). Blarney 
 is the name of a castle in the south of Ireland, in a town of 
 the same name, formerly the seat of the powerful clan of Mac- 
 Carty, created Lord Muskerry, and celebrated from a curious 
 superstition. T. Crofton Croker (Res. S. Ireland, 1824, p. 
 306) says, " a stone in the highest part of the castle wall is 
 pointed out to the visitors which is supposed to give whoever 
 kisses it the peculiar privilege of deviating from veracity with 
 unblushing countenance whenever it may be convenient — hence 
 the well-known phrase blamei/." The celebrated groves of 
 Blarney are about five miles from Cork. Others derive the 
 word blarney from Fr. baliverne, a lie, fib, gull ; also a babbling 
 or idle discourse. 
 
 BLETHIA. A variety of tropical bulbous plants, named 
 after Louis Blethia. 
 
 BLETONISM. The faculty of perceiving and indicating 
 subterraneous sjjrings and currents by sensation ; so called 
 from Bleton, a Frenchman, who was supposed to possess this 
 faculty. 
 
 BLOOMER. Formerly a sort of female dress in imitation 
 of male attire, first set on foot by Mrs. Bloomer, wife of Colonel 
 Bloomer, an American. 
 
 BLUCHER. A kind of half-boot, named in honour of 
 General Bliicher, who commanded the Prussians at Water- 
 loo.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 25 
 
 BOBBY. A slang term for a policeman, because the force 
 was introduced by the late Sir Robert Peel. — *S'. F. Creswell. 
 
 BOCCONIA. The tree celandine, a genus of beautiful 
 plants, natives of Mexico ; named after Paolo Bocconia, a 
 Sicilian monk, physician, and botanical writer. 
 
 BODENITE. A mineral ; colour from reddish-brown to 
 nearly black; from Boden, near Marienberg, in the Saxon 
 Erzgebirge. 
 
 BODLEIAN. Pertaining to Sir Thomas Bodley, who 
 founded a celebrated library at Oxford, in the sixteenth 
 century. 
 
 BQEBERA. A family of plants, nat. or. Polygamia cpqualis, 
 found in America; named in honour of M. Boeber. 
 
 BQ5HMERIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Tetraiidria, 
 natives of America and the West Indies, the species of which 
 are mostly shrubs ; named after George Rudolph Boehmer, 
 professor of botany at Wittenberg, in Germany. 
 
 BCEOTIAN. Stupid ; from Bceotia (^jSoicvncc), a country 
 of ancient Greece, whose inhabitants were remarkable for a 
 natural stupidity. " In this Bceotian era of the C^sars the 
 prefect of police is the god of letters." — Letters of an English- 
 man on Louis Napoleon in the " Times" 
 
 BOERHAAVIA. Hogweed; a genus of exotic plants, named 
 after the celebrated physician and botanist Boerhaave, who was 
 born at Woarbout, near Ley den, in 1688. 
 
 BOHEA (in Chinese woo-e-cha). A sort of coarse or low- 
 priced tea brought from Woo-e (called by Europeans Bohea) 
 in Fo-keen, China. Indeed, black tea is chiefly brought from 
 Woo-e. See Grosier, vol. 1, 467. 
 
 BOLDOA. A genus of Indian plants, named after Dr. 
 Boldo. 
 
 BOLOGNA. A sausage or polony, first made at Bologna, 
 in Italy. 
 
 BOLOGNIAN, BOLONIAN, BONONIAN, or BO- 
 LOGNA. A variety of sulphate of barytes, found in roundish 
 masses ; first discovered near Bologna, in Italy. 
 
 BOLOGNINO. A copper coin at Bologna and its neigh- 
 bourhood, the same with the bajoccho.
 
 26 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 BOLSOVER. A yellowish limestone combining carbonate 
 of soda with carbonate of lime, and containing no organic 
 remains ; from Bolsover, in Derbyshire. The new palace at 
 Westminster is built of this stone. 
 
 BOLTONIA. A genus of North American perennial 
 shrubs, named in honour of Mr. Bolton, a botanist of Halifax. 
 BOLTONITE. A granular mineral of a greyish or 
 yellowish colour, chiefly found at Bolton, Massachusetts. 
 
 BOMBITE. A blueish-black mineral of impalpable com- 
 position, found in Bombay ; apparently a variety of flinty 
 slate. — Shepard. 
 
 BONAPARTEA. A genus of Peruvian plants, named in 
 honour of Napoleon Bonaparte. 
 
 BONAPARTISM. The policy or manners of Napoleon 
 Bonaparte. 
 
 BONATEA. A genus of plants, natives of the Cape of 
 Good Hope, named in honour of Professor Bonata. 
 
 BON CHRETIEN (" good Christian"). A pear, said to have 
 been so called from the name of a gardener. 
 
 BONDY. A fine large pear, which probably had its name 
 from the Forest of Bondy, in France, dep. Seine. 
 
 BONNEMAISONEA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Algce ; 
 named after Bonnemaison, the French cryptogamist. 
 
 BONNETIA. A tree of which only one species is known, 
 growing in Cayenne and Guiana ; named in honour of M. 
 Charles Bonnet, a naturalist, philosopher, and distinguished 
 metaphysician, &c. 
 
 BONPLANDIA (Fr. honplandie). A plant from which 
 
 the bark angustora, used in fever, is obtained. '" The name 
 
 of two kinds of American trees ; so called in honour of M. 
 Bonpland, the celebrated traveller." — Bescherelle. 
 
 BONSDORFITE. A sort of mineral found near Abo, in 
 Finland ; named after Bonsdorf, the mineralogist. 
 
 BONTIA. A plant, an evergreen much cultivated at Bar- 
 badoes for making hedges ; named after Jacobus Bontius, a 
 distinguished physician and naturalist of Batavia, author of 
 De Medicina Indorum, &c. &c. 
 
 BORBONIA. A genus of plants, the species of which are
 
 I 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 27 
 
 shrubs, natives of the Cape of G-ood Hope; named after Gaston 
 de Bourbon, Duke of Orleans. 
 
 BORDEAUX. A celebrated wine made at Bordeaux, a 
 city and seaport of France, on the Garonne. 
 
 BORNEEN. The name given to a compound of carbon 
 and hydrogen, found in valeric acid, and which on exposure to 
 moisture acquires the properties of Borneo camphor ; which 
 latter, according to Pereira, rarely comes to this country as a 
 commercial article. 
 
 BORNEOL. Another name for Borneo camphor. 
 
 BORYA. A genus of North American shrubs ; nat. or. 
 Digynia; named in honour of M. Bory de St. Vincent. 
 
 BO SCI A. A genus of shrubs or small trees, natives of 
 the Cape of Good Hope ; named from L. Bosc, the French 
 
 naturalist. A genus of coleopterous five-jointed insects, 
 
 containing five species, from the United States. 
 
 BO SEA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Digynia, of which 
 there is but one species, a native of the Canaries ; named after 
 E. G-. Bose, a German botanist. 
 
 BOSTON. A complicated game of cards still played in 
 Paris, said to have been originally from Boston, in America. 
 
 BOSSIQllA. A genius of leguminous plants named in 
 honour of M. Bossien Lamar tiniere. 
 
 BOSWELLIA. A genus of plants, one species of which 
 yields the gum resin called thus, or frankincense, the olibanum 
 of commerce, so much used in the Roman Catholic Church ; 
 named in honour of Dr. J. Boswell, of Edinburgh. 
 
 BOSWELLISM. A peculiarity of James Boswell, a writer 
 of merit, well known as the friend of Dr. Johnson. 
 
 BOULANGERITE. A mineral sulphuret of antimony 
 and lead, occurring abundantly at Molieres, in France, dep. 
 G-ard ; also in Lapland, Tuscany, &c. &c. ; named after 
 M. Boulanger. 
 
 BOULINIS or BOULYNIS. A copper coin in Italy, 
 answering to an English penny ; so called from having been 
 struck at Bologna. 
 
 BOURNONITE. A mineral of a metallic lustre, found in 
 the Hartz and in other places in Europe ; and also in Potosi, in
 
 28 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 Mexico. It was first found at Endellion, near Redruth, in 
 Cornwall, and hence called endellionite by Count Bournon, 
 after whom it has since been named bournonite. 
 
 BOURRERIA. A genus of West Indian trees (the Ehretia 
 Bourreria of Linnaeus) ; named in honour of M. Bourer. 
 
 BOUSTRAPA. A nickname given to Louis Napoleon, 
 suggestive of three important events in the career of the 
 Prince ; from Bou for Boulogne, stra Strasbourg, im Paris. 
 — Times, 11 Jan. 1853, p. 5, c. 2. 
 
 BOUVARDIA. A genus of South American plants, nat. 
 or. Monogyiiia ; named in honour of Dr. Bouvard. 
 
 BOUGIE. In Continental Europe, the name given to a 
 candle originally and still sometimes made of wax. According 
 to Corruvias, the Sp. hugia is quasi hiquica, from buco, because 
 in making the bougie it is passed through a hole. The word 
 is more correctly derived from Boiijah (found Bugie), a town of 
 Algeria, whence the French originally imported both their wax 
 and their bougies. The place has still a considerable trade in 
 wax. According to Scaliger, the Moors also called a monkey 
 lugia, because a great many of them were imported from 
 Boujah. Cf. Menage, Diet. Etym. " Bougie ;" Gramaye, 
 Afrique, liv. ii. ch. 10 ; Scaliger, centre Cardan, 213 ; Kimchi, 
 Lex. voc. "Semamith;" Juvenal, Sat. x. " Quales, &c.;" Pierre 
 Dau, Hist, de Barbaric, liv. i. ch. 6 ; Strabo, liv. xvii. ; Bo- 
 chart, Col. des Phoen. 539 ; and P. Labbe, Etym. Fran9. 
 
 part ii. p. 16. A long slender insti'ument, introduced 
 
 through the urethra into the bladder to remove obstacles. It 
 is usually made of slips of waxen linen coiled into a cylindrical 
 or slightly conical form by rolling them on any hard smooth 
 surface. It is also made of catgut, elastic gum, and metal ; 
 but those of Avaxen linen are generally preferred. 
 
 BOVEY. Brown lignite, an inflammable fossil resembling 
 in many of its properties bituminous wood ; found at Bovey 
 Hatfield, near Exeter. 
 
 BOWENITE. A mineral of a bright apple-green colour 
 found at Smithfield, in Rhode Island, in nodules imbedded in 
 granular limestone, analysed by Bowen. 
 
 BOWIE, BOWIE-KNIFE, A long knife or dagger used
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 29 
 
 by hunters in the Western States of America ; so named from 
 an American colonel. — S. F. Creswell. 
 
 BOWLESIA. A plant ; nat. or. Umbelliferce, named after 
 Bowles, author of Travels in Spain. 
 
 BRAGATIONITE. A silicate in form closely agreeing 
 with epidote ; found in the Achmatowsk Mine, district of 
 Slatoust, in the Ural; probably named after Prince Bragation. 
 
 BRADLEYA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Monadelphia, 
 the species of which are shrubs, natives of India and China ; 
 named after Professor Bradley, of Cambridge. 
 
 BREGUET. In England, a term usually applied to a 
 particular kind of watch-key and chain. The word is pro- 
 perly applicable to the watches made by M. Breguet, a 
 celebrated manufacturer, who was born in 1747 at Neufchatel, 
 in Switzerland, and died in 1823 at Paris. M. Breguet rendered 
 very great services to both astronomy, natural philosophy, and 
 navigation ; was member of the Bureau des Longitudes, and 
 afterwards of the Institute, where he replaced Carnot. 
 
 BRAHMINISM. The religion of the Brahmins. 
 
 BREISLAKITE. A newly-discovered Vesuvian mineral 
 which lines the small cavities in the lava of Scala, and in that 
 of Olebano ; named from Breislak, a celebrated Italian 
 naturalist. — Journal of Science. 
 
 BREITHAUPTITE. A mineral consisting of nickel, iron, 
 antimony, and sulphuret of lead, found at Andreasberg ; named 
 after Breithaupt. 
 
 BREVICITE. A mineral, a hydrous silicate, found in 
 white fibrous subfoliated masses, probably in syenite, near 
 Brevig, in Norway. 
 
 BREWSTERITE. A mineral found in attached crystals 
 at Strontian, in Argyleshire; at the Giant's Causeway; at St. 
 Turpet, in the Breisgau ; in dep. Isere, France ; and in the 
 Pyrenees ; named after Sir David Brewster. 
 
 BREWSTOLINE. A mineral occurring in crystal of topaz, 
 chrysoberl, quartz, crystals from Quebec, and amethyst from 
 Siberia, where it was detected by Sir David Brewster. 
 
 BREYNIA. A genus of plants, the only species of which 
 is the Breynia disticha, a native of New Caledonia, &c.; named
 
 30 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 in honour of J. Breynius, and his son J. P. Breynius, both 
 celebrated botanists. Bescherelle says, " De J. Breynius, 
 bot. Beige, probablement le meme que Jacques Breyn de 
 Dantzig." 
 
 BRIAREAN. Hundred-handed, like Briareus, son of Titan 
 and Terra, one of the giants, feigned by the poets to have had 
 a hundred arms and fifty heads. 
 
 BRIGAND. A robber ; probably derived from the Brigan- 
 tes, a people of Continental Europe ; or from the Brigantes, the 
 most northern and powerful people, who ravaged Great Britain 
 in the time of the Romans, and who were subdued by Cerialis. 
 They probably had their appellation from the W. brig, a top or 
 summit, from frequenting the tops of the mountains. The W. 
 hrigant is a summit ; also a highlander. 
 
 BRITANNIA. A metallic compound or alloy, consisting 
 chiefly of block tin, with some antimony, and a small portion 
 of copper and brass {^Encyc. Dom. Econ.) Explains itself. 
 
 BRITANNIC A (Gr. ^psravvi-na). A plant, so called because 
 it is said by the ancients to have been discovered by the Friez- 
 landers on the coast of the British Channel. — Crobb. 
 
 BROBDIGNAGIAN. Gigantic; from the kingdom of 
 Brobdignag, in Gulliver's Travels. — S. F. Creswell. 
 
 BROCHANTITE. A basic sulphate of copper, occurring 
 in emerald-green crystals, at Katherinenburg, in Siberia; named 
 by Levy after Brochant de Villiers. 
 
 BROMELIA. A genus of plants, the species of which are 
 shrubs, natives of South America, Jamaica, &c. ; named after 
 Bromel, the Swedish botanist. — Crabb. 
 
 BROOKITE. A mineral consisting of titanic acid and red 
 oxide of iron ; first observed by Mr. Brooke in crystals from 
 Snowdon. 
 
 BROUGHAM. A four-wheeled carriage named after Lord 
 Brougham. 
 
 BROWALLIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Scrophulariaceoe, 
 named after J. Browallius, Bishop of Abo, in Finland. 
 
 BROWNE A. A genus of plants, nat. or. Leguminaceoe, 
 called after Dr. Browne, the historian of Jamaica. — Crabb. 
 
 BROWNISM. The doctrines or religious creed of the
 
 VERBA NOMTNALIA. 31 
 
 Brownists, who rejected both episcopacy and presbyterianism. 
 They had their name from Robert Brown, a dissenter from the 
 Church of England, who left England with his congregation 
 and settled at Middleburg, in Zealand. 
 
 BROYHAN. A celebrated white Hanoverian beer first 
 brewed by Cord Broyhan in 1526. It is doubtless the same 
 as that called Halberstadtische Briehan by Zedler. 
 
 BRUCEA. A genus of plants, nat. or. XanthoxylacecB, the 
 species of which are evergreen ornamental shrubs, natives 
 of the East Indies ; named after Bruce, the Abyssinian 
 traveller. 
 
 BRUCITE. Native hydrate of magnesia, named in honour 
 of A. Bruce, Esq. The name has also been given by American 
 mineralogists to chondrodite. — Dana. • 
 
 BRUMSFELSIA. A genus of plants, the species of which 
 are shrubs, natives of the East Indies ; named after Otho 
 Brunsfelsius, a monk, physician, and botanist of Mentz. 
 
 BRUNIA. A genus of plants, shrubs, nat. or. Escalloniaceoe^ 
 principally natives of the Cape of Good Hope ; named in 
 honour of Cornelius Brun, the celebrated traveller. 
 
 BRUNONIA. A genus of plants, natives of Australia, 
 named in honour of Robert Brown, the distinguished botanist. 
 
 BRUNSVEGIA. A name given to the Amarythis orientalis, 
 a splendid species of the genus, in honour of the Brunswick 
 family, one of great antiquity. 
 
 BRUTIA. A resinous pitch used to make the oleum picinum ; 
 from Brutia (Brutium ?), in Italy. 
 
 BUCELLAS. A wine named from a small village near 
 Lisbon. 
 
 BUCHNERA. A genus of plants, the species of which 
 are shrubs, natives of the Cape of Good Hope ; called after 
 Buchner, a German botanist. 
 
 BUCHOLZITE. A newly discovered fibrous mineral, of 
 great hardness, consisting chiefly of silex and alumina; named 
 after M. Bucholz. A fibrous mineral called fibrolite, brought 
 from the Carnatic, is supposed to be identical with bucholzite. 
 An Americn mineral so called is nothing but kyanite. 
 
 BUCKLANDIA. A fossil plant supposed to have be-
 
 32 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 longed to the Liliacece ; named in honour of Dr. Bucklaud, the 
 geologist. 
 
 BUCKLANDITE. A silicate found in small crystals in 
 the Neskiel Mine at Arendal, in Sweden ; and also, under other 
 circumstances, in Siberia, and at the Lake of Laach, near the 
 Rhine ; probably named in honour of Dr. Buckland. 
 
 BUDDHISM or BOODHISM. The doctrines of the 
 Buddhists; a system of religion in Eastern Asia It teaches 
 that at distant intervals a Boodh or deity appears, to restore the 
 world from a state of ignorance and decay, and then sinks into 
 a state of entire non-existence or Nirvana, or rather, perhaps, 
 of bare existence, without attributes, action, or consciousness. 
 Four Boodhs have thus appeared and passed into Nirvana, the 
 last of whom, Guadama, became incarnate about 500 years 
 before Christ. The objects of worship, until another Boodh 
 appears, are the relics and images of Guadama. 
 
 BUDDLEA. A genus of plants, shrubs, natives of 
 Jamaica ; named in honour of Adam Buddie, a botanist. 
 
 BUHL, Ornamental cabinet furniture in which mother- 
 of-pearl, tortoiseshell, and various coloured woods are inlaid 
 with brass ; so called after its inventor, a German. 
 
 BULLACE. The wild plum (called also bullace plum and 
 bullace-tree), the Primus instititia of Linnaeus. The word is 
 found written bullis, and is corrupted from burdelais or burlace, 
 q. v. The bully-tree, a native of the West Indies. 
 
 BUNGALOW. In Bengal, a thatched cottage, such as is 
 usually occupied by Europeans in the jDrovinces or in the 
 military cantonments, and constructed of wood, bamboo, mats, 
 and thatch. The word is a corruption of the Bengali bdngld, 
 which Professor Wilson thinks may be from Banga, Bengal. 
 
 BUNKUM. In America, high-flown talk, bragging. The 
 origin of bunkum is explained in Wheeler's History of North 
 Carolina. " Several years ago, in Congress, the member for that 
 state, a resident of No. 6, County of Buncombe, rose to 
 address the House, without any extraordinary power in manner 
 or matter to interest the audience. Many members left the 
 hall. Very naively the orator told those who remained that 
 they might go too ; he should speak for some time, ' but he was
 
 VERBA XOMINALIA. 33 
 
 only talking for Buncombe.'" Cf. Bartlett, Dictionary of 
 Americanisms ; Haliburton ; Illustrated News for June 26, 
 1858 ; and N. & Q. 2nd S. vi. 92 ; 3rd S. iii. 427. 
 
 BURDWAN. An oriental dish of high savour, made with 
 a young fowl or chicken pai-boiled ; named fi'om Burdwan, a 
 district of British India, prov. Bengal. 
 
 BURG-UNDY. A celebrated wine, so called from Bur- 
 gundy {Bourgogne), an ancient province of France, where it is 
 produced ; a district whose soil is fertile in grain and fruits, 
 and above all in renowned wines. 
 
 BURL ACE. A sort of grape ; a contraction of hurdelais ; 
 from the Fr. hourdelais, " variete de raisin a grains ovales et 
 noirs ;" from Le Bourdelais, pays de Guyenne, of which the 
 capital is Bordeaux. 
 
 BURKE. To suffocate by fixing an adhesive plaister or 
 other obstruction over the nose and mouth ; a crime rendered 
 notorious by an Irishman named Burke, who sold the bodies of 
 
 his victims for dissection. He was executed in 1829. 
 
 Metaphorically, to burke a report or an invention is to exclude 
 it from publicity, to consign it to oblivion. 
 
 BURMANNIA. A genus of plants of which there are 
 two species, natives of Ceylon, Virginia, and Carolina ; named 
 in honour of John Burmann, M.D., Professor of Botany at 
 Amsterdam, author of Thesaurus Zeylanicus, and Decades 
 Rariorum Plantarum Africanarum. 
 
 BURSERA. A genus of West Indian plants of but one 
 species, the Bursera gummifera or Jamaica birch-tree, which 
 yields the gum elemi; named in honour of Joachim Bursera, 
 pupil of Caspar Bauhin, a great collector of plants, whose 
 Herbarium, in thirty volumes, may be seen at Upsala. 
 
 BUSBY. A sort of fur hat worn by the light cavalry, 
 copied from the Hungarian or Polish; said to have derived its 
 name from Dr. Richard Busby, a celebrated master of West- 
 minster School, who Avore a hat of a somewhat similar de- 
 scription. Dr. Busby was born in 1606; in 1640 he became 
 head master of the Westminster School, which appoint- 
 ment he retained till his death in 1695, a period of fifty-five 
 years.
 
 34 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 BIJTTNERIA. A genus of plants, whose species consist of 
 shrubby perennials ; named in honour of A. Biittner. 
 
 BYTOWNITE. A mineral, a silicate occurring in large 
 boulders near Bytown, Canada West. 
 
 BYZANT, BEZANT, or BYZANTINE. A gold coin of 
 the value of £15 sterling, so called from having been coined 
 at Byzantium. Also a piece of gold of the value of £15, 
 offered by the king on certain festivals. — Camden; Ash. 
 
 0. 
 
 CABAL. A number of persons united in some close 
 design, usually to promote their private views in church or 
 state by intrigue ; a jumble. The Fr. cahale is a club, society, 
 or combination ; the It. cabala, knowledge of secret things ; 
 the S|). cabala, secret science ; cabal, perfect, just, exact ; 
 probably from the Heb. b^p kahal, to take, receive, accept, 
 whence cabala, certain traditions of the Jews ; but according 
 to some, cabal was the appellation given to the ministry of 
 Charles II., the initials of their names being Clifford, J.shley, 
 Buckingham, J.rlington, iauderdale ; " than which," says 
 Hume, " never was a more dangerous ministry in England, nor 
 one more noted for pernicious councils." 
 
 CABANNAH. A cigar originally from Cuba, so named 
 from the manufacturer. In the " present age of progress " 
 they are, in England, principally made of cabbage-leaves. 
 
 CACHOLONG. An opaque or milk-white chalcedony, a 
 variety of quartz. It often envelops common chalcedony, and 
 is sometimes associated with flint. According to Webster, the 
 word is said to be from Cach, the name of a river in Bucharia 
 (in the empire of Russia), and cholon, a Calmuc word for 
 stone. 
 
 CADILLAC. A sort of pear, from Cadillac, in France, 
 dep. Gironde. 
 
 CADMEAN or CADMIAN. A name applied to the ancient 
 Greek or Ionic letters, such as they were brought by Cadmus 
 into Greece from Phoenicia, whence Herodotus calls them
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 35 
 
 Pha3nician letters. They were the sixteen simple letters of 
 the alphabet as follows : — 
 
 a, /3, y, ^, £, i, >c, A, /^, V, 0, TT, f, 0-, r, u. 
 
 According to some writers, Cadmus was not the inventor, nor 
 even the importer of Greek letters, but only the modeller and 
 reformer thereof; and it was hence they acquired the appella- 
 tion of Cadmean or Phoenician letters, whereas before that 
 time they were called Pelasgian letters. 
 
 C^ SALPINX A. A genus of plants, the species of which 
 are natives of hot climates, and afford the wood used in dyeing 
 known in commerce under the name of Brazil-wood. So 
 named in honour of C^salpinus, chief physician to Pope 
 Clement VIII. 
 
 C^SIA. A genus of liliacious plants, natives of Austra- 
 lasia ; named by Mr. Brown in honour of Frederico Cajsio, a 
 Roman nobleman illustrious for his patronage and cultivation 
 of science, who founded the celebrated academy of the LyncEci 
 at Rome, in 1603, whence have sprung most of the scientific 
 associations of Europe. 
 
 C^SIO. A genus of fishes, having the dorsal and anal 
 spines remarkably large, and their base coated with scales ; 
 probably named in honour of Caesio. See C^siA. 
 
 CAHORS. A celebrated French wine made from a black 
 grape growing in the neighbourhood of Cahors, dep. Lot. 
 
 CAIRNGORM. A yellow or brown variety of rock- 
 crystal, or crystallized quartz, found in the mountain of Cairn- 
 gorm, in Scotland. 
 
 CAJETA. In entomology, the name under Avhich Cramer 
 figures the Gmelinian Noctua fullonica. The word cajeta is 
 either derived from Gaeta, in Italy; or from a surname formed 
 from Caius. 
 
 CALATRAVA. A Spanish military order, named from 
 Calatrava, in Spain. 
 
 CALCAVALLA. A kind of sweet wine from Portugal, 
 doubtless named from a locality. 
 
 CALEDONITE. A mineral consisting of the sulphate and 
 carbonate of lead, and carbonate of copper, occurring at Lead- 
 
 D 2
 
 36 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 hills, in Scotland ; named from Caledonia, the ancient name of 
 Scotland. It is also found in Cumberland, in the Hartz, and 
 in Missouri. 
 
 CALEMBOURGr. (Fr.) A pun, witticism; from a Ger- 
 man Count KahUinberg, noted for his blunders in the French 
 language. {Brande. See instance in N. & Q., 3rd S., V., 257.) 
 Kahlenberg is the name of a hill in Austria, on the Danube, 
 on whose side the army of Sobieski arrived to the rescue of 
 Vienna when besieged by the Turks in 1683 ; and Calemberg 
 is the name of a chfiteau near Coburg, in Germany. 
 
 CALEPIN. Formerly a common name for a lexicon, and still 
 used in French for a memorandum-book, scrap-book, or commou- 
 place book. The word is derived from Ambrose Calepin or Da 
 Calepio, a celebrated grammarian and lexicographer of the 
 fifteenth century, a native of Bergamo, in Italy ; author of a 
 polyglot dictionary, of which there are many editions with 
 the improvements of later philologists. Cf. Moreri; Tiraboschi, 
 
 CALEYA. A genus of Australian bulbous-rooted plants 
 named in honour of George Cayley, the eminent botanist. 
 
 CALICO. A kind of cotton cloth, so named from Calicut, 
 on the Malabar coast, where it was first manufactured. It is 
 now also made both in Europe and the United States. 
 
 CALIPPIC. In chronology, a term applied to a period of 
 76 years, continually recurring, after which it was supposed 
 by Calippus, an Athenian astronomer, that the lunations, &c., 
 of the moon would return again in the same order ; but this 
 is incorrect, as it brings them too late by a day in 225 years. 
 
 CALUMBA, COLUMBO, COLUMBA, or COLOMBO. 
 A root of an aromatic smell and pungent bitter taste, used as a 
 tonic, imported from Colombo, in Ceylon. According to 
 Webster, it is the root of the Cocculus palmatus, growing in 
 Mozambique, where its native name is halumh. 
 
 CALVINISM. The theological tenets or doctrines of Cal- 
 vin, who was born in Picardy, in France, and in 1536 chosen 
 professor of divinity and minister of a church in Geneva. 
 
 CAMBRIC (Fr. toile de Camhrai). A very fine white linen, 
 named from Cambray, in French Flanders, where it was first 
 manufactured bv the Dutch emigrants in 1563. at which time
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 37 
 
 it was chiefly used for large ruffs. The fabric souietimos 
 called cambric iu England is made of cotton ; that of France 
 and Ireland, of flax. Cf. also Anders. Comm. 11, 170; Stow's 
 "Annals, 869, ed. Howes ; Strutt's Dresses, 209. 
 
 CAMELLIA. A genus of beautiful flowering shrubs, the 
 principal of which are the Camellia Japonicu, and the Camellia 
 sasanqua, natives of China and Japan ; named in honour of 
 G. J. Kamel or Camellus, a Jesuit and botanist, 
 
 CAMERARIA. A genus of plants, the species of which 
 are natives of South America and Ceylon; called after J. Came- 
 rai'ius, a botanist of Nuremberg. — Crahh. 
 
 CAMPEACHY. A tree and wood (logwood) much used in 
 dyeing ; named from the Bay of Campeachy, in Spanish 
 America, whence it is brought. 
 
 CANAANITE. A mineral allied to scapolite, from Canaan, 
 Connecticut, U.S. 
 
 CANARINA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Campanulacece ; 
 so called because they come from the Canaries. — Crahh. 
 
 CANARY. A wine, the same with sack, from the Canaries, 
 where the Spaniards first planted vines. Hence canary, name 
 of an old dance. Indeed, Shakspeare has used the word as a 
 
 verb for to dance, in a kind of cant phrase. A singing-bird 
 
 from the Canary Isles, although now bred in other countries. 
 A grass, the seeds of which are collected for canary-birds. 
 
 CANNIBAL. A human being that eats human flesh. 
 Columbus, in the narrative of his discoveries, mentions certain 
 people called Cannibals ; but in the isles he says the natives 
 lived in great fear of Carihals, or people of Cariba, called in 
 Hispaniola Carih. Again, in old maps the Caribbee Islands are 
 called the Cannibal Islands. 
 
 CANOPY. From the L. canopeum or conojHum ; from 
 Kcovoo^', a gnat ; or from Canopus, a town in Lower Egypt. 
 {S. F. Creswell.) But qu. from jcwvwTTsiov, a curtain to keep off" 
 gnats ; from yuovw^, a gnat ; or from -kouvoq, a cone, from its form. 
 
 CANT. A whining singing manner of speech ; a quaint 
 affected mode of uttering words, either in conversation or 
 preaching. "This word, which is now generally applied (o 
 fanaticism and hypocrital conduct, is derived from two Scotch 
 
 ■"'«■ **.,/
 
 38 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 Presbyterian ministers in the reign of Charles II. They were 
 father and son, both named Andrew Cant ; and Whitelock in 
 his Memoirs, after narrating the defeat at Worcester in 1651, 
 says, Divers Scotch ministers were permitted to meet at 
 Edinburgh to keep a day of humiliation, as they pretended, for 
 their too much correspondence with the king ; and in the 
 same month, when Lord Argyll had called a Parliament, Mr. 
 Andrew Cant, a minister, said in his pulpit that God was 
 bound to hold this Parliament, for that all other Parliaments 
 were called by man, but this Avas brought about by His own 
 hand" (_Timbs). Dr. Jamieson, under emit, says, " to sing in 
 speaking, to repeat after the manner of recitative. (Scot.) 
 This term is generally applied to preachers who deliver their 
 discourses in this manner ;" and, after referring to the above 
 anecdote, he says, " but there is reason to suppose that this 
 ungraceful mode of speaking is much more ancient, and that 
 it was imported by our Reformers from the Church of Rome, as 
 it undoubtedly bears the greatest resemblance to the chanting 
 of the service, and the word may have had its origin immedi- 
 ately from the L. canto, to sing, chant. Some even go so far as 
 to assert that Cicero and the other Roman orators delivered all 
 their orations in recitative." 
 
 CANTABRICA. Lavender-leaved bindweed, a herb of the 
 genus Convolvulus ; so named from having been discovered in 
 Cantabria, the appellation formerly given to the north-eastern 
 part of Spain. See Pliu. 25, 47. 
 
 CANTERBURY. A receptacle for music, portfolios, loose 
 papers, &c., being an ornamental stand with divisions, first 
 made at Canterbury. A pivot crane. 
 
 CAOUTCHOUC (found cahuca). Another name for India 
 rubber, an elastic substance impermeable to water, produced 
 from the Hevea Chiianensis, and various other plants. It is 
 brought from the forests of Guiana, in South America, and 
 either the word is of native origin or the substance may have 
 been so named because produced in great abundance on the 
 banks of the Cauca, in New Granada. 
 
 CAPE. A wine of which there are tAvo kinds, made in the 
 Cape Colony.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA, 39 
 
 CAPORCIANITE. A mineral, a hydrous silicate occurriug 
 in geodes witli calcite, in the gabbro rosso of Monte Capor- 
 ciano at L'Impruneta, and other places in Tuscany. 
 
 CARADOC. A sandstone, a division of the Lower Silurian 
 rocks, consisting of red, purple, green, and white micaceous, 
 sometimes quartzose, grits, and limestones, 2500 feet thick, con- 
 taining corals and mollusca ; so named from a ridge in Shrop- 
 shire, on the flanks of which it is exposed. " The chief and 
 loftiest central mass, or that of Caer-Caradoc, gives name to 
 the Avhole range." — 31urchison. 
 
 CARAWAY. A biennial ; the Carum carui, having a root 
 like a parsnip, and esteemed equal to a parsnip. Its seed is a 
 strong aromatic, abounding in essential oil. See Carum. 
 
 CARICA. The systematic name of a genus of plants, nat. 
 or. Papayacece; so called because it was brought from Caria. 
 
 CARICUM. A detergent ointment for ulcers, named after 
 its inventor Caricus. 
 
 CARL D'OR. A gold coin of Brunswick, worth about five 
 rix-dollars, or about sixteen shillings sterling ; probably named 
 from one of the rulers of the dukedom. 
 
 CARLINA or CARLINE. A thistle ; a genus of plants 
 so called from the Emperor Charlemagne, whose army is said 
 t© have been preserved from the plague by the use of its 
 root. 
 
 CARLINO, CARLINE, or CAROLINE. A small coin 
 and money of account in Naples and Sicily equal to 4|d. In 
 Piedmont, a gold piece coined before 1785, equal to £51 8s. 8d; 
 subsequently to that year equal to £5 12s. 3c?.; probably named 
 from a ruler, Carlo, 
 
 CARLUDOVICA. A genus of plants named after Charles IV. 
 of Spain and his queen Louisa. 
 
 CARMxiGNOLE. A name given to the members of a 
 revolutionary party in France, the most exalted of the club of 
 the Jacobins. The Carmagnoles were leagued in 1792 against 
 the unfortunate Queen Marie Antoinette. They had their 
 name from a dance song which they sang, and which was com- 
 posed on the occasion of the taking of Carmagnola, in Pied- 
 mont. The word carmagnole is also applied to the dress worn
 
 40 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 by the Carmagnoles; and also, in disparagement, to a soldier of 
 the Republican armies of France. 
 
 CARMELITE. A woollen stuff used for dresses, and so 
 named as resembling the garb of the Carmelites, an order of 
 mendicant friars established on Mount Carmel, Syria, in the 
 twelfth century. 
 
 CAROLATHINE. A mineral, colour honey-yellow to 
 wine-yellow, resembling mellite, found near Gleiwitz; named 
 after the Prince of Carolath. 
 
 CAROLIN or CAROLIN D'OR. A gold coin of Bavaria, 
 Hesse-Darmstadt, and Wiirtemburg, equal to £1 Os. 4^d., 
 probably named from a ruler. Carlo. 
 
 CAROLINE A. A genus of plants, nat. or. StercuUacce, the 
 species of which are natives of Guinea, called after Sophia 
 Caroline, Margravine of Baden. 
 
 CAROLUS. A broad piece of gold struck in the reign of 
 Charles I., equal to 205. 
 
 CARPET. A covering for the floor, a manufacture of 
 oriental origin. Skinner suggests that the It. car'petta may be 
 from Cairo and tapeto ; "q. d. tapes Cairicus seu Ilemphiticus," a 
 carpet of Cairo or Memphis. This agrees with Cotgrave, who 
 renders the O. Fr. cairin " Turkie carpet ; such a one as is 
 brought from Caire, in Egypt." Carpets with hair or shag on 
 one side only were called by the ancients tapetes ,• those having 
 shag on both sides were styled amphitapetes. 
 
 CARP-MEALS. A kind of coarse cloth made in the 
 north of England (Phillips) ; most probably named from some 
 place on the coast. Bailey renders meales, vales, " the shelves 
 or banks of sand on the sea-coast of Norway;" but the term 
 is also found in localities on the English coast. 
 
 CARRONADE. A short piece of ordnance, so called from 
 the village of Carron, in Stirlingshire, where first made. 
 
 CARTESIAN. Pertaining to Descartes, or to his philo- 
 sophy, which taught the doctrine of vortexes round the sun 
 and planets. 
 
 CARUM. A plant from Caria, in Asia Minor, where it 
 Avas first found. It is now the name of a genus of plants, nat. 
 or. TJmbelliferce.
 
 VEKBA NOMINALIA. 41 
 
 CAR YATES, CARYATIDES. In architecture, figures of 
 women dressed in long robes after the Asiatic manner, serving 
 to support entablatures. The Athenians had been long at war 
 with the Caryans ; the latter being at length vanquished, and 
 their wives led captive, the Greeks, to perpetuate the event, 
 erected trophies, in which figures of women, dressed in the 
 Caryatic manner, were used to support entablatures. Other 
 female figures were afterwards used in the same manner, but 
 
 they were called by the same name {Encyc.) They were 
 
 called Caryatides from Carya, a city in the Peloponnesus which 
 sided with the Persians, and on that account was sacked by 
 the other G-reeks, its males butchered, and its females reduced 
 to slavery (Cyc.) 
 
 CASHMERE or CACHEMERE. A peculiar textile fabric 
 first imported from the kingdom of Cashmere, and noAV well 
 imitated in France and Great Britain. The material of the 
 Cashmere shawls is the downy wool found about the roots of 
 the hair of the Thibet goat. — Ure. 
 
 CASSANDRA. A name given by several authors to a very 
 elegant sea-shell, of concha glohosa or clolium kind, more usually 
 known under the name of the lyi^a or harp-shell. It is sup- 
 posed to be called cassandra because of its being found on the 
 island of Cassan. — Cliamb. Cyc. 
 
 CASSERIAN. The name given to a semi-lunar ganglion 
 formed by the fifth nerve, and immediately dividing into the 
 ophthalmic, superior maxillary, and inferior maxillary nerves ; 
 named after Julius Casserius, of Padua. 
 
 CASSIANISM. Sometimes used for Semi-pelagianism ; the 
 tenets of Cassian, a teacher of Gaul towards the close of the 
 fifth century. 
 
 CASSIOPEIA. One of the forty-eight old constellations 
 near Cepheus, not far from the North Pole ; so named from 
 Cassiopeia, who, with her husband Cepheus, was fabled by the 
 Greeks as placed among the constellations to witness the 
 punishment inflicted on their daughter Andromeda. 
 
 CASSIUS. A purple colour obtained from the chloride of 
 gold by means of tin, much valued for the beautiful colour
 
 42 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 which it gives to glass or enamel ; named from the discoverer, 
 M. Cassius. 
 
 CASTANEA. The chestnut ; a genus of plants, trees, 
 nat. or. Polyandria ; so called from Castauea, a town of 
 Thessaly, whence it was brought. See Chestnut. 
 
 CASTANET. An instrument composed of concave shells 
 of ivory or hard wood ; used by the Spaniards, &c., as an 
 accompaniment to their dances; from Sp. castaneta, from cas- 
 taha, a chestnut, from the resemblance to two chestnuts. See 
 Chestnut. 
 
 CATESBQ5A. A genus of plants, the species of which 
 are ornamental shrubs ; called after Mr. Catesby, author of 
 the Natural History of Carolina. — Crahh. 
 
 CATILINISM. Conspiracy ; the practices of Catiline, the 
 Roman conspirator. See Webster. 
 
 CATONIAN. Grave, severe, inflexible ; pertaining to or 
 resembling Cato, the Roman, who was remarkable for his 
 severity of manner. See Bailey and Webster. 
 
 CAUDEBEC. A hat made of lamb's wool, down of os- 
 triches, or camel's hair, worn in England about the year 1700 ; 
 named from Caudebec, in Normandy, which, prior to the Pro- 
 testant emigration after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 
 was famed for the manufacture of this kind of hat. 
 
 CAULINIA. A genus of endogenous aquatic plants named 
 in honour of Don Filippo Cavolini, a Neapolitan naturalist, 
 author of several botanical works. 
 
 CAUZERANITE. A crystallised mineral of a black or 
 dark blue colour, found at Cauzeran, in the Pyrenees. 
 
 CAVOLINITE. A variety of nepheline, a mineral occurring 
 in glassy crystals, &c. ; named after Cavolini, a Neapolitan 
 naturalist. 
 
 CAYENNE. A very pungent pepper prepared from 
 several species of capsicum, but especially the capsicum mini- 
 mum ; so called because originally imported from Cayenne, 
 capital of French Guiana, on N.E. coast of South America. 
 
 CECROPIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Urticacece, one 
 species of which is the trumpet-tree or snake-wood, a native
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 43 
 
 of Jamaica ; called after Cecrops, king of Athens, whose legs 
 were fabled to be snakes. 
 
 CELLARIUS. A dance introduced by the celebrated 
 French professor of the same name. 
 
 CELSIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Scrophulariacece, 
 called after Dr. Celsius, professor of Oriental languages in the 
 University of Upsal. 
 
 CENTAUREA. A herb named after Chiron, the Centaur, 
 who was healed by it. The name is now applied to a genus of 
 plants, nat. or. CompositcB. 
 
 CEPHEUS. A constellation in the northern hemisphere, 
 fabled by the Greeks to represent Cepheus, husband of Cassio- 
 peia, and father of Andromeda. 
 
 CEREAL. Pertaining to edible grain, as wheat, rye, &c.; 
 from Ceres, goddess of corn. 
 
 CEREMONY. Outward rite ; external form in religion ; 
 forms of civility ; rules established by custom for regulating 
 social intercourse ; outward forms of state ; from L. ceremonia 
 for cceremonia or cmrimonia, literally sacredness, sanctity, awe, 
 reverence, veneration of the Deity ; then a religious action or 
 usage, a sacred rite, religious ceremony; supposed to be from 
 Caere or Ccerete (anc. Agylla, now Cervetere), a town of 
 Etruria which stood in a very ancient religious connection with 
 Rome ; hence the Romans in their Gallic war carried their 
 sacred relics there. (See Val. Max. I. 1, No. 10 ; Fest. 34. 
 Cf. Nieb. Rom. Gesch. I. 428.) Others derive the Latin 
 word from the goddess Ceres, or from ceinis, which, according 
 to Scaliger, was anciently used for " holy." 
 
 CERES. One of the asteroids revolving between the orbits 
 of Mars and Jupiter, discovered byPiazzi at Palermo in 1801 ; 
 named from Ceres. 
 
 CERITE. The siliceous oxide of cerium, q.v. 
 
 CERIUM. A metal of great specific gravity discovered in 
 Sweden, in cerite ; named from the planet Ceres. 
 
 CERVANTITE. A mineral ; colour Isabella yellow, 
 sulphur yellow, or nearly white ; found with grey antimony, 
 and resulting from its alteration, atCerva)ites, inGalicia, Spain;
 
 44 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 Cliazelles, in Auvergne ; aad Felsobanya, Kremnitz, and else- 
 where in Hungary. 
 
 CESARE. In logic, a syllogism in the second figure, 
 consisting of a universal affirmative between two universal 
 negatives ; probably from CcBsar. 
 
 CESAREAN. The Cesarean operation is the taking of a 
 child from the womb by cutting ; an operation which, it is 
 said, gave birth to Cajsar, the Roman emperor. 
 
 CESAREWITCH or CZAREWITCH. The name of a 
 stake run for at Newmarket. It was called in honour of the 
 eldest son of the Czar, whose title is Czarewitch, i.e. son of the 
 Czar, in token of his gift of the 500-guinea gold cup called the 
 " Emperor's Cup," run for at Ascot, which, however, since the 
 Crimean War, has been withdrawn. 
 
 CEYLANITE. A mineral classed with the ruby family, and 
 called also pleonaste. It is the Scorbus genuinus of Linnaeus, and 
 is chiefly found in the sand of the rivers of Ceylon, from which 
 island it derives its name. 
 
 CHABLIS. A celebrated white wine made at Chablis, a 
 town of France (Yonne), in the midst of vineyards. 
 
 CHAILLETIA. A genus of shrubs, type of nat. or. 
 Chailletiacece ; named in honour of M. Chaillet. 
 
 CHALCEDONY. An uncrystallised translucent variety of 
 quartz, having a whitish colour, found in a variety of trap 
 rock. The word is derived from Clialcedon, a town of Asia 
 Minor, opposite to Byzantium, where it was first found. 
 
 CHALLIS. A fine printed soft woollen fabric used for 
 ladies' dresses ; from ChoUet, in France, dep. Maine-et-Loire. 
 
 CHALYBEATE. Any wafer or other liquor into which iron 
 enters. As an adjective the word means impregnated with parti- 
 cles of iron; from L. chalyhs, Gr. p^aXt;^/, steel; so named from the 
 Chalybes (or, as some say, Chalybs, their city), a people on the 
 Black Sea, near Thermodon, in Pontus, and perhaps partly in 
 Paphlagonia, in whose country very good iron was found, and 
 who are said to have possessed the art of making iron or steel, 
 and also the fahrica (eraria. (Cf. Plin, H. N. VI. 4, s. 4; and 
 VIL 56 ante mcd. s. 57; I. 9. med.; Virg. Geo. 1.58.) Chalybs
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 45 
 
 (;:^aAyr|/) was the name of a river of Spain, on which the 
 Chalybes dwelt. (Cf. Just. xliv. 3.) 
 
 CHAMBERTIN. A fine red wine from Chambertin, a 
 celebrated coteau in France, dep. Cote-d'Or. 
 
 CHAMOISITE. A mineral, considered to be a mixture of 
 magnetic iron and a hydrous silicate of alumina, dug from 
 Mount Chamoisin, in the Valais, Switzerland, 
 
 CHAMPAG-NE. The wine so called ; from Champagne, 
 one of the largest and most important of the former provinces 
 of France. That consumed in England is principally made 
 from gooseberries. 
 
 CHAMPA WK. The Michadia champaca, a tree held in 
 great religious veneration by the Hindoos. It is distinguished 
 by large deep-yellow flowers, which during the day are sweet- 
 scented, but have at night an exceedingly disagreeable odour. 
 It has its name from Champaca, a small island of Cochin 
 China, of which it is a native. 
 
 CHAMPIGNY. A red wine, from a place of the same 
 name in France. 
 
 CHAMPOLLIONIST. A follower of Champollion the 
 Younger in respect to Egyptian hieroglyphics {Webster). Jean 
 Francois Champollion, the celebrated savant, was born at Figeac, 
 Lot, in 1791, and died in 1832. 
 
 CHANDELI. A very fine species of cotton fabric of so 
 costly a description as to be used in native courts only [Elliott) ; 
 from Chandel or Chanderi, properly Chandhairee, a town of 
 Malwa, India. 
 
 CHANTILLY. A fine rich hand-made lace, which, from 
 its price, can only be worn by the wealthy ; from a place of 
 the same name in France. 
 
 CHAPTALIA. A species of plants, answering to the 
 Liiinasan genus Perdicium; named in honour of M. Chaptal. 
 
 CHARADE. A sort of riddle, usually in verse, the subject 
 of which is a word of one or more syllables. It is said to have 
 had its name from its inventor. Charadrus (Jiodie Keyrimios 
 Potamos) is the name of a river, on the left bank of which 
 stood Marathon. The word, however, is not probably of very 
 ancient origin.
 
 46 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 CHARLEY. A small patch of hair, sometimes called a 
 door-mat, immediately under the upper lip; named after Charles 
 (I. or II. ?) A familiar name anciently applied to ward- 
 beadles, street-keepers, and other drowsy functionaries. 
 
 CHARLOTTE. In the culinary art, a sweet dish, probably 
 named from the maker. In French cookery the term is of 
 frequent use; as Charlotte depommes aux confitures; Charlotte 
 de poires a la vanille ; Charlotte d'abricots ; Charlotte de 
 peches ; Charlotte a ITtalienne ; Charlotte Russe. 
 
 CHASALIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Monogynia, 
 natives of the Mauritius ; named in honour of D. Chasal. 
 
 CHATEAU MARGAUX. One of the four superior sorts 
 of wine called Bordeaux ; produced at the celebrated vineyard 
 of the same name, dep. Gironde, Haut-Medoc. So progressive 
 is the present age that this wine, like that called Lafitte, may 
 be had at nearly all the hotels in Europe, although only 750 
 hectolitres of the first, and 200 of the second quality, are made 
 annually. 
 
 CHATHAM. A moiety of the duty payable by foreign- 
 built ships, and applied to the chest at Chatham. Chatham 
 Chest was established for the relief of English mariners 
 wounded or superannuated in their country's service. — Crahh. 
 
 CHEDDAR. A celebrated cheese made at Cheddar, 
 Somerset. 
 
 CHELMSFORDITE. A siliceous mineral, found usually 
 associated with quartz, mica, and apatite ; occurring at Chelms- 
 ford, Mass., U.S. 
 
 CHERLERIA. A genus of plants usually growing in 
 moist places near the summits of high mountains ; named in 
 honour of John Henry Cherler, son-in-law and fellow-labourer 
 of the botanist John Bauhin. 
 
 CHERRY (anc. ciris, L. cerasus, Gr. xspa-cnov). The fruit 
 of the Prumis cerasus. It is said to derive its name from 
 Cerasus, a city of Pontus, near the Euxine, whence it was 
 bi'ought by Lucullus, a.r. 680, after the defeat of Mithridates ; 
 and to have been introduced into England by the Romans 
 about 120 years afterwards, a.d. 55. Pliny, lib. xviii. ch. 23.
 
 VERBA NOMINALTA. 47 
 
 " Cerasi, ante victoriam Mithridaticam L. LucuUi non fuerc in 
 Italia. Ad urbis annum mclxxx is primiim vexit a Ponto : 
 annisque 120 trans oceanum in Britanniam usque pervenire 
 eadem, ut diximus in ^gypto non potuere gigni." Ac- 
 cording to others the cherry-tree was known to the Greeks 
 long before the time of Lucullus ; and Cerasus (-Kspacrovg) itself 
 may have had its name from the number of cherry-trees 
 growing there. Menage says it is not true that this fruit was 
 called from the town of Cerasus, and that it is the reverse, as 
 has been very truly remarked by Casaubon ; and that Theo- 
 phrastus, a more ancient author than Diphilus, mentions the 
 cherry in his History of Plants, lib. 3, ch. 13. After quoting Ser- 
 vius (" Cerasus civitas est Ponti, quani cum delesset Lucullus, 
 genus hoc pomi inde advexit, et a civitate cerasum appellavit. 
 Nam arbor cerasus pomum, cerasum dicitur. Hoc autem 
 etiam ante Lucullum erat in Italia, sed durum, et cornum ap- 
 pellabatur : quod postea mixto nomine cornocerosum dictum 
 est ") Menage adds, " Ce qui donne sujet de croire que Kspatrog 
 a ete fait de v-spag [a horn], et que les cerises ont ete appelees 
 y.spa<Ta, de leur ressemblance au fruit du cornuiller ; Kspccg, 
 ■Kspa.'tog, xspao;, Kspacrog.'^ 
 
 CHESNEIA. A genus of plants of the papilionaceous 
 family, including only one species ; discovered upon the banks 
 of the Euphrates ; " said to have been named after Lord 
 Chesney." 
 
 CHESTERFIELD. A coat named after Lord Chesterfield, 
 a nobleman of the present day. 
 
 CHESTERLITE. A mineral found at Chester, in Pennsyl- 
 vania. 
 
 CHESTNUT or CHESNUT (A.S. cisten-beam, L. nux cas- 
 tanea, or simply castanea ; castanea sc. arbor the tree; Gr. 
 Koca-rocvov, Koca-raycc). The fruit, seed, or nut of a tree be- 
 longing to the genus Castanea; nat. or. Corylacece. Some 
 derive the word from the W. cast, envelopment, from its shell 
 or cover ; but it is more correctly from Castana, Castana'a, or 
 Casthancea; Herod. Kaa-Qocvaicc, or Kao-Qavairj, a town of Mag- 
 nesia, in Thessaly, which abounded with chestnut trees.
 
 48 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 CHIC. A term in very general use in France to express a 
 high degree of perfection in works of art, &c. The Figaro- 
 Programme gives the following account of the origin of the 
 word: — " The celebrated painter David, at the beginning of the 
 present century, gave lessons to young artists, and was paid 
 high prices ; but when a pupil, the son of poor parents, showed 
 proofs of unusual talent, the painter willingly gave his lessons 
 gratis. One of his pupils named Chicque, the son of a 
 fruiterer, displayed so much talent in his studies in oil-painting, 
 that he became a special favourite, and David always expressed 
 his conviction that the lad would become an eminent artist, and 
 do honour to his school. To David's great grief, Chicque died 
 at the age of eighteen. From that time the great painter was 
 in the habit of saying of a bad study, ' Chicque would not 
 have done like that ;' or of a good one, ' This reminds one of 
 Chicque.' The word thus became among his pupils a general 
 term for excellence, and, being constantly used by them in places 
 of public resort, it gradually passed into the popular vocabu- 
 lary, and was adopted by writers, who suppressed the last 
 syllable, and spelt it chic." See Galignani, 15 Aug. 1864. 
 
 CHILDRENITE. A mineral, according to Wollaston, con- 
 sisting of alumina, red oxide of iron, phosphoric acid, and 
 water ; named in honour of Mr. Children. 
 
 CHILONIAN, CHILONIC. Brief, compendious, as a 
 Chilonic style ; so called from Chilo, one of the Seven Wise 
 Men of Greece, whose sentences were very short and pithy, — 
 Bailey. 
 
 CHINA. A species of earthemvare originally made in 
 China. 
 
 CHINSURAH. A vile cigar made at Chinsurah, near 
 Calcutta. 
 
 CHIVIATITE. A mineral, colour lead-grey, resembling 
 bismuth-glance ; from Chiviato, in Peru. 
 
 CHOMELIA. A genus of American shrubs, named in 
 honour of Dr. Chomel, physician to Louis XV. 
 
 CHRISTEN. To baptise and name ; to initiate into the 
 visible church of Christ by the application of water. 
 
 CHRISTIAN. A believer in the religion of Christ.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 49 
 
 CHRISTIAN D'OR. A gold coin current in Denmark for 
 16s. 6d. sterling ; named from a monarch of the country. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY. The religion of Christians, or the 
 system of doctrines and precepts taught by Christ, and re- 
 corded by the evangelists and apostles. 
 
 CHRISTMAS. The festival of the Christian church ; so 
 named in memory of the birth of Christ. 
 
 CHRIST'S THORN. A thorny plant that flourishes about 
 Christmas. According to some, it is of the same sort as that of 
 which the crovrn of thorns vv^as made. 
 
 CHURRIGUERESQUE. In the style of Joseph Chur- 
 riguera, w^ho vras born at Salamanca about 1660. Mr. Ford 
 says he is the heresiarch of bad taste, and his name is synony- 
 mous with absurdity in brick and mortar. 
 
 CHUTNEY or CHUTNEE. A condiment or pickle made 
 in India, compounded of sweets and acids, of which there are 
 several local kinds ; Bengal chutney, sweet chutney, green 
 mango chutney, &c. It is much eaten in the East with curries, 
 stews, &c. ; and it may have had its name from Chatna a town of 
 Nepal, or Chatna in Bengal. There is likewise Chutnahulli 
 in Mysore, and the village of Chuttanuttee on the Hoogly, 
 one of the earliest possessions of the British in India. 
 
 CICELY. A plant, a species of choerophyllum ; from the 
 Christian name Cecilia. 
 
 CICERONE. A guide ; one who points out to travellers 
 the curiosities of a place, especially in Italy. " They are said 
 to be so named from their indiscriminately calling every statue 
 or picture Cicero when they do not know whom it represents." 
 
 CICERONIANISM. Imitation or resemblance of the 
 style or action of Cicero. — Webster. 
 
 CIMOLITE. A species of clay of a white colour used by 
 the ancients as a remedy for erysipelas and other inflammations. 
 It is now used in removing spots from cloth. One species, of 
 a purple colour, is the steatite or soap-rock ; and from another, 
 found in the Isle of Wight, tobacco-pipes are made. L. cimolia, 
 Gr. Ki[j.oKia, ; said to be so called from Cimolus (now Argentiera), 
 an isle in the Cretan Sea. — Pliny, lib. xxxv. 17. 
 
 CINCHONA. A genus of plants, nat. or. CinchonacecB,
 
 50 VERBA NOMINALTA. 
 
 growing in the hilly parts of Peru ; so called from the Countess 
 Cinchon, vice-queen of Peru, who was cured of a fever by it, 
 A.D. 1638. See Quinine. 
 
 CIRCASSIAN. A kind of woollen cloth from Circassia. 
 
 CmC^A. A genus of plants called after Circe, the en- 
 chantress of the Greeks ; the fruit, which is covered with 
 hooked prickles, laying hold of the clothes of passengers, as 
 Circe is said to have laid hold on persons by her enchant- 
 ments. — Crahb. 
 
 CLARENCE. A kind of carriage ; a cross between a com- 
 mon carriage and a britzska, named after the late Duke of 
 Clarence (William IV.) 
 
 CLARENCEUX or CLARENCIEUX. In Great Britain, 
 the second king-at-arms, whose office is to marshal the funerals 
 of all knights and esquires on the south of the Trent. He 
 was appointed by Edward IV., and named from the Duke of 
 Clarence. — Eneyc. and Bailey. 
 
 CLAUSTHALITE. Native seleniuret of lead, having a 
 lead-grey colour (^Dana) ; from Klausthal, the chief mining 
 town of the Harz. 
 
 CLAYTONIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Pontulacacece; 
 called after J. Clayton, a collector of plants in Virginia. 
 
 CLEAVELANDITE. A mineral, called also siliceous felspar 
 or albite ; named after Professor Cleaveland. 
 
 CLEMENTINES. A portion of the canon law, consisting 
 of decretals or constitutions of Pope Clement V. 
 
 CLIFFORTIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Rosacece ; 
 named in honour of G. Cliffort, of Amsterdam, a patron of 
 Linnseus. — Crabb. 
 
 CLINTONITE. A mineral ; colour reddish-brown, yel- 
 lowish, copper-red ; named by Messrs. Fitch, Mather, and 
 Horton in honour of the Hon. de Witt Clinton. 
 
 CLIONID^. The Clio tribe, a family of marine mol- 
 lusca ; the first order of Cuvier's peteropods ; named from 
 Cleio, the muse who presided over history. 
 
 CLIQUOT. A celebrated champagne, much patronised by 
 the late King of Prussia ; named from Madame Cliquot, one 
 of the largest producers in France.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 51 
 
 CLUSIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Qultiferce ; called 
 after C. de rEcluse, a celebrated botanist of Artois. 
 
 CLUYTIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Euplwrhiacece ; 
 called after Professor Cluyt, of Leyden. 
 
 COACH (Fr. coche, Armor, coich. It. cocchio, Sp. and Port. 
 coche, D. koets, G. kutsche, Pol. kocz). The vehicle so named. 
 Menage derives the word from vehiculum ; Tunius from oy^zoo, 
 to carry ; Wachter from G. hutten, to cover ; Lye from Belg. 
 koetsen, to lie along, it signifying properly a coach or chair. 
 Webster says the word seems to be radically a couch or bed 
 (Fr. couche, coucher, a covered bed on wheels for carrying the 
 infirm). Bescherelle says from Fr. coche, It. coccio, in Turc. 
 kochi, char, carrosse. Minshew derives the word from Hunga- 
 rian kotczij, Teut. kotzen, kutzche, a verbo Hungarico kotczy, idem, 
 quod in Hungaria hoc curriculi genus (teste historia Hungarica) 
 primiim inuentum fuerit. Nicolas Berga (Liv. des Grands 
 Chemins, ch. 10, liv. iv.) considers coche to be from the Hun- 
 garian, the invention having come from Hungary. Rees says 
 some endeavour to prove that the word is of Hungarian origin, 
 and that this carriage was first invented at Kitsee (formerly 
 Kotsee or Cotzo), prov. Weiselburg ; and that, however this 
 may be, it is certain that in the sixteenth century, or even 
 at an earlier period, a kind of covered carriages was known 
 under the name of Hungarian carriages. Johnston {Gaz.) 
 gives Kitsee as a frontier town of W. Hungary, co. Weisel- 
 burg, five miles S.S.W. of Presburg. 
 
 COAN. A term frequently applied to Hippocrates, or any- 
 thing relating to him or his writings ; lit. pertaining to, or a 
 native of the isle of Cos, in the Grecian Archipelago, where 
 he was born. 
 
 COBjEA. An elegant climber, flowers at first green, a 
 native of Mexico, where it is called 2/ed7'a morada, or violet 
 ivy; named by Cavanilles in memory of Father Barnabas Cobo, 
 a Jesuit, who, after living forty -five years in N. and S. America, 
 composed a natural history of the world, still extant, but never 
 published. 
 
 COBALT. A metal found chiefly in combination with 
 arsenic, as arsenical cobalt ; or with sulphur and arsenic, as 
 
 E 2
 
 52 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 grey cobalt ore ; named from Cobalus, the demon of mines, who 
 is said to have obstructed and destroyed the miners. " The 
 ores of cobalt, being at first mysterious and intractable, received 
 their name from this personage." For many years cobalt vras 
 found in such abundance in the mines in Saxony that it was 
 neglected and thrown aside as useless. In some of the copper 
 mines (according to Parkes) it was so abundant that " a prayer 
 was offered to God in the German churches that he would 
 preserve the miners from cobalt-kobolds, and other spirits." 
 
 COBURG. A species of cheap twilled stuff, used for 
 
 making ladies' dresses; named from Coburg, in Germany. 
 
 A round loaf of bread. 
 
 COCHIN CHINA. A larger sort of fowl brought from 
 Cochin China, in Eastern Asia. 
 
 COCKNEY. A native of London, by way of contempt ; 
 in Shakspeare, an effeminate, ignorant, despicable citizen. 
 Ellis derives it from coquina, the kitchen. Webster says, 
 " most probably from L. coquina, a kitchen, or coquino, to cook ; 
 Fr. coquin, idle ; coeagne, It. cuccagna, an imaginary country 
 of idleness and luxury. In some ancient poetry the word sepms 
 to signify a cook: 
 
 " And yet I say, by my soul, I have no salt bacon, 
 Ne no coJieney, by Christe, coloppes to make." 
 
 " At that feast were they served in rich array, 
 Every five and five had a cokeney." 
 
 (See note on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, line 4206, Edin. 1782.) 
 
 Some say the country people gave the Londoners this nickname 
 because they considered them ignorant of everything out of 
 London ; that they were as likely to say " a cock neighs " as " a 
 cock crows." According to others, it had its origin in some 
 Londoner having on a certain occasion spoken of a " cock that 
 neighed." Casaubon derives it from Gr. oiKoyBvyjs, one born 
 and bred at home. Huloet explains " to play the cockney " to 
 play the fool. Barret (in the reign of Elizabeth) defines a cockney 
 " a child tenderly brought up ; a darling." Dicker, a writer 
 contemporary with Barret, derives it from cocker or cock. 
 The French used pais de Cocaigne for a country of dandies. 
 Paris est pour un riche un pais de Cocaigne {Boileau). It
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 53 
 
 seems that the word is very ancient, being mentioned in an old 
 Norman-Saxon poem, where it is spelt Cocayng. Pegge derives 
 it from old Fr. coqueliner, to couple, part, coqueline ; whence, by 
 dropping the penultimate, coquene. Cotgrave renders coquine 
 "a beggar-woman ; also a cockney, simper-de-cockit, nice thing; 
 dandled, pampered, made a wanton of." Todd says the cita- 
 tion of Camden {Britannia) — 
 
 " Were I in my castle of Bungey, 
 Upon the river of Waveney, 
 I would ne care for the king of Cockeney " — 
 
 shows that London was known by this name ; hence a cockney 
 may be assumed for a Londoner ; and after all there is most 
 reason to believe that this contemptuous expression originates 
 in that imaginary region of luxury and idleness formerly called 
 Cocaigne, or Plenty, as in the poem cited by Hickes — that 
 probably the festival of the Cocagna at Naples may have sug- 
 gested the poem as well as the word (See Keysler's Trav. vol. ii. 
 309). Hobbes, in allusion to the old poem, has " the land of 
 Cockany, where fowls ready roasted cry, 'Come and eat me;' for, 
 among the delicacies of this happy country, ready-roasted geese 
 fly into the house exclaiming ' All hot ! all hot !' " 
 
 CODRINGTON. Formerly a coat; named after one of 
 the celebrated family of the same name (admiral ?) 
 
 COFFEE. The berry of a tree of the genus Coffea, grow- 
 ing in Arabia, Persia, and in other warm climates of Asia and 
 
 America. A drink made from the berry of the coffee-tree. 
 
 It had its name from Kafa, a country of E. Africa, S. of 
 Abyssinia, prov. Narea, and within or on the borders of which 
 are the sources of the Bahr-el-Abiad, or of its chief tribu- 
 taries ; of which country it is a native, and where it grows 
 spontaneously in great abundance. Indeed, a very large pro- 
 portion of the coffee now exported from Mocha arrives in that 
 market from the N. frontier of Kafa, and the S. part of Enarea. 
 Miller {Gard.Dict.') says it is the wood of the country, produced 
 spontaneously everywhere in great abundance from Caffa (Kafe) 
 to the banks of the Nile. The foot of the mountains, or edge 
 of the marshes nearest Narea, is thick overgrown with coffee- 
 trees, which, if not the only, is the largest tree grown here. (Cf.
 
 54 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 Bruce, Abyss, vol. ii. 226, 313). It is said to have been in- 
 troduced into Aden, in Arabia, from Persia, by Gemaleddin, 
 about the fifteenth century ; not long after, it reached 
 Mecca, Medina, &c., and Grand Cairo. Hence it continued its 
 progress to Damascus and Aleppo, and in 1554 became known 
 at Constantinople, being introduced there by two persons of the 
 name of Shems and Hekim, one from Damascus, the other 
 from Aleppo. Each of these men had a public coffee-house in 
 that city. It was known at Marseilles in 1664, was intro- 
 duced into London in 1652, and at Paris in 1657. Notwith- 
 standing the progressive age in which we live, the berry may 
 still be purchased in England ; but as a beverage pure coffee 
 is little known. The Turcic has kahvet ; also kaJive, coffee, 
 wine ; the Arabic CDj^ hahwat, wine, coffee, or a decoction of 
 berries called hum, which gives an appetite. The Egyptians 
 call it eleave. 
 
 COG-NAC. The best kind of brandy ; named from Cognac, 
 in France, dep. Charente, where, and in the surrounding- 
 district, it is made. The quantity produced annually does not 
 exceed 6000 butts, but the number sold under the name of Les 
 fines Champagnes, by which the best quality is distinguished, 
 exceeds 15,000 butts. It sometimes finds its way into England, 
 but the mixture usually called cognac is British brandy, first 
 exported to France, and thence returned in Cognac casks. 
 
 COHOEN or COEHORN (G. cohorner, Fr. mortier a la 
 Coehoni). A small mortar or piece of ordnance so called, and 
 used in fortified places ; also a particular style of fortification ; 
 invented by Cohorn or Coehorn, a celebrated Dutch engineer, 
 and one of the ablest fortifiers. He was born in 1641, and 
 died at Liege in 1704. At Namur, which was besieged by 
 Vauban and defended by Cohorn, there is still a fort named in 
 honour of the latter. 
 
 COLARES. A celebrated wine from Colares, in Portugal. 
 
 COLBERTINE or COLBERTEEN. A kind of lace with 
 a square and coarse ground, formerly worn by ladies ; much 
 used for rufiles fifty years since. The word is probably derived 
 from the maker, Colbert, or may have been named in honour of 
 Jean Baptiste Colbert, minister of finance under Mazarin.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 55 
 
 COLCHICINE. A vegetable alkaloid obtained from col- 
 chicum, q.v. 
 
 COLCHICUM. A medicine used as a remedy for the gout 
 and rheumatism, prepared from the bulbs of the Colchicum au- 
 tumnale. It is supposed to have its name from Colchis, a 
 country of Asia, extending along the eastern shore of the 
 Euxine, where it is said to have grown in great abundance. 
 Cf. Linn. Gen. 457; Schreb. 621 ; Goert. 81 ; Juss. 47, and 
 Rees's Cyc. 
 
 COLDENIA. A genus of plants, the only species of which 
 is the C. procwnbens, a native of India ; named in honour of 
 C. Golden, the American botanist. 
 
 COLDSTREAM. The appellation of a regiment of guards, 
 so called from the town of Coldstream, co. Berwick, on the N. 
 side of the Tweed, where it was raised by General Monk. It 
 was with this regiment that Monk marched into England to 
 restore Charles II. 
 
 COLIN. A name given by BufFon to the Mexican quail, a 
 bird of the partridge kind found in America and the W. 
 Indies ; from the Christian and surname Colin, i.e. Nicolin. 
 
 COLLINSONIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Labiatce ; 
 called after P. Collinson, F.R.S., a distinguished botanist. 
 
 COLMAR. A pear, named from Colmar, in France, dep. 
 Haut-Rhin, where it is raised. It is also called poire manne, 
 bergamotte tardive. 
 
 COLOPHON. An inscription on the last page of a book, 
 before title-pages were used, containing the place or year, or 
 both, of its publication, the printer's name, &c. ; so named from 
 a Greek proverb respecting the people of Colophon, that they 
 always came hindermost. — Brande, Wart on. 
 
 COLOPHONITE. A variety of garnet of a resinous frac- 
 ture, occurring in small, amorphous granular masses ; named 
 from colophony, q.v. 
 
 COLOPHONY. Black resin ; the dark-coloured resin ob- 
 tained by the distillation of turpentine {Brands'). The spelling 
 colophany given by lire is erroneous, the substance having 
 been named from Colophon, in Ionia, whence the best was for- 
 merly brought. See Pliny, Hist. Nat. xiv. 20.
 
 56 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 COLOSSAL or COLO S SEAN. Very large, huge, gigan- 
 tic, like a Colossus, the name of a statue of gigantic size. 
 The most remarkable colossus of antiquity was one at Rhodes, 
 a statue of Apollo, so high that ships might sail between 
 its legs. It is said to have had its name from Caletus 
 or Coletus, who designed it. According to others, it was both 
 designed and executed by the artists Chares and Laches. 
 
 COLT. A celebrated revolving pistol, so named from 
 Colonel Colt, the inventor. 
 
 COLUMBIAN. Pertaining to the United States, or to 
 America, which was discovered by Columbus. 
 
 COLUMBITE. The ore of columbium, q.v. 
 
 COLUMBIUM. A metal first discovered in an ore or 
 oxide, found in Connecticut, at New London. The same metal 
 was afterwards discovered in Sweden, and called tantalum, and 
 its ore tantalite {Cleaveland). From Columbia, i.e. America, 
 discovered by Columbus. 
 
 COMMAGENUM. Syrian ointment; named from Comma- 
 gene, in Syria, whence it was hrought.^Galen. 
 
 COMPLUTENSIAN. The name given to a celebrated 
 polyglot Bible projected by Ximenes, printed in 6 vols, 
 fol. 1514 — 15, at Alcala, de Henares, anc. called Complutum, 
 quasi confluvium, from the junction of rivers. See Ford's 
 Spain. 
 
 COMPTONIA. A genus of plants, or. Triandria, the only 
 species of which is the fern-leaved comptonia, native of the 
 United States ; named in honour of Henry Compton, Bishop 
 of London. 
 
 COMPTONITE. A mineral found in drusy cavities of 
 masses ejected from Vesuvius ; identical with thompsonite ; 
 called in honour of Lord Compton, who brought it to England 
 in 1818. 
 
 CONDURRITE. A mineral substance composed of ar- 
 senious acid, oxide of copper, water, sulphur, and arsenic ; 
 found in the Condurron, in Cornwall. 
 
 CONGREVE. The name formerly given to a sort of lucifer 
 
 match ; so called from the inventor. A very destructive 
 
 engine of war invented by Sir William Congreve.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 57 
 
 CONISTONITE. A mineral consisting of oxalic acid, 
 lime, soda, magnesia, and water ; from the copper mine near 
 Coniston, in Cumberland. 
 
 CONNELLITE. A mineral, from trials by Connel, sup- 
 posed to be a compound of a sulphate and chloride of copper. 
 
 CONSTANTIA. A wine produced from the vineyards of 
 
 the same name near the Cape of Good Hope. A jelly made 
 
 of Seville oranges, &c., mixed with Constantia wine. 
 
 CONTINENTALS. A name given to bright full- weight 
 sovereigns, very useful to the Continental tourist. 
 
 COOPER. The beverage called half-and-half is a mixture 
 of stout and ale ; cooper is composed of half stout and half 
 porter, and was probably named from the first mixer. 
 
 COPERNICAN. The name of a system of the spheres, 
 proposed by Pythagoras and revived by Copernicus (born at 
 Thorn, in Poland), in which the sun is supposed to be placed 
 in the centre, and all the other planetary bodies to revolve 
 round it in a particular order. 
 
 COPIAPITE. A mineral found incrusting coquimbite, q.v. 
 
 COPPER (L. cupruvi). The metal ; supposed to have been 
 so called from Cyprus, an isle in the Mediterranean, which 
 is probable, it having been called by the Greeks ^a.\Kos 
 Kvitpioi, Cyprian brass, brass of Cyprus ; and by the Latins ces 
 Cyprium. 
 
 COPPERAS. A name given to blue, green, and white 
 vitriol, or the factitious sulphate of iron. The Fr. has couperose ; 
 the D. koperrood, i.e. red copper ; and koperroest, copper rust, 
 verdigris ; the Armor, couperosa, couperos. Saumaise sur Solin., 
 p. 1160, says, " Germani hodie appellant chalcanthum aquam 
 cupri; inde nostrum couperose." Menage derives the word from 
 G. hipper-vasser{wasser), copper-water ; Labbe from mprosa, for 
 cuprum; Bourdelot from cuprum rosce ; Skinner from cuprum 
 rosum, ab uligine, i.e. from moisture {rodo, rosum, to gnaw, eat 
 away, waste away, corrode, consume). He gives also Fr. 
 rose'e de cuivre, i.e. 7^os cupri, and says, perhaps copper rust. 
 See Copper. 
 
 COPTIC. The language of the Copts or Cophti, the de- 
 scendants of the ancient Egyptians, as distinct from the
 
 58 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 Arabians, and other inhabitants of modern Egypt ; from 
 Coptos, the metropolis of the Thebaid. 
 
 COQUIMBITE. A mineral consisting of sulphuric acid, 
 red oxide of iron, alumina, lime, magnesia, silica, and water, 
 found in the district of Copiapo, in Coquimbo, Chili : hence 
 copiajnte. 
 
 COR CAROLI. An extra-constellated star of the third 
 magnitude, between the Coma Berenices and Ursa Major ; so 
 called by Dr. Halley in honour of King Charles. 
 
 CORDIERITE. A mineral, otherwise called ioUte and 
 dichroite ; named after M. Cordier, professor of geology at the 
 Museum of Natural History at Paris. 
 
 CORD WAIN or CORDOVAN (Sp. cordoban, Port, cordo- 
 vam, Fr. cordouan). Spanish leather, goat-skin tanned and 
 dressed ; so named from Cordova or Cordoba, in Spain, 
 
 CORDWAINER (formerly Cordiuer). A shoemaker ; from 
 Fr. cordouanier, properly a worker in cordwain or Cordo- 
 van leather (Fr. cordonnier, a shoemaker). See Cordwain. 
 
 CORINTHIAN. The third and most delicate of the orders 
 of architecture, enriched with a profusion of ornaments ; 
 named from Corinth, where it originated. Vitruvius ascribes 
 it to Callimachus, a Corinthian sculptor. 
 
 CORINTHIANS. A term applied by the sporting papers 
 to patrons of the prize-ring ; so named from the Corinthians, 
 who cultivated a good discipline in time of peace and war. 
 Hence, Corinth sent many brave and experienced generals to 
 the other Grecian cities, and it was not uncommon for the latter 
 to prefer a Corinthian general to any of their own. 
 
 CORNUTIA. A genus of American trees of two species 5 
 named in honour of James Cornut (according to others Cornus), 
 a French physician, botanist, and Canadian traveller. 
 
 CORTUSA. A genus of plants of two species, the one a 
 native of Austria, the other of Siberia ; named by Matthiolus 
 in honour of J. A. Cortusus, a botanist of Padua. 
 
 COS. A variety of lettuce, said to have had its name from 
 the island of Cos. This is confirmed by the fact that several 
 varieties of the lactuca or lettuce indicate their having come to
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 59 
 
 US from the Greek Archipelago, and the coast of the Levaut. 
 (Sec P. Cyc.) " To Cos (Stanko) we are indebted in England 
 for the Cos lettuce, a vegetable which, among others, is to be 
 had in perfection from the gardens of Tchanak Kalessy" 
 (Knight's Diary of the Dardanelles). 
 
 COSSIGNEA. A genus of plants, or. Trigynia ; named in 
 honour of M. Cossigny, a French naturalist. 
 
 CORUNDOPHILITE. A mineral of a dark green colour, 
 related to chloritoid ; named by Shepard from the Corundum 
 of North Carolina, on which it is found, and ^iXscu, to be at- 
 tached to. 
 
 COSTMARY. A species of tansy, or Tanacetum; alecost ; 
 from Gr, Koa-rog, Arab, and Pers. ^ ^_._.j'i host, L. costics, an 
 aromatic herb and the name Maria. 
 
 COTE ROTIE. A celebrated wine made from grapes 
 grown on a hill of the same name on the Rhone. 
 
 COTYTTIA. Festivals celebrated in different cities of 
 Greece in honour of Cotytto, goddess of debauchery. They 
 took place during the night, and were of the most infamous 
 description. The same were observed in Sicily. — Juv. 
 
 COUZERANITE. A mineral, described in Leonhard's 
 Handbuch as a right rectangular prism, and by Dufresnoy as an 
 oblique rhombic prism ; found in the valleys of Seix and 
 Salaix, the Col de la Trappe, and the Picou de Gen, in Les 
 Couzerans, in the Pyrenees. 
 
 CRACOVIENNE. A celebrated dance, named from Cracow, 
 in Poland, where it was first introduced. 
 
 CRATEYA. The garlic pear ; a genus of plants, nat. or. 
 CapparidacecB, a native of Jamaica; named after Cratevas, a 
 botanist mentioned by Hippocrates. 
 
 CRAVAT (formerly crabbat, Fr. cravate, O. Fr. crabhat, It. 
 cravatta, Sp. corbata, Port, caravata). A neckcloth ; in O. 
 Eng. also handsome, comely {Bailey). So called from the 
 Croats, who appeared in Europe at first with some peculiar 
 scarf tied about their necks. " Probably from one Crabbat, a 
 Croatian, who first wore it " (Bailey). " So named because this 
 sort of ornament was first worn by the Croats, whom the
 
 60 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 French called Cravates. Et ce fut en 1636 que nous primes 
 cette sorte de collet des Cravates, par le commerce que nous 
 usmes en ce tans-la en Allemagne, au sujet de la guerre que 
 nous avions avec I'empereur" {Menage). 
 
 CRAWFURDIA. A genus of climbing shrubs, or. Digynia ; 
 named after John Crawfurd, author of a history of the Indian 
 Archipelago. ' 
 
 CREDNERITE. A mineral consisting of oxide of copper, 
 and oxide of manganese, found at Friedrichrode (Thuringia) ; 
 analysed by Credner. 
 
 CREMONA. A superior kind of violin, made or invented 
 
 at Cremona, iu Italy. The name is also erroneously given to 
 
 a stop in the organ voiced like the oboe, but of a different 
 quality, bearing the same relation to the oboe as the stopped 
 diajjason to the open; more correctly written cromorna, Fr. 
 cromorne; from G. krummhorn, crooked horn. 
 
 CRETA. Chalk ; a genus of earths of the calcareous 
 order ; lit. Cretan earth, i.e. earth from the isle of Crete, 
 under which name the ancients included chalk and various 
 kinds of clay. 
 
 CRETACEOUS. Chalky; having the qualities of or like 
 chalk; abounding with chalk. See Creta. 
 
 CRETISM (Kprjrt!r[M$). A falsehood ; a Cretan practice ; 
 from the reputation of the Cretans as liars and deceivers. 
 
 CRETIC {Kpy]ritioi). A poetic foot of three syllables, one 
 short between two long syllables {Bentley); such a foot as the 
 Cretans made use of. 
 
 CRICHTONITE. A mineral, colour velvet-black, crystal- 
 lizing in very acute small rhomboids; called after Dr. Crichton, 
 physician to the Czar. 
 
 CRISPIN. A name given to shoemakers, of whom St. 
 Crispin was the patron saint. 
 
 CROM-A-BOO! (Crom for ever!) The ancient war-cry of 
 the clan or sept of Fitzgeralds ; from Crom, a castle in Lime- 
 rick, which formerly belonged to this family. 
 
 CRONSTEDITE. A mineral accompanying hydrate of 
 iron and calc spar at Przibram, in Bohemia, occurring also at
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 61 
 
 Wheal Maudlin, in Cornwall ; named after Cronsted, the 
 Swedish mineralogist and chemist. 
 
 CUBANE. A mineral, consisting of copper, iron, lead, and 
 sulphur ; found at Bacaranas, in Cuba, whence its name. 
 
 CUFIC or KUFIC. An epithet applied to the older charac- 
 ters of the Arabic language, used at the time of Mohammed, 
 and about three centuries after, when those now in use were 
 invented. They had their name from Cufat (i^-^»X Kufai), a 
 town of Asiatic Turkey, near Bagdad, on the Euphrates, 
 where they are said to have been invented. 
 
 CUMBRIAN. A name given to the slate and grauwacke 
 system which comprises the Bala limestone and the Plynlim- 
 mon and Snowdon rocks ; so named from its being most re- 
 remarkably developed in Cumberland. 
 
 CUNONIA. A genus of plants, the only species of which 
 is the Gunonia Capensis, a native of the Cape ; named in 
 honour of J. C. Cuno, of Amsterdam, a botanist and poet. 
 
 CUPANIA. A genus of plants consisting of trees or shrubs ; 
 named after Cupani, a Franciscan monk, author of Plantae 
 Siculfe, &c. 
 
 CUPREOUS. Coppery ; consisting of or resembling 
 copper, or partaking of its qualities ; from L. cuprevs, from 
 from cuprum. See Copper, 
 
 CURAQOA. A liqueur named ffom the island of CuraQao, 
 one of the Dutch Antilles, where the best is made. 
 
 CURRANT. A shrub of the genus Rihes ; a small kind of 
 dried grape imported from the Levant, chiefly from Zante and 
 Cephalonia, and the southern shores of the Gulf of Corinth 
 (e. g. the monastery of Megalospeleion). They were for- 
 merly called corinthes or corinths, from having been first im- 
 ported from the neighbourhood of Corinth. " The Fr. name 
 of those coming from the Levant is raisins de Corinthe, grapes 
 of Corinth." 
 
 CURTISIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Aquifoliacece, from 
 the single species of which C. faginea, a native of the Cape, the 
 Hottentots and Caffres make their javelins ; named after Mr. 
 Curtis, founder of the Botanical Magazine.
 
 62 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 CUSSONIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Arabiacece, called 
 after P. Cousson, a French botanist. — Crabb. 
 
 CYCLOPEAN. Vast, terrific; a term applied to the re- 
 mains of a rude and very massive kind of architecture, of the 
 earliest ages, demanding an enormous exertion of physical 
 force. The stones were irregularly placed, but made to fit 
 each other. The word is derived from the Cyclops, fabulous 
 giants of antiquity. 
 
 CYDONIA. The quince {Cydonium malum); named from 
 Cydon, a town of Crete, which abounded in this fruit. 
 
 CYPRIAN. A term applied to a lewd woman; so called 
 from the isle of Cyprus, birthplace of Venus. 
 
 CYPRINUS. A genus of fishes of the Abdominal order; 
 named from Cyprus; or from Kvntpig, Venus. 
 
 C YPRIS. A species of fresh-water Crustacea, which swarm 
 in stagnant water ; named from Kvnpig, Venus. 
 
 CYPRUS. A celebrated wine brought from Cyprus. 
 
 A thin transparent black stuiF. 
 
 Lawn as white as driven snow, 
 Cyprus black as e'er was crow. 
 
 Shak. W.'s Tale. 
 
 A Cyprus, not a bosom, 
 Hides my poor heart I 
 
 Shak. 
 
 CYRILLA. A handsome plant, of which there is only 
 one species, native of Jamaica ; named by L'Heretier after 
 Dominico Cyrillo, professor of medicine at Naples, author of 
 Plantae Rariores Regni Neapolitani, &c. 
 
 D. 
 
 DACOITAL. Robber-like; lit. after the manner of the 
 Dacoits of India. Gang-robbery is called dacoity. 
 
 D^DAL. Various, variegated (Spenser) ; skilful (Webster); 
 artful, skilful ; fruitful in invention (Richardson).
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 63 
 
 But liuing art may not least part expresse, 
 
 Nor life-resembling pencil! it can paint, 
 All were it Zeuxis or Praxiteles 
 
 His dcBclale hand would fail, and greatly faint, 
 
 And her perfections with his error taint. 
 
 Spenser, Fairie Queene, Introd. b. iii. 
 
 Nor hath 
 The dcedal hand of nature only poured 
 Her gifts of outward grace. 
 
 J. Phillips, b. i. 
 
 Here ancient art her dcedal fancies play'd 
 In the quaint mazes of the crisped roof. 
 
 Warton, Ode 3. 
 
 So called from Daedalus, an ingenious artist, who made the 
 Cretan labyrinth. " Daedalum vocatur quicquid est artiiiciose 
 varium et affabre factum" {Vossius). 
 
 D^DALIAN. Formed with art ; intricate ; maze-like ; 
 from Dcedalus. — See D^dal. 
 
 D^DALOUS. Having a margin with various windings 
 and turnings ; of a beautiful and delicate texture ; a term 
 applied to the leaves of plants ; from Dcedalus. — See Daedal. 
 
 DAG. A pistol ; " perhaps," says Minshew, " because 
 brought into use by the Daci, a people of Germany ; and that 
 they were a new fashion of German horsemen appears from 
 the quotation from Knolles, produced by Mr. Nares : ' Neither 
 was anything taken from them but these dags, which the 
 German horsemen, after a new fashion, carried at their saddle 
 bows ; these the Turks greatly desired, delighted with the 
 noveltie of the invention, to see them shoot off with a firelock 
 without a match : Knolles' Hist, of the Turks, p. 742.' " — 
 Eichardson. 
 
 DAGGER (Fr. dague; G. degen; Sw. daggert; Low L. 
 dagga, daggerms). A short weapon, used to stab with. " This 
 word, as well as dag (q.v.), Du Cange says, some derive 
 a Dads, as a weapon peculiar to them. Wachter quotes autho- 
 rities to show that gladius was called degin, quod ejus minis- 
 terio in defensione utamur ; and hence inclines to think it an 
 application of degen, viz. fortis, miles; remarking that men and 
 their arms are often designated by the same name." — 
 Richardson.
 
 64 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 DAGUERREOTYPE. A process for taking views, por- 
 traits, 8fC., by means of reflection from the images themselves 
 in a strong light ; named from the discoverer, M. Daguerre 
 (a celebrated French dioramic painter, who published it in 
 July, 1 839), and Gr. tvitos, a mark, stamp, or impress. 
 
 DAHLIA. A genus of plants, perennials, nat. or. Com- 
 positce, natives of Mexico ; introduced into Europe by the 
 Spaniards in 1789; and named by Cavanilles in honour of 
 Andrew Dahl, a Swedish botanist. It is the Gcorgina of 
 Willdenow and other Continental botanists ; and was so called 
 in honour of Professor Georgei, the Russian traveller and 
 botanist. 
 
 DAHLINE. A vegetable principle discovered in the dahlia, 
 similar to inulin and starch. See Dahlia. 
 
 DALECHAMPIA. A genus of plants, of which there are 
 two species, the one a native of New Granada, the other of 
 the West Indies ; named by Plunder in honour of Jacobus 
 Dalechampius, a physician of Lyons, a commentator on Dios- 
 corides and Pliny ; and author of Historia Plantarum, 1587. 
 
 DALMATICA or DALMATIC. A long white gown, with 
 large open sleeves, worn by deacons in the Roman Catholic 
 church. It was at first used only by bishops, and was called 
 dalmatica because it originated in Dalmatia, now a province 
 of Austria, on the Gulf of Venice. 
 
 Candida ut extensis niteat Dalmatica rugis, 
 Fimbria neve arret huic sine lege levis. 
 
 A tulip was anciently called a Dalmatian. 
 
 DAMASCENE. The fruit of the Prunus Damascena. 
 See Damson. 
 
 DAMASCENUM. A genus of plants, nat. or. Hydro- 
 characece ; named from Damascus. 
 
 DAMASK (Fr. damasquin). A silk stuff, having some 
 parts raised above the ground, representing flowers and other 
 figures ; originally from Damascus ; or, as others say, linen or 
 
 silk woven after a manner invented at Damascus. To form 
 
 fiowers on stuffs; to variegate; to diversify; as, a bank 
 damasked with flowers. Red colour, from the damask rose.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 65 
 
 To damask wine formerly signified to warm it a little, in 
 order to take off the edge of the cold, and to make it mantle, 
 as Bailey calls it. 
 
 DAMASKEENING. A kind of Mosaic work, which con- 
 sists in ornamenting iron, steel, &c., by making incisions 
 therein, and filling them up with gold or silver wire ; used 
 chiefly for adorning sword blades, guards, locks of pistols. &c. ; 
 named from Damascus. — See Damaskin. 
 
 DAM A SKIN. Formerly a sabre, so called from the manu- 
 facture of Damascus. 
 
 DAMASSE or DAMASK. A kind of wrought linen 
 made at Flanders, in imitation of damask silks. — See Damask. 
 
 DAMASSIN. A kind of damask, with gold and silver 
 flowers woven in the warp and woof. — See Damask. 
 
 DAMPIERA. A genus of leguminous plants, natives of 
 Australia ; named in honour of Captain Dampier. 
 
 DAMSON. The fruit of a variety of the Primus domestica^ 
 a small black plum ; formerly written damascene, from 
 Aa.iJi,a.cKrjvos, of Damascus, in whose neighbourhood it first 
 grew. 
 
 DAN^A. A very curious genus of tropical plants, named 
 by Dr. Smith, after Professor Dana, of Turin. 
 
 DANAIS. A genus of climbing shrubs, natives of the 
 East India islands ; named from Danais, one of the Danaides. 
 
 DANBURITE. A mineral resembling chondrodite, occur- 
 ring with oligoclase in dolomite, at Danbury, Connecticut, U.S. 
 
 DANEGELT. In England, formerly a tax imposed upon 
 every hide of land, in order to clear the seas of Danish pirates. 
 At a subsequent period, when the Danes became masters, the 
 danegelt was a tax levied by the Danish princes on every hide 
 of land owned by the Anglo-Saxons (P. Cyc.)', frovADane, and 
 gelt, geld, money. 
 
 DAPHNE (Aa4)v>j of Theophrastus and Dioscorides). A 
 genus of plants, whose species are shrubs of no great height ; 
 named from the nymph Daphne, whose fabled metamorphosis 
 is well known. 
 
 DARIC. A gold coin, supposed to have been equal to 25s. 
 sterling ; so called from Darius, by whom it was struck. 
 
 F
 
 66 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 DARWINIA, A genus of plants, drooping shrubs, natives 
 of Australia ; named after Dr. Erasmus Darwin. 
 
 DASEY, In Ireland, a name for a cloak. A Dublin phy- 
 sician, named Dasey, was in the habit of wearing a cloak to 
 conceal his thefts from the houses which he visited profession- 
 ally. After he was hanged, for this or some other crime, 
 cloaks were universally discarded in Ireland, and were gene- 
 rally called daseys. — Anon. 
 
 DAUBENTONIA. A genus of leguminous shrubs, natives 
 of Mexico ; named in honour of the French naturalist, Louis 
 Jean Marie Daubenton. 
 
 DAVENPORT. A sort of writing desk or escritoire; 
 doubtless named after the maker. 
 
 DA VILLA. A genus of climbing shrubs, with yellow 
 flowers, named after H. C. Davilla, an Italian historian. 
 
 DAVINA. A nQ\Y Vesuvian mineral, the same with 
 nepheline ; called in honour of Sir H. Davy. 
 
 DAVY JONES. A sailor's name for a sea-devil. Hence, 
 " to go to Davy Jones's locker " means " to die," because 
 sailors' dead bodies are buried in the sea. — S. F. C. 
 
 DELF. Earthenware, covered with enamel or white glazing, 
 in imitation of china ware or porcelain ; made at Delft, in 
 Holland ; properly. Delft-ware. 
 
 DELIA. A festival in honour of Apollo, annually cele- 
 brated at Athens, and quintennially at Delos. During its 
 continuance it was illegal to execute any malefactor : thus 
 Xenophon and Plato inform us that Socrates was kept in 
 prison thirty days after his condemnation, on account of the 
 Delian solemnities, whereas they did not scruple to putPhocion 
 to death during a festival dedicated to Jupiter. The origin of 
 the festival is imputed to Theseus. 
 
 DELI AC. A kind of sculptured vase ; also beautiful bronze 
 and silver {Elmes), from Delos, an isle in the Grecian 
 Archipelago. 
 
 DELIAN. The name of a celebrated problem proposed by 
 the oracle at Delos, and known to geometers as the "duplication 
 of the cube." " The finding the side of a cube which will be
 
 VERBA NOMINAI.IA. 67 
 
 double that of another cube is thus named, it is said, because 
 during a pestilence the Delians, on consulting their oracle, 
 were required to construct a cubical altar double the size of 
 the one which they then possessed. This problem is reported 
 to have puzzled all the school of Plato at Athens." 
 
 DELPHIN. An edition of the Latin classics, prepared for 
 the Dauphin's use {in usum Delpliini) by order of Louis XIV. 
 
 DELTA. Originally applied to the triangle included 
 between the two main arms of the Nile, and so called fi'om its 
 resemblance to the G-reek letter A. Subsequently applied to 
 any tract of alluvial land at the mouth of a river, though of 
 different shapes, as the delta of the Mississippi, the delta of the 
 Ganges. — ;S'. F. Cresivell, 
 
 DELVAUXENE. A mineral of a yellowish brown, 
 brownish black, or reddish colour; from Berneau, in Belgium ; 
 analysed by Delvaux. 
 
 DENNET. A two-wheeled carriage, named after its 
 manufacturer. 
 
 DENSHIRING. Cutting off the turf of land and burning 
 it to ashes ; so called because first begun in Devonshire.^ 
 Crabb. 
 
 DEODAND. In England (formerly) a personal chattel 
 which was the immediate occasion of the death of a rational 
 creature, and for that reason given to God {Deo dcmdus); that 
 is, forfeited to the king, to be applied to pious uses, and dis- 
 tributed in alms by his high almoner. 
 
 DERBY (The). " Since the reign of James I., who founded 
 the Epsom meeting during his residence at Nonsuch, its imme- 
 diate locality has been regarded as classic ground by our race- 
 loving public. In the little parish of Woodmansterne is ' Lam- 
 bert's Oaks,' formerly an inn, but latterly a place of some inter- 
 est to the Jockey Club, since it gave name to the famous Oaks 
 stakes at Epsom races. The house, which stands high and 
 commands very fine views, was erected by a society called the 
 Hunters' Club, under a lease from the Lambert family. It 
 afterwards became the residence of the unfortunate Lieut. - 
 General Burgoyne, from whom it passed to the eleventh Earl 
 
 F 2
 
 68 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 of Derby, whose grandson Edward Smith Stanley, the twelfth 
 earl, much improved it. Here was given, on the 9th of June, 
 1774, in anticipation of the marriage of Lord Stanley with 
 Lady Betty Hamilton, the celebrated ' Fete, Champetre,' the 
 first of the kind in England, under the superintendence of 
 Lieut.-General Burgoyne. This rural festival furnished the 
 general with the subject of a dramatic entertainment entitled 
 the ' Maid of the Oaks,' and which, after a few bold touches 
 from Garrick's pen, Avas performed for the first time at Drury 
 Lane, on Nov. 5, 1774 — 
 
 " Whose is this piece ? 'tis all surmise — suggestion — 
 Is't Mb, or hers, or yours, sir ? — that's the question : 
 The parent, bashful, whimsical, or poor, 
 Left it a puling infant at the door : 
 'Twas laid on flowers, and wrapt in fancied cloaks, 
 And on the breast was written ' Maid o' th' Oaks.' 
 The actors crowded round; the girls caress'd it — 
 ' Lord, the sweet pretty babe !' — they prais'd andbless'd it; 
 The master peep'd, Bmil'd, took it, and dress'd it." 
 
 On May 14, 1779, Edward Smith Stanley, the twelfth Earl of 
 Derby, originated the famous Oak stakes, so named from his 
 sylvan retreat at Woodmansterue. The first winner of the 
 Oaks stakes at Epsom was Bridget, a bay mare, foaled in 1776, 
 the property of the earl. Bridget was of royal blood, got by 
 King Herod out of Jemima. In the following year (1780) the earl 
 started the Derby stakes, so named out of compliment to its 
 noble founder. The first winner of the Derby stakes was 
 Diomed, a chestnut horse, foaled in 1777, bred by the Hon. 
 Richard Vernon, of Newmarket, and sold to Sir C. Banbury, 
 Bart. Diomed was got by Florizel out of the Spectator mare, 
 dam of Pastorella, Fame, &c. After the death of the Earl of 
 Derby, in 1834, ' The Oaks ' estate was sold to Sir Charles 
 Grey, and has since passed to its present proprietor, Joseph 
 Smith, Esq."— ^cZ. of N. <|- Q. 
 
 DERRICK or DERIC. A contrivance for raising heavy 
 weights by means of a pully, and especially for raising ships, 
 and difierently constructed according to circumstances ; named 
 after its inventoi'. Derrick. " It is said to have been named
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 69 
 
 after the Tyburn Jack Ketch, whose namelike instrument it 
 resembled."— Cf. Times, 28 Sep. 1858. 
 
 DESCLOIZITE. A mineral colour, mostly deep black, 
 from South America; analysed by Descloizeaux. 
 
 DEUCE or DEUSE. A demon or evil spirit. "What 
 the deuce is the matter?" "The deuse is in you." "The 
 deuce take you." According to some, the word owes its origin 
 to the name of the Roman general Claudius Drusus, stepson 
 of Augustus. Albert Mira3us (Annales Belgici, Bruss. 1624, 
 p. 9) says the name of Drusus, after his German victories, 
 became so dreaded that it was still used in the imprecation 
 common with the Flemings, Dat den Droes hale — May 
 Druse take you ; Drusus te auferat seu evehat ; and Dr. 
 Smith (Diet. Anc, Biog. vol. 1, p. 1086) says, " The misery 
 that Drusus occasioned among the German tribes was un- 
 doubtedly excessive. Some antiquaries have imagined that 
 the German imprecation, Das dich der Drus hoi, may be traced 
 to the traditional dread of this terrible conqueror. Junius 
 gives Deus take you; Abi in malam rem, Diobolus te abripiat ; 
 and refers to Dusius, the name of a certain evil spirit. Sharon 
 Turner informs us that Bede, in his Commentary on Luke, 
 mentions demons appearing to men as females, and to women 
 as men, whom he says the Gauls call Dusii (quosdam diemones 
 quas dusios Galli nuncupant), the presumed origin of our word 
 deuce. Again, from Dusius is said to have been formed the 
 Old Teut. duyse, a concubine." See Todd's Johnson; Keysler 
 Antiq. Septentrion. 547 ; Kilian in v. Duyse ; Isidorus, 
 Gloss. 51 ; Augustine de Civ. Dei, lib. xv., c. 23 ; Dr. 
 Whitaker, Cathedral of Cornwall, vol. 1, pp. 345 — 347, and 
 N. & Q. 2nd S., No. 43, 331. It comes rather from diaus, a 
 Celtic corruption of diabolus, the devil. 
 
 DEVIL. A very wicked person ; named after Satan. 
 
 An idol or false god, Lev. xvii., 2 Chron. xi. In ludicrous 
 
 language, any great evil ; in profane language, an expletive 
 
 expressing wonder, vexation, &c. A printer's errand boy. 
 
 A machine for cutting up rags and cloth for manufacturing 
 
 purposes. To pepper excessively; to devil a fowl or a bone.
 
 70 VERBA NOMINALTA. 
 
 DEVILISH. Partaking of the qualities of the devil ; 
 diabolical ; very evil and mischievous ; malicious ; exces- 
 sive, enormous, in a vulgar and ludicrous sense, as a devilish 
 cheat. 
 
 DEVIL' S-BIT. The Scabiosa prcemorsa, so called from 
 having its root, as it were, bitten off at the end. 
 
 DEVONIAN. The name given by Professor Sedgwick and Sir 
 R. Murchison to a great portion of the paleozoic strata of N. 
 and S. Devon, and referred to as coeval in formation with the 
 .old red sandstone of Herefordshire. 
 
 DHOLLERA. A description of Indian cotton, named from 
 Dholarra or Dholera, a town in the British district of Ahme- 
 dabad. 
 
 DIANA. A name formerly given to silver, from its white 
 
 shining appearance, like the moon, i.e. Diana. A name 
 
 given to the arborescent form of the crystallized silver Avhich is 
 disengaged when mercury is put into a solution of nitrate 
 
 of silver. An African species of the monkey, the 
 
 Simia Diana of Linnjeus, and Palatine monkey of Pennant ; 
 but perhaps better known as the African spotted monkey. It 
 was so called because from the top of its nose is a white line, 
 passing over each eye to the ears in an arched direction, 
 resembling the crescent assigned by the poets to Diana. 
 
 DIANELLA. A genus of plants found in woody recesses in 
 warm climates, whence their name from the sylvan Diana. 
 
 DIANTHUS. Classical name of the pink, carnation, sweet 
 William, &c. ; from Aio; avSog, Jove's flower, or divine flower, 
 from the colour and odour in some species. The genus con- 
 tains upwards of seventy species. 
 
 DIAPER (Fr. diapre, diapered). Figured linen cloth ; a 
 cloth wove in floAvers or figures, much used for towels or nap- 
 kins : hence, a towel or napkin. The word is derived from 
 d'Ypres, i.e. from Ypres, in Flanders, where this article was 
 first manufactured. 
 
 DICKEY. A common word for a false shirt-front. The 
 original term still in use at the Dublin University is tommy, 
 not from the Christian name, but from Gr. ro^a^j, a section.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 71 
 
 DICKSONIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Fob/podiacecB ; 
 named after Mr. Dickson, a British botanist. 
 
 DICTAMNUS. Dittany ; now applied to a'genus of plants, 
 nat. or. RiitacecB, the species of which are perennials ; so called 
 from Dictamnus, in Crete, on whose mountains it grows. 
 
 DILLENIA. A genus of very elegant plants, whose species 
 are found in India, New Holland, China, and Brazil ; named in 
 honour of John James Dillenius, born at Darmstadt, in 1607 ; 
 appointed the first botanical professor at Oxford, on Sherrard's 
 foundation ; author of a History of Mosses, and Hortus Eltha- 
 mensis. 
 
 DILLNITE. A mineral consisting of silica, alumina, lime, 
 magnesia, and watei", found in the Dilln Mine, at Schemnitz, 
 Hungary. 
 
 DILLWYNIA. A genus of papilionaceous plants, con- 
 sisting of subshrubs, natives of America ; named in honour of 
 L. W. Dillwyn, F.R.S., a writer on the British Confer^vce. 
 
 DIMITY (found written dimittjj, dimitie, Fr. demitte; also 
 demitton, sorte de toile de coton moins large et moins serree que 
 la demitte ; D.diemit). A kind of white cotton cloth, ribbed or 
 figured {Webster), It is a cross-barred stuff composed entirely 
 of cotton, and similar in fabric to fustian, from which it differs 
 chiefly in having ornaments woven in it, and in not being 
 dyed. The manufacture of dimities in Europe was first esta- 
 blished at Lyons about 1580, and for a long period our markets 
 were supplied by the French. The works at Manchester have 
 now almost wholly superseded the necessity of importation. 
 Junius derives dimitie from Si^^it'os, wove of a double thread ; 
 hence, says he, (j.ovojj.t-tog, wove of a simple thread ; ifoXvix^iros, 
 wove of many threads ; XsTtT'0[wroQ, wove of a thin thread ; 
 s^ay^iro;, samit (samite). The word is more probably derived 
 from dimyati, i.e. made at Damietta, in Egypt. " In Tennis 
 and Dimyat," says Idrisi, who wrote in the middle of the 
 twelfth century, " they manufacture the finest dresses of tanned 
 leather, cotton, and linen ; and the dyed striped clothes of 
 Tennis, which for price and beauty are unrivalled, A single 
 robe, when embroidered with gold, is sometimes sold for a
 
 72 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 thousand dinars or thereabouts (,£400). Those that have no 
 gold in them sell for one or two hundred dinars (£35 or £40). 
 The manufactures of Fu and Damireh and the neighbouring 
 islands, though of a very superior kind, do not at all ap- 
 proach those of Tennis and Dimyat." " This curious passage," 
 says the writer in the Encyc. Metrop., " is entirely omitted 
 in the Epitome of Idrisi's work, translated into Latin under 
 the title of Geographia Nubiensis. The fine manufactures, 
 especially those of cotton, were all imported from the East in 
 the Middle Ages ; hence our calicoes received their name from 
 Calicut ; our musselines [muslins] from Miisul; and, if the con- 
 jecture here made be correct, our dimities from Damietta." 
 
 DINITE. An aggregation or druse of crystals, having the 
 appearance of ice ; found by Professor Dini, at Lunigiana, 
 in Tuscany. 
 
 DIOGENES' CUP. A term applied to the cup-like 
 cavity of the hand, occasioned by bending the metacarpal bone 
 of the little finger. 
 
 DIOMEDA. The heron ; a genus of birds ; so called from 
 the Grecian general Diomedes, whose companions are said to 
 have been changed into herons. 
 
 DIOPHANTINE. A name applied to problems relating to 
 square and cube numbers, &c., the properties of which were 
 first solved by Diophantus, of Alexandria, who lived in the 
 third century, and was one of the first writers on algebra. 
 
 DIOSCOREA. A genus of perennial plants, of which 
 there are several species, mostly tropical plants, chiefly natives 
 of the West Indies ; named in honour of Pedacius Dioscorides, 
 an eminent physician and botanist, who was born at Anazarbus, 
 in Cicilia, and lived in the time of Nero ; he was author of Ma- 
 teria Medica, in which from 500 to 600 plants are described ; a 
 work which, till the beginning of the seventeenth century, was 
 considered the most essential to the student of botany. 
 
 DIOSCURIA. In classical history, festivals celebrated by 
 the Lacedgemonians with great mirth and festivity in honour 
 of the Dioscuri, or sons of Jupiter, viz., Castor and Pollux. 
 
 DITTANY. A plant of the genus Dictamnus, q.v.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 73 
 
 DODON^A. A genus of j^lants, nat. or, Sapindacece, the 
 species being shrubs ; named after Dodonseus, a celebrated 
 botanist. 
 
 DOILEY, DOYLY, or DOYLEY. A small napkin, 
 generally coloured, used with fruit and wine (Smat^t) ; formerly 
 a species of woollen stuff; named from the first maker, Mr. 
 Doyley, "a very respectable warehouseman, whose family 
 had resided in the great old house next to HodsoU's, the 
 bankers, from the time of Queen Anne." This refers to 346, 
 Strand, east corner of Upper Wellington Street. See Notes 
 and Queries. 
 
 DOLLAR (G. thale)\ D. daalder, Dan. and Sw. daler, Sp. 
 dalera, Russ. taler). A silver coin of Spain and of the United 
 States, equal to 100 cents, or about 4s. 4cZ. sterling (Web- 
 ster). In different parts of Germany the name is given to coins 
 of different values. The Prussian dollar or thaler is equal to 
 about 3s. Ad. sterling. It seems to have originated in Germany. 
 Some derive the name from Dale, the town where they assert it 
 was first coined ; but the word thaler is more correctly an abbre- 
 viation of JoacJwnsthaler, from Joachimsthal, near Carlsbad, in 
 Bohemia, where these pieces were first struck in 1519. The 
 town was formerly of greater importance than at present, owing 
 to its mines of silver and cobalt. With the exception, perhaps, 
 of the mines of Larium, in Attica, opposite JEgina, here is 
 the oldest silver mine in Europe, and the first that was en- 
 dowed with mining laws. It is 300 fathoms deep, but, 
 instead of 800 miners, only 400 are now employed. " Joa- 
 chimsthaler : on designe sous ce uom les pieces de monnaie 
 d'argent frappees, vers le fin du XV siecle, dans les mines 
 du Conte de Schlick, a Joachimsthal, en Boheme. C'etait 
 une imitation des florins d'empire, et la purete de leur titre 
 les mit bientot en telle reputation, que ce type finit par predo- 
 miner en meme temps que leur nom restait affecte par I'usage 
 aux pieces d'une valeur analogue, sauf que par abbreviation on 
 finit par ne plus dire que thalers au lieu de Joachimsthaler {sous 
 entendu munze), monnaie de Joachimsthal. C'est la I'etymo- 
 logie du mot thaler, que nous traduisons en Francois par notre
 
 74 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 mot ecu. Ces pieces de monnaie sont dites encore Icewenthaler 
 (ecus du lion), a cause du lion a deux queus de Boheme 
 qu'elles representent, et quelquefois aussi Schlickenthaler, du 
 nom du seigneur qui les fit frapper, en Latin Slicni, et aussi 
 Joachiomici, ou Vallones" {Diet, de la Conversation). 
 
 DOLLOND. A telescojje on the acliromatic principle, first 
 introduced by the late Peter Dolloud, son of John Dolloud, an 
 eminent optician, descended from a French refugee family. 
 
 DOLOMITE. A variety of magnesian limestone occurring 
 chiefly massive, and softer than common limestone. Much of 
 the common white marble is dolomite ; the Apennines are 
 partly composed of dolomite ; it occurs at lona, and there are 
 dolomite mountains in Tyrol. It was named after the French 
 geologist Dolomieu, born at Grenoble in June, 1750, and who 
 in less than three years i^ublished twenty-seven original 
 memoirs, among which were those on the nature of leucite, 
 peridot, anthracite, pyroxene, &c. " See also report, mention- 
 ing the two kinds of dolomite, one of which was used in the 
 New Parliament House, London ; the sort used decays on 
 exposure." — *S'. F. CresivelL 
 
 DOMBEYA. A genus of vS. American plants, the only 
 species of which is a tree, native of Chili, called D. Chilensis ; 
 named in honour of the French botanist, J. Dombey. 
 
 DOMITE. A mineral, having the aspect and gritty feel of 
 a sandy chalk ; from Puy de Dome, in Auvergne. 
 
 DONARIUM. A new metal found at Brevig, in Norway, 
 in the same zircon-syenite that contains wohlorite and enkolite ; 
 named from the god Donar. 
 
 DONATISM. The principles of the Donatists, or folloAvers 
 of Douatus, African schismatics of the fourth century. 
 
 DONIA. A genus of beautiful American papilionaceous 
 shrubs, natives of Mexico, &c. ; named after David Don, the 
 Scotch botanist. 
 
 DON PEDRO. A low game at cards, probably invented 
 by the mixed English and Irish rabble who fought in Portu- 
 gal in 1832-3. 
 
 DOPPLERITE. A mineral, brownish-black when fresh, 
 found in peat, near Aussee, in Styria ; named after M. Doppler.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 75 
 
 DORIC. In architecture, the second order of columns, 
 between the Tuscan and the Ionic, distinguished for simplicity 
 
 and strength ; named from Doris, in Greece. The dialect of 
 
 the Dorians, one of the five dialects of the Greek language, differ- 
 ing little from that of Lacedajmon. It is found in the writings 
 
 of Archimedes and Theocritus. In music, the first of the 
 
 authentic modes of the ancients. Its character is to be severe, 
 tempered with gravity and joy. 
 
 DORICISM or DORISM. A phrase of the Doric dialect. 
 
 DORKING. A peculiar variety of fowl of a large size ; 
 distinguished from the common barn-door kind by having five 
 claws on each foot, the hinder claw being double ; named 
 from Dorking, Surrey. They are said to have been brought 
 hither by the Romans, and to degenerate in other counties. 
 
 DORNIC (found written dornix). A species of linen 
 cloth ; from Doornik, the Flemish form of Tournay, in 
 Belgium. The carpets commonly called Brussels are made at 
 Doornik. 
 
 DORNOCK. A kind of figured linen, made at Dornoch, 
 Scotland. 
 
 D'ORSAY. Formerly a sort of overcoat ; named after the 
 late Count d'Orsay. An article of furniture, and several 
 other things, were called after the same person, 
 
 DORSTENIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Urticacece ; 
 named in honour of Dr. Dorsten, a German botanist. 
 
 DOUGLASSIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Primulacece ; 
 called after Mr. Douglas, an ardent botanist. — Crahh. 
 
 DOVERCOURT. A term made use of at Dovercourt, near 
 Harwich, in Essex, for a " great noise." " There is a legend 
 that Dovercourt Church once possessed a miraculous cross 
 which spoke ; thus noticed in the Collyer of Croyden : — 
 
 ' And now the rood of Dovercot 
 Confirming his opinions to be true :' 
 
 SO that it is possible, as Nares suggests, that this church was 
 the scene of confusion alluded to in the proverb, ' Dovercourt — 
 all speakers and no hearers.' Foxe (Martyrology, vol. ii. 
 502) states that " a rumour was spread that no man could shut
 
 76 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 the door, which, therefore, stood open night and day ; and that 
 the resort of people to it was mucli and very great." Others 
 think the proverb may have arisen from the fact that the court 
 held at Dovercourt is composed chiefly of seamen. 
 
 DOWLAS. A kind of coarse linen cloth ; probably from 
 the proper name Douglas, which corrupts into Dowlas ; 
 but whether from a surname or local name is doubtful. There 
 is the Forest of Douglas, in Scotland, whose inhabitants are 
 much engaged in cotton weaving and spinning. " From Dour- 
 lans, in Picardy " {Richardsoii). " This should be Doulens 
 or Doullens" {S. F. C.) 
 
 DREELITE. A mineral, found in small unmodified crystals, 
 and in the cavities of a quartzose I'ock, atBeaujeu, dep. Rhone; 
 and Badenweiler (Baden); named by Dufrenoy after M. de 
 Dree, a liberal patron of science 
 
 DRUGGET. A coarse slight woollen fabric, used as a 
 protection for, and sometimes instead of, a carpet. The Rev. S. 
 F. Creswell derives the name from Drogheda, in Ireland, where 
 it is said to have been first manufactured. Dr. Johnson 
 renders it " a slight kind of woollen stuff;" and there is no 
 doubt that it was anciently used as an article of attire. 
 
 " In druggets drest, of thirteen pence a yard. 
 See Pliilip's son amidst his Prussian guard." — Stoift. 
 
 " Even I, a dunce of more renown than they, 
 Was sent before but to prepare thy way ; 
 And, coarsely clad in Norwich drugget, came 
 To teach the nations in thy greater name." 
 
 Dryden (Mac Flecknoe). 
 
 DRUMMOND LIGHT. A very intense light, produced by 
 turning two streams of gas, one oxygen, the other hydro- 
 gen, in a state of ignition, upon a ball of lime ; named from 
 the inventor, Lieut. Drummond. 
 
 DRYANDRA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Proteacece, 
 named after Dryander, a Swedish botanist. 
 
 DUBOIvSIA. A genus of South Australian shrubs ; named 
 in memory of Louis Dubois, a French botanist. 
 
 DUCAT. A coin of several countries of Europe. It is of 
 silver or gold. The silver ducat is generally equal to 4s. 6d.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 77 
 
 sterling, and tlic gold ducat is of twice the value. Some assert 
 that Roger II., Duke of Apulia, first (in 11 40, or, as others say, 
 in 1240 or 1280) coined the gold ducat bearing the effigy of 
 Christ with the following legend: — " Sit tibi, Christe, datus, 
 quern tu regis, iste ducatus " (Cf. Zachenberg, Diss, de Germ. 
 Med. X. 20, p. 372 ; and Ducange). According to others, the 
 origin of the ducat is referred to one Longinus, governor of 
 Italy, who, revolting against the Emperor Justin the younger, 
 made himself Duke of Ravenna, and called himself Exarcha, 
 i.e. without lord or ruler'; and, to show his independence, 
 struck pieces of money of very pure gold, in his own name and 
 with his own stamp, which were called ducati, ducats, in the 
 sixth century (Cf. Procopius ; Verg Polydorus de Invent. 
 Rer. 20). 
 
 DUCATELLO. An Egyptian silver coin, current at Alex- 
 andria for ten medimni, or measures of capacity ; a diminutive 
 of Ducat, q.v. 
 
 DUCATOON. A silver coin ; that of Venice being equal 
 to about 4s. 8d, sterling ; that of Holland about 5s. 6d. ster- 
 ling; a diminutive of Ducat, q.v. 
 
 DUFFEL. A coarse woollen cloth with a thick nap or 
 frieze ; from Duffel, a town of Belgium, prov. Antwerp, having 
 manufactures of linen and flax spinning. 
 
 DUFRENITE. A mineral consisting of phosphoric acid, 
 red oxide of iron, oxide of manganese, protoxide, and water ; 
 found at Siegen ; Hirscherg in Reuss ; and Limoges, France ; 
 named after Dufrene. 
 
 DUFRfiNOYSITE, A mineral, composed of lead, silver, 
 copper, iron, arsenic, and sulphur ; found with realgar, blende, 
 and pyrite, in the dolomite of St. Gothard ; named after M. 
 Dufreynoy. 
 
 DUMASINE. An empyreumatic oil, obtained by rectifying 
 acetone derived from the acetates ; named from Dumas ; perhaps 
 Charles Louis Dumas, professor of anatomy and physiology to 
 the University of Montpellier, who died in 1806. 
 
 DUMDUMMER. In Calcutta, a vehicle ftxmiliarly so 
 called, because much used to convey passengers to Dum-Dum, 
 near Calcutta.
 
 78 VERBA NOMINAT.IA. 
 
 DUNCE. A person of weak intellect ; adoltoi- thickskull. 
 Some derive the word from L. attonitus, as if thunderstruck, or 
 struck by lightning ; amazed, astonished, bewildered ; others 
 from dumb, q.d. dmnps, i.e. dumbish. " Dujice is said 
 by Johnson to be a word of unknown etymology Stanihurst 
 explains it. The term Duns, from Scotus, ' so famous for his 
 subtill quiddities,' he says, ' is so trivial and common in all 
 schools, that whoso surpasseth others either in cavilling, so- 
 phistrie, or subtill philosophic, is forthwith nicknamed a Ditns.^ 
 This, he tells us in the margin, is the reason ' why schoolmen 
 are called Dunses ' (Description of Ireland, p. 2), The word 
 easily passed into a term of scorn, just as a blockhead is 
 called a Solomon, a bully Hector, and as Moses is the vulgar 
 name of contempt for a Jew " (Dr. Southey's Omniana, vol, I. 
 p. 5).—E. H. B. 
 
 DURANTIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Verhenacece ; 
 named after M. Durantes, a physician and botanist. 
 
 B. 
 
 EAU-DE-COLOGNE. A spirit principally used as a 
 perfume ; first made at Cologne by Johann Maria Farina. 
 There are are at present twenty or thirty persons at Cologne 
 who claim to be makers of the veritable article. 
 
 EDELFORSITE. A mineral ; colour white or gi-ayish ; 
 found at Aedelfors in Smaoland, Cziklowa in the Bannat, and 
 Gjelleback in Norway. 
 
 EDENIZED. Admitted into Paradise (Davies) ; from the 
 Scripture Eden. 
 
 EDTNGTONITE. A mineral, colour grayish-white, oc- 
 curring in the Kilpatrick Hills, in Scotland. There are three 
 places named Edington in England, and Edington Castle 
 CO. Berwick. Edington is also a personal name. 
 
 EGERAN. A sub-species of pyramidal garnet, occurring 
 in felspar and hornblende at Haslan, near Eger, in Bohemia. 
 
 EHLITE. A mineral; colour verdigris-green; found at 
 Ehl, on the Rhine, and at Nischne-Tajilsk, in the Ural.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 79 
 
 EHRETIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Ehretiacece ; called 
 after M. Ehret, a German botanical draughtsman. — Crahb. 
 
 EKEBERGIA. A genus of plants, the only species of which 
 is a native of the Cape ; named by Sparrman in honour of Sir 
 C. G. Ekeberg, who first brought the tea-plant alive to Europe. 
 
 EKEBERGITE. A mineral, a supposed variety of scapo- 
 lite ; doubtless named after AndrcAV Gustavus Ekeberg, a che- 
 mist, who was born at Stockholm in 1767, became chemical 
 teacher at the University of Upsal, and obtained great celebrity 
 from his analysis of the mineral gadolinite, and many other 
 scientific discoveries. 
 
 ELECAMPANE. A plant, named also starwort. The 
 word in Latin is written Inula and Enula campana, and is de- 
 rived from helenium, Gr. sAeviov, and was so called because it 
 was said to have sprung from the tears of Helen (EAsv)]). 
 (See Pliny). Ccmijxma signifies a bell. 
 
 ELIZABETHAN. Pertaining to Queen Elizabeth or her 
 times ; e.g. to the styles of architecture, literature, &c., then 
 prevalent. 
 
 ELLISIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Hydrophi/llacecB ; so 
 called after M. J. Ellis, an English botanist. — Crabb. 
 
 ELYSIAN. Pertaining to Elysiurn ; yielding the highest 
 pleasures ; deliciously soothing ; exceedingly delightful ; as 
 Elysian Fields. 
 
 ELZEVIR. A name given to certain editions of the classics, 
 &c., published by the Elzevir family at Amsterdam and Ley- 
 den, from about 1595 to 1680, and highly prized for their 
 accuracy and elegance. 
 
 ENFIELD. A celebrated rifle, first manufactured at En- 
 field, Middlesex, but now also at other places. It was adopted 
 for public service in 1853. 
 
 ENGLISHERIE. The state or privilege of being an 
 Englishman (not used), " which it was necessary to prove a 
 man to be in the reign of Canute, in case he was murdered, in 
 order that the hundred might be exempt from the amercement 
 which it would otherwise have been liable to." — Crabb. 
 
 EOLIC. A dialect of the Greek language, which was used 
 by the inhabitants of Eolia, in Asia Minor.
 
 80 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 fiPERNAY. One of the best champagnes, from a place of 
 the same name in France. 
 
 £PERGNE. (Fr.) An ornamental stand for a large dish 
 in the centre of a table {Smart) ; probably made at fipergne, 
 in France. 
 
 EPHESIAN. One of a dissolute life {Shah.) ; so called 
 from Ephesus, in Asia Minor, one of the most splendid cities of 
 antiquity, whose inhabitants are said to have lead a Sybarite life. 
 
 EPHESITE. A mineral, placed by Dr. Smith near mar- 
 garite ; found with the emery of Gumuch-dagh, near Ephesus. 
 
 EPICTETAN. Pertaining to Epictetus, a Stoic philosopher 
 in the time of the Roman emperor Domitian. — Arhuthnot. 
 
 EPICURE. One devoted to sensual enjoyments ; hence, 
 one who indulges in the luxuries of the table ; a follower of 
 Epicurus, the ancient Greek philosopher, who, however, lived 
 chiefly on bread and water, and placed the sniiwmm honum in 
 tranquillity of mind ; but whose followers disregarded his 
 principles. 
 
 EPICUREAN. Pertaining to Epicurus, as the Epicurean 
 philosophy or tenets ; a follower of Epicurus ; one given to the 
 
 luxuries of the table. A sauce made of Indian soy, chili 
 
 vinegar, walnut catsup, and mushroom catsup. 
 
 EPICURIANISM. Attachment to the doctrines of Epi- 
 curus. 
 
 EPICURISM. Luxury, sensual enjoyments ; indulgences 
 in gross pleasure ; voluptuousness ; the doctrines of Epicurus. 
 
 EPSOMITE. A mineral common in mineral waters, as at 
 Epsom, and as an efflorescence on rocks in many other places. 
 
 ERASTIANISM. The principles of the Erastians, fol- 
 lowers of Thomas Erastus, a German, who maintained that the 
 church is " a mere creature of the state," dependent upon it for 
 its existence, and for all its powers. 
 
 ERDMANNITE. A mineral, colour dark brown, found in 
 the isle of Stoko, in the Langesundfiord ; named after M. 
 Erelmann. 
 
 ESCALLONIA. A genus of S. American plants, inhabiting 
 Alpine regions ; named after their discoverer, Escallon, a 
 Spanish botanist.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 81 
 
 ESCULAPIAN. Medical ; pertaining to the healing art 
 {Young) ; from ^sculapius, the celebrated physician. 
 
 ESMARKITE. A mineral, a silicate ; named after M. 
 Esmark. Two different minerals appear to bo confounded 
 under this name. 
 
 EUGENIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Monogynia ; 
 named by Micheli after Prince Eugene of Savoy, who sent 
 him from Germany nearly all the plants described by Clusius. 
 
 EUGENIE. A carriage named after the Empress Eugenie. 
 
 EUGUBINE. A name given to certain bronze tables 
 having five inscriptions in the Umbrian language, mixed with 
 Etruscan, and two in Latin characters, containing facts relative 
 to the wars of Italy ; found at Eugubio or Gubbio, a town of 
 Umbria, in 1444, 
 
 EUMACHIA. A genus of plants, or. Monogynia ; natives 
 of Australia ; named after Eumachus, a Greek wi-iter cited by 
 Theophrastus. 
 
 EUMENIDIA. Festivals celebrated by the Athenians in 
 honour of the Eumenides, another name for. the Furies. 
 
 EUPATORINA. An alkaloid obtained from Eupatorium 
 cannabimnn. See Eupatorium. 
 
 EUPATORIUM. A genus of plants, nat. or. Compositce, 
 the species of which are known as hemp agrimony ; called 
 after its discoverer, Mithridates, surnamed Eupator. 
 
 EUSTACHIAN. A term applied to a slender tube, af- 
 fording a passage for the air from a cavity in the ear to the 
 back part of the mouth and the external air ; named after its 
 discoverer, Eustachius, a distinguished Italian physician, who 
 flourished in the sixteenth century at Rome. The Eustachian 
 valve is a fold of the lining membrane of the auricle of the 
 heart. 
 
 EUTERPEAN. A term often given to music clubs ; from 
 Euterpe, the muse who presides over wind instruments. 
 
 EUTYCHIANISM. The doctrines of Eutychius (Welster). 
 Eutychius, who lived a.d. 443, held that the divine and human 
 natures of Christ, after their union, became so blended to- 
 gether as to constitute but one nature. 
 
 a
 
 82 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 F. 
 
 FABIAN. Delaying, dilatory, avoiding battle, in imitation 
 of Quintus Fabius Maximus, a Roman general, who conducted 
 military operations against Hannibal, by declining to risk a 
 battle in the open field, but harassing the enemy by marches, 
 counter-marches, and ambuscades. — Webster. 
 
 FABRICIA. A genus of Australian shrubs ; named in 
 honour of the celebrated entomologist Johann Christian 
 Fabricius, i3upil of Liunteus, and author of Systema Ento- 
 mologige, in 1775. 
 
 FAGONIA. Herbaceous plants with a woody base, nat. or. 
 RutacecB ; named by Tournefort in compliment to M. Fagon, 
 principal physician to Louis XIV., and a great patron of 
 botany. He was one of the chief promoters of Tournefort's 
 journey to the Levant, which he strongly recommended to the 
 consideration of his sovereign. See Tourn. Inst. 265, t. 141 ; 
 Linn. Gen. 212; and Mart-Mill. Diet. v. 2. 
 
 FAHLUNITE. A mineral occurring in opaque, brownish- 
 green, six-side prisms, transversely foliated ; from Fahlun, in 
 Sweden. 
 
 FAHRENHEIT. An arrangement of the thermometrical 
 scale, in which the space between the freezing and the boiling 
 points of water, under a medium pressure of the atmosphere, 
 is divided into 180° ; the freezing point being marked 32°, and 
 the boiling 212° ; invented by Fahrenheit, of Amsterdam, in 
 1720. See also Philos. Trans. Roy. Soc. vol. xxxiii. 
 
 FAIENCE. Imitation porcelain ; a kind of fine pottery 
 embellished with painted designs ; from Faenza (Faventia), in 
 Italy, where first made. 
 
 FALERNIAN. An Italian wine celebrated by Horace, and 
 made at Falernus. According to Mazella, Mount Falernus is 
 now called Rocca di Mondragone ; Baudraud says, Monte 
 Massico. Pliny praises the pears of Falernus. 
 
 FALKIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Nolanacece ; called 
 after Falk, a Swedish botanist. — Crahb. 
 
 FALLOPIAN. A term applied to two ducts arising from
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 83 
 
 the womb, usually called tubes ; first described by Fallopius, a 
 celebrated anatomist of the sixteenth century, and pupil of 
 Versalius. 
 
 FAMAGUSTA. An apple ; from Famagosta, in the isle 
 of Cyprus. 
 
 FANCHONNETTE. In pastry, an entre-niets made of fine 
 pufi" paste and apricot or peach jam; from Fanchonneite, a 
 French name formed from Franqoise. 
 
 FARO. A game at cards, in which one plays against the 
 bank kept by the proprietor of the table. The name was 
 formerly written pharaoh (Fr. faron), the common title of the 
 kings of anc. Egypt, The game is not now played — certainly 
 not in France. 
 
 FARSETIA. A genus of cruciferous plants, with purple 
 or light yellow flowers ; named after P. Farseti, an Italian 
 botanist. 
 
 FASSAITE. A mineral; a variety of pyroxene, found in 
 the Fassa Thai, North Tyrol. 
 
 FAUJASITE. A mineral; a hydrous silicate, occurring 
 at Kaiserstuhl, in Baden ; named by Damour after Faujas de 
 Saint Fond. 
 
 FAUNA. The various kinds of minoraki peculiar to a -o^t/'niuzy^ 
 country constitute its Fauna, as the various choice plants con- 
 stitute its Flora. The term is derived from the Fauni, rural 
 deities in Roman mythology. 
 
 FAUNIST. One who attends to rural disquisitions ; a 
 naturalist. See Fauna. 
 
 FAYALITE. A mineral found in large nodules and angu- 
 lar pieces on the sea-shore in Fayal, and also in Ireland. 
 
 FENUGREEK. A plant allied to clover, whose seeds are 
 used by farriers in cataplasms and fomentations ; from L. fcenum 
 Grcecwn, Greek hay. 
 
 FERGUSONITE. An ore, consisting of columbic acid, 
 and yttria, with some oxide of cerium and zii'conia; brought from 
 Cape Farewell ; named after Robert Ferguson, Esq., of Raith. 
 
 FERRARA (ANDREA). A celebrated sword named after 
 its maker, who worked either in Spain or the Spanish Nether- 
 lands. 
 
 G 2
 
 84 VERBA NOMINALTA. 
 
 FERRARIA. A genus of bulbous plants, natives of the 
 Cape and South America ; named after J. B. Ferrari, an 
 Italian botanist. 
 
 FESCENNINE. Licentious; a licentious gay song, a 
 nuptial song. Fesceunine verses were gay, satirical, rude, or 
 licentious verses sung by young men at weddings and before 
 the nuptial chamber, and were so called from having origi- 
 nated at Fescennium, a town of ancient Etruria, near the 
 present site of Civita Castellana. The same name was applied 
 to pieces of poetry recited by youths at rustic festivals, and 
 sung by country people at harvest time. This is a very 
 ancient custom in Italy, and the practice of making licentious 
 jokes upon each other, and upon strangers passing by, is 
 very prevalent among the vintagers. 
 
 FEVILLEA. A genus of plants, the chief species of which 
 are natives of Brazil; called in South America ghandir- 
 hoba ; held in great repute as an antidote to various poisons ; 
 named in honour of Louis Feuillee, a French Franciscan monk, 
 Peruvian traveller, and botanist, who died in 1732. 
 
 FEZ (Turc. fess). A name by which the red woollen 
 skull-caps or tarbouch are known in Turkey and the Levant. 
 They had their name from Fez or Fas, capital of the province 
 of the same name in Morocco, where they were first made. 
 The town has a large commerce with the interior of Africa, 
 and is still famous for its silk stuifs, gauzes, fine figured girdles 
 of gold and silk, moroccoes, arms, saddlery, &c. The fezzes 
 are now principally made at Constantinople. The Turks call 
 the caps of Tunis fesi tounes. 
 
 FIACRE. A French hackney coach ; so named because 
 the first hackney coach set up in Paris customarily started 
 from the Hotel St. Fiacre. Compare our " Elephants," " Eyre 
 Arms," " Favourites," " Royal Blues," &c. " Le mot Jiacre 
 vient de ce que les premiers carrosses de cette espece logeaient 
 a I'image Saint Fiacre, dans la rue Saint Antoine." 
 
 FICHTELITE. A resin found in flat acicular crystals, in a 
 bed of turf at Redwitz, near the Fichtelgebirge. 
 ■^ FILBERT. The fruit of the cultivated Corylus or hazel. 
 Bailey writes, " Filberds, of full and heard, the skin thereof
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 85 
 
 being covered with a down, like the first appearance of the 
 beard upon the chin ;" but the first syUable is rather from the 
 L. avellcma, id. Avellana nuces, filberts ; lit. nuts of Abella or 
 Avella, a town of Campania. Conf. Macrob. ; also Virg. ; 
 and Sil. Minshew says, " filberd or hazel-nut, q. Belg. wild- 
 beijer, i. acinus sive fructus sylvestris. Fr. aueldine, Port. 
 auelad, It. D. Lat. auelldna, primum dictae sunt abellinse, ab 
 Abellino, Campaniae oppido, quod inVirgilio appellatur Abella, 
 aut Auella, nux est coryli arboris, quae alio nomine dicitur 
 Nux Pontica quod in Asia Greciamque primum e Ponto vene- 
 rit ; et Pi'JEuestina qviod Praenestini his abundant, sive (ut 
 Macrob. placet) quod Praenestini ab Annibale obsidione cincti, 
 his nucibus famem toleraverint." Filbert may have been 
 anciently written avel-nut ; and afterwards vel-nut, Jil-nut,fil-but; 
 whence Jllbei-t. There are still towns in Naples called Avella and 
 Avellino, and to this day the neighbourhood of the latter abounds 
 in chestnuts and hazel nuts. The latter were much prized by the 
 Romans, and are still celebrated under the name of Avellino 
 nuts. " Hazel-nuts are the fruit of the wild bush of Cori/lus 
 Avellana, unchanged and unimproved by cultivation. They 
 are brought from Spain, the south of France, and Italy, 
 The finest kinds, called Avelines, are brought to Paris 
 from several quarters, as from Toulon, Languedoc, and 
 Piedmont." 
 
 FILIPPO. An old silver coin of Milan equal to 4s. 8^d. ; 
 doubtless first struck in the reign of Philipp Marie, son of the 
 Duke John Galeacius, who succeeded his brother Johann 
 Marie in 1412. A money of Modena equal to 6fr. 13c. 
 
 FIORITE. A siliceous incrustation ; from -F/ora, in Ischia. 
 
 FLACOURTIA. A genus of shrubs, named after M. de 
 Flacourt, a director of the French India Company. 
 
 FLEMINGIA. A genus of leguminous plants ; named after 
 Dr. John Fleming. 
 
 FLORALIA. Festivals held by the Romans in honour of 
 Flora, goddess of flowers. Hence floral, pertaining to Flora; 
 as floral games. 
 
 FLOREN, FLORENCE. A gold coin of the time of 
 Edward III., equal to Qs. sterling.
 
 86 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 FLORENCE. A kind of wine from Florence. A kind 
 
 of cloth. — Webster. 
 
 FRIDAY (G. freitag. Plat, freedag, D. vrijdag, Fries, fvedi, 
 A. S. frigdcEg). The sixth day of the week ; Friga's day, the 
 day on which our ancestors worshipped Friga, Frega, or Frea, 
 consort of Woden, Wodin, or Odin ; and Venus of the northern 
 nations. 
 
 FLORENTINE. A kind of silk cloth from Florence. 
 
 A marble (called also landscape marble) in which the figures 
 
 of buildings &c. are naturally represented. A sort of 
 
 baked tart or pudding. 
 
 FLORIN. A name given to several coins of gold or 
 silver, of different values in different countries; the silver 
 florin varying from Is. to Is. Ad. sterling; the gold florin of 
 Hanover being valued at 6s. \\d. sterling. It is also used as 
 a money of account {Kelly). The name is said to be derived 
 from fiorino, originally a gold coin first struck at Florence in 
 1252. According to others, it was named after Lucius Aquilius 
 Florus, who impressed it with the head of Augustus on one 
 side, and on the other with a flower, with these words, " Lucius 
 Aquilius Florus III., vir." Menage says this is ridiculous, 
 and he asserts that it was named from the Jleur de lis, the 
 arms of Florence, which Avere stamped upon it. " Fiorino, 
 moneta d'oro battuta nella citta di Firenze ; e cosi detta dal 
 giglio fiore, impreso d'essa citta, impressovi dentro." 
 
 FLOUNCE. A narrow piece of cloth sewed to a petticoat, 
 frock, or gown, with the lower border loose and spreading ; per- 
 haps the same as the O. 'E.ng. florouns (Fr.Jleuron), a border of 
 flower-work or Jlorences, a sort of cloth from Florence. 
 
 FLUELLEN or FLUELLIN. The plant speedwell; from 
 the surname Fluellyn, a Celtic corruption of Lewellyn. 
 
 FONTANESIA. A genus of plants, an evergreen shrub, 
 native of Syria ; named after M. Desfontaines, author of Flora 
 Atlantica. 
 
 FORNACALIA. Moveable feasts held among the ancient 
 Romans in honour of the goddess Fornax or Fornix. They 
 were first instituted by Numa ; the Quirinalia being instituted 
 for the sake of those Avho had not kept the Fornacalia. They
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 87 
 
 were solemnized with sacrifices, performed before the mouth of 
 an oven, wherein they dried their corn, baked their bread, &c. 
 The grand curio pi'oclaimed the time of celebration every 
 twelfth of the kalends of March. 
 
 FORSKOHLEA. A genus of plants, or. Pentagynia, whose 
 species are natives of the Cape and of Teneriffe ; named in 
 memory of Forskohl, a Swedish botanist. 
 
 FORSTERITE. A crystallized mineral containing silica 
 and magnesia, found at Vesuvius with pleonaste and pyroxene ; 
 named after Mr. Foster. 
 
 FORSYTHIA. A genus of plants, of which, in the Lin- 
 naean system, there is but a single species, a native of Carolina; 
 named in honour of William Forsyth. 
 
 FORUM. A tribunal, a court ; any assembly empowered 
 to hear and decide causes ; also jurisdiction ; named from the 
 Forum at Rome, a public place where causes were judicially 
 tried, and orations delivered to the people. 
 
 FOSTERA. A genus of plants of but one species, a native 
 of New Zealand ; named in memory of J. R. Foster and 
 G. Foster, father and son, who, in a voyage round the world, 
 collected and described many new genera and species of plants. 
 FOTHERGILLIA. A genus of plants, the species of 
 which is F. anifolia, native of Carolina ; named after Dr. 
 John Fothergill. 
 
 FOURIERISM. The system of Charles Fourier, a Frencn- 
 man, who recommends the reorganization of society into small 
 communities living in common, 
 
 FOURIERITE. One who favours Fourierism. 
 FRANC. A French silver coin equal to about \0d. sterling, 
 so named from Francia, France. 
 
 FRANCESCONE. A silver coin in Tuscany, of 10 paoli, 
 equal to 4s. 6d. sterling ; doubtless named from Francesco, one 
 of the Dukes of Tuscany. 
 
 FRANGIPANE. A celebrated essence used to perfume 
 the gloves called " gants de Frangipane ;" first made by Mutio 
 Frangipanni, who was both a Roman noble and a noble Roman, 
 he having distributed bread amongst the people in time of 
 famine, whence his name. Near Fiume, in Hungary, is still
 
 88 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 to be seen an old castle which formerly belonged to the Frangi. 
 panni. Bescherelle doubts this derivation, and thinks the word 
 may be from '■' frangipanier, arbre odoriferant et laiteux ;" or 
 contracted from two Italian words signifying " pain ou pate 
 
 odoriferante." A stomachic made by Frangipanni, and 
 
 called by him rosolis (ros solis, sun-dew). A sort of pastry 
 
 (tourte de frangipane, tarte a la frangipane) containing cream 
 and almonds. An extract of milk for preparing arti- 
 ficial milk, made by evaporating skimmed milk to dryness, 
 mixed with almonds and sugar. 
 
 FRANCOA. A genus of perennial plants, named after 
 Franco, a Spanish physician and botanist of the sixteenth 
 century. — W light. 
 
 FRANKENIA. Sea heath, a genus of small jDerennial 
 plants, named after John Frankenius, a Swedish botanist. 
 
 FRANKLINITE. A mineral compound of iron, zinc, and 
 manganese, found in New Jersey ; named from Dr. Franklin. 
 — Cleaveland. 
 
 FREDERICK or FREDERICK D'OR. A gold coin of 
 Px'ussia, equal to 16s. 3|cZ. ; named after one of its monarchs 
 (Frederick the Great ?) 
 
 FREISLEBEN or FRIESLEBENITE. A mineral of a 
 blue or bluish-grey colour, occurring in the Himmelsfiirst at 
 Freiberg, in Saxony, and at other places in Europe. Friesleben 
 is a local surname. 
 
 FRONTINIAC or FRONTIGNAC. A French wine, so 
 called from Frontenac, in Languedoc, where it is produced. 
 
 FUCHSIA. A genus of plants, whose species are very 
 numerous; all natives of Ameinca, chiefly of Mexico and 
 Chili ; named in honour of Leonard Fuchs or Fuchsius, 
 physician and botanist, born at Wembdingen, in Bavaria, in 
 1501. 
 
 FUCHSIASINE. A kind of purple produced chemically 
 from the refuse matter of our gas-works. See Fuchsia. 
 
 FUDGE. A made-up story; stuflT; nonsense; an exclama- 
 tion of contempt {Goldsmith). " Todd does not trace it beyond 
 Goldsmith (Vicar of Wakefield), but it is no invention of his. 
 In a pamphlet entitled, 'Remarks upon the Navy, 1700,' the
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 89 
 
 term is declared to have been the name of a nautical personage 
 who lived in the lifetime of the writer. ' There was in our 
 time one Captain Fudge, commander of a merchantman, who 
 upon a return from a voyage, however ill fraught soever his 
 ship was, always brought home his owners a good stock of 
 lies, so much so that now aboard ship the sailors, when they 
 hear a great lie told, cry out. You fudge it.' " (Disraeli's 
 Curiosities of Literature, article " Neology.") 
 
 FUIRENA. A genus of plants of only one species, F. 
 paniculata ; native of Surinam ; named after Fuiren, a 
 Danish botanist. 
 
 FUSTIAN. A coarse twilled cotton stuff, embracing 
 pillow, corduroy, velveteen, &c. Some derive the word from 
 fustanum, used by corrupt Latin writers in the same sense ; 
 supposed from L. fustis, because a sort of fustian is made 
 from a wood which bears cotton. Bochart (with whom 
 Menage agrees) derives the word from Fustdt, the Arabic 
 name of Memphis or Misr, in Egypt, where it was first 
 made, and where cotton was produced in great abundance. 
 Menage also informs us that in Arabic they call alfusta 
 "a house whose walls are hung with fustian" {fustdt, 
 tentorium jjec. ex pilis caprinis). Cf. Elmain, Hist. Saras, 
 liv. 1, chap. 3 ; Voss de Vit. Serm. liv. 2 ; Du Cange, 
 
 Gloss. An inflated style of writing ; a kind of writing 
 
 in which high-sounding words are used, above the dignity 
 of the thoughts or subject ; a swelling style ; bombast. 
 Indeed the stuff may, like that called bombast, have been 
 used to swell out garments. Bailey seems to think that 
 fustian in the second sense of the word may also be from 
 Gr. (fjucn^roe, blown wg. 
 
 FUSTIANIST. One who writes bombast.— l/z7to?i. 
 
 G. 
 
 GADOLINITE. A mineral ; colour blackish, having the 
 appearance of vitreous lava; called after Professor Gadolin. 
 It contains the earth called ittria.
 
 90 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 GAHNITE. A mineral containing oxide of zinc in com- 
 bination with alumina and oxide of iron ; named after Gahn, 
 its discoverer. 
 
 GALATEA. A name given by M. Tempel to the 
 secondary planet discovered by him at Marseilles on the 29th 
 Aug. 1862; from Galatea, daughter of Nereus and Doris. 
 
 GALENIC. The appellation given to certain remedies, 
 consisting of preparations of herbs and roots by infusion, 
 decoction, &c., conformable to the rules of the celebrated phy- 
 sician Galen. 
 
 GALENISM. The doctrines of Galen. 
 
 GALIGNANI. A daily newspaper in English published 
 in Paris ; named from the publishers, Galignani & Co., Rue 
 de Rivoli. 
 
 GALILEAN. The name of a refracting telescope, in which 
 the eyeglass is a concave instead of a convex lens ; so 
 named because originally adopted by Galileo, the celebrated 
 astronomer. 
 
 GALILEE. A large portico, porch, or chapel, usually 
 situated at or near the west end of great abbey churches, 
 although the word has also been frequently, but improperly, 
 used to designate the nave of the church. The term is sup- 
 posed by some to have arisen from the fact that in ancient 
 times, when any female applied at the abbey gate for leave to 
 see her relative, who was a monk, she was directed to the 
 western porch of the church, and told in the words of Scrip- 
 ture, " He goeth before you into Galilee ; there shall you see 
 him." One writer, speaking of the galilee at Durham, says, 
 " As this building was erected expressly for the use of females, 
 and as, according to Gervase, all interviews between the males 
 and their female relatives took place in these porches or chapels, 
 the name may have been given to denote that the monks, in 
 their occasional interviews with women, were to be as cautious 
 and guarded as the Jews, who dwelt in Judea in the south, and 
 in Samaria, in the centre of Palestine, were, in their communi- 
 cations with the people of Galilee, termed Galilee of the 
 Gentiles, because it was peopled chiefly by Phoenicians, 
 Syrians, and Arabians." Another writer says, " The galilee
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 91 
 
 porch or chapel was always considered as somewhat loss 
 sacred than the other portions of the sacred edifice" {Bloxani). 
 *' Comparatively speaking, it was ' looked down upon ;' it was 
 the despised portion of the sacred building ; it was the farthest 
 distance (either literally or figuratively) from the altar or 
 holy place. And this is the reason why, as it seems to me, 
 this ^porch or chapel was called ' the Galilee,' that is to say, 
 ' the despised place.' For what was the geographical Galilee 
 but the despised place ? Not only locally, but figuratively, it 
 was considered to be far off from the Holy City." 
 
 GALLICISM. A mode of speech peculiar to the French 
 nation ; an idiomatic manner of using words in the French 
 or Gallic language. 
 
 GALLIGASKINS. Large open hose ; used only in ludi- 
 crous language (Philips) ; said to be from caligce Vasconum, 
 Gascon hose. Bailey says, " Galligaskins (q.d. caligce Gallo- 
 Vasconicce, so called because the Vascones used such instead of 
 splatterdashes), a sort of wide slops or breeches used by the 
 inhabitants of Gascoign, in France." 
 
 GALLIO. One indifferent in matters of opinion. " Then 
 all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, 
 and beat him before the judgment-seat. And Gallio cared for 
 none of those things (Acts xviii. 17). — S. F. Creswell. 
 
 GALLITZINITE. Rutile, an ore of titanium ; named 
 after one of the Gallitzins, a princely Eussian family ; 
 probably from Demetrius de Gallitzin, the celebrated mine- 
 ralogist and naturalist ; author of several works, and president 
 of the mineralogical society of Yena. 
 
 GALLOWAY. A horse of a small size, first bred in 
 Galloway, Scotland. 
 
 GALOSH or GOLOSH (Fr. galoche, Sp. galocha, a 
 clog or wooden shoe). A patten, clog, or wooden shoe, 
 or a shoe to be worn over another shoe to keep the foot 
 dry ; said to be from the L. gallicce, wooden pattens, lit. 
 Gaulish shoes. It is now made generally of India rubber 
 and gutta percha. 
 
 GALVANISM. A method in which electricity is de- 
 veloped without the aid of friction, and in which chemical
 
 92 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 action takes place between certain bodies ; named from 
 Galvani, of Bologna, the discoverer. 
 
 GALVANIZED. Affected with galvanism. Galvanized 
 iron is a name given to sheets of iron which are first dipped 
 into melted zinc, and then into melted tin, and are thus pre- 
 pared, by the supposed galvanic action of these metals, to 
 resist oxidation. 
 
 GAMBOGE. A resinous juice, produce of a tree, the 
 Gamhogia gutta, or Garcina Gambogia, used as a pigment, and 
 in medicine as a drastic purge ; brought from Cambodia, Cam- 
 bodja, orCambogia, an extensive country without the Ganges. 
 
 GAMBROON. A kind of twilled linen cloth for linings ; 
 perhaps originally from Gombroon, a seaport of Persia, con- 
 venient for Kerman, which has a trade in carpets. 
 
 GARCINIA. A genus of Asiatic trees, among the chief 
 species of which are Mangostan or Mangosteen, common in 
 Java and the Molucca Islands, whose fruit is esteemed the 
 most delicious and salubrious of all Oriental fruits ; named in 
 honour of Dr. Laurence Garcin, the Oriental traveller, w^ho 
 accurately described it. 
 
 GARDENIA. A genus of plants, containing about fifty 
 species of trees and shrubs, chiefly natives of the East Indies 
 and the Cape ; named in honour of the eminent Scottish botanist 
 and zoologist Alexander Garden, who died in 1791. 
 
 GARDNERIA. A genus of East India climbing shrubs ; 
 named in honour of the Hon. Edward Gardner. 
 
 GARIBALDI. A dress or jacket worn by ladies ; made 
 after the fashion of a garment worn by Garibaldi and his 
 soldiers, the Garibaldini. 
 
 GARIDELLA. A genus of small, slender, erect herbs ; 
 named in honour of Pierre Garidel, M.D. 
 
 GASCONADE (Fr. gasconade). A boasting ; a vaunt ; a 
 bravado ; a bragging ; so called from the people of Gascony, 
 who are noted for boasting : — 
 
 '' Voila Philisj quant aux Gascons, 
 II etait Gascon, c'est tout dire; 
 Je laisse a penser si le sire 
 Importuna la veuve, ct s'il fit des serments.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 93 
 
 "Ceux des Gascons et des Normands 
 Passent peu pour mots d'Evangile." 
 
 "Sans etre Gascon, }& puis dire 
 Que je suis un merveilleux sire." 
 
 La Fontaine. 
 
 GAULTHERIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Ericacece ; 
 called after Gaulthier, a botanist of Canada. — Crabb. 
 
 GAUZE (Fr. gaze, Amor, gazen, Sp. gasa). A very thin, 
 slight, transparent stuff of silk or linen. The word is said to 
 have had its name from Gaza, in Palestine, where it was 
 first manufactured. It may, however, be from the L. gossi- 
 pium or gossipion, the cotton tree ; or gausape, gausapa, gausa- 
 pum, gausap)es, a kind of thick woollen cloth; a frieze or rough 
 garment Avhich soldiers used; a furred- coat, a hair mantle; 
 Gr. yauffOLitrii. 
 
 GAVOT (Fr. gavotte, formerly gavote; Sp. gavota). A 
 kind of dance or tune, the air of which has two brisk and 
 lively strains in common time, each of which is played twice 
 over (Encyc.) The word is said to be derived from the 
 Gavots, a people inhabiting the mountainous region called 
 Gap, in France. Lamartiniere mentions Gavot as the name 
 of a little district of Savoy, in the Chablais, the principal 
 places in which are Evian and St. Gigo. 
 
 GAY-LUSSITE. A crystalline mineral substance, found 
 in South America ; named after the French chemist, Gay- 
 Lussac. 
 
 GEIILENITE. A mineral of a greyish colour, consisting 
 chiefly of silica, alumina, 'and lime ; found principally at 
 Mount Monzoni, in the Fassa Thai, Tyrol ; named by Fuchs 
 after his colleague Gehlen, the celebrated chemist, member of 
 the Royal Academy of Munich, born in 1775. 
 
 GELDER-ROSE or GUELDER ROSE. A plant, a 
 species of Viburnum. This singular variety is probably from 
 Gelderland, in Holland, as the Dutch call it Gheldersche roose. 
 From the extreme whiteness of the flowers, and swelling; out 
 into a globular form, some country people have given it the name 
 of snowball-tree, which Miller seems to think preferable to 
 the common appellation of Guelder-rose, and which is conform-
 
 94 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 able to the Sclmeeball of the Germans. Gerarde calls it 
 Elder-rose and Rose-elder. 
 
 GENAPPE. A worsted yarn or cord used in the manu- 
 facture of braids, fringes, &c., its smoothness enabling it to be 
 well combined with silk ; from Genajype, in Belgium. 
 
 GENEVANISM. Calvinism, Calvin having resided at 
 Geneva. 
 
 GENOVINA. A coin of Geneva, i.e. Genoa, both in gold 
 and silver. The assay value of the genovina of 100 lire 
 was £3 9s. 9d. sterling; that of the genovina of 1790, 
 £3 3s. 4f?. 
 
 GENTIAN (Fr. gentiane, L. gentiana, Gentiana lutea; Gr. 
 ysyttavYj). The popular name of a genus of plants of many 
 species, whose root, sometimes called felwort, is used as an 
 ingredient in stomachic bitters. The officinal gentian is a 
 native of the mountainous parts of Germany. The gentian 
 is also found in other parts of Europe, under the Sub-Alpine 
 mountains ; also in Auvergne ; upon the most elevated 
 summits of the Vosges, and in the plain near Dijon. Pliny 
 derives the Latin word from Gentius, king of Illyria, who is 
 said to have discovered the properties of this plant. 
 
 GENTIATINE. An alkali discovered in Gentiana lutea by 
 MM. Henri and Caventori. See Gentian. 
 
 GEOCRONITE. A lead-grey ore of antimony and lead 
 {Dana) ; from Gr. yij earth, Kpovos Saturn, the alchemistic 
 name of lead. 
 
 GEOFFROYA. A genus of plants, trees, natives of the 
 tropical parts of America ; of two species, one of which, 
 G. inermis, yields a bark having emetic, drastic, purgative, and 
 narcotic properties, and much valued as a powerful anthel- 
 mintic ; named after Geoffi'oy, Memb. Acad. Paris, author of 
 Materia Medica, who died in 1731. 
 
 GEORGE. A figure of St. George on horseback, worn by 
 knights of the Garter. {Shak.) A brown loaf. 
 
 GEORGE THE FOURTH. Name of a peach tree. 
 
 GEORGIA. The bark of the Pinchieya puhens, used as a 
 substitute for cinchona; from Georgia, U.S. 
 
 GEORGIA. The moss called by Linnaeus Mnium pellucidum.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 95 
 
 which Ehrhart established as a new genus, and named after 
 George III. of Great Britain. 
 
 GEORGIAD. A poem in honour of one of the Georges. 
 
 GEORGIUM SIDUS. (L.) The name first given, in 
 honour of George III., to the planet Uranus. 
 
 GERARDIA. A genus of plants consisting of herbs or 
 undershrubs ; named after John Gerarde, author of the 
 Herbal. 
 
 GERMANISM. An idiom of the German language. 
 
 GERVILLIA. A genus of fossil bivalves, placed by 
 Cuvier under Les Femes, between Crenatida and Inoceramus ; 
 named after M. de Gerville, by whom the species, on which the 
 genus was established, was found iu the Baculite limestone of 
 Normandy. 
 
 GESNERA or GESNERIA. A genus of plants, named 
 after Conrad Gesner, of Ziirich, the celebrated naturalist, who 
 died in 1788. 
 
 GHIBELINES, GHIBELLINES, or GIBBELINES (Fr. 
 Gibelins). A faction in Italy in the twelfth, thirteenth, and 
 fourteenth centuries, which favoured the German emperors, 
 and opposed the Guelfs or adherents of the Popes. They 
 are said to have had their name from Waiblingen (anc. Wibe- 
 lingen), a small town of Wiirtemberg, near Stuttgart. At the 
 battle of Wemsberg (1140), between Conrad III. of Waib- 
 lingen and Duke Welf (Guelf), the battle-cry of the former 
 was " Hie Waiblingen !" Some assert that the Guelfs or 
 Guelphs derived their name from G. wolf, a wolf, on account 
 of the grievous evils committed by this faction. According to 
 others, they were called from a German family named Guclfe, 
 who lived at Pistoia, and they assert that his brother 
 Gihel gave the appellation to the Ghibelines, According to 
 others, the Emperor Conrad III. having taken the duchy of 
 Bavaria from Welfe III., brother of Henry, duke of Bavaria, 
 Welfe, assisted by the forces of Roger, king of Sicily, made 
 war on Conrad, and thus gave birth to the faction of the 
 Guelphs. Guelph, Guelf, Welfe, Welfo would seem to be 
 merely different orthographies of the same name. 
 
 GIBBERISH (found written geberish). Rapid and in-
 
 96 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 articulate tattle ; unintelligible language ; unmeaning words. 
 Webster derives the word from gibber (obs.), to speak rapidly 
 and inarticulately ; probably allied to gabble and to jabber. 
 Bailey gives also the 0. Fr. gaber, to banter ; It. gabbaj-e, to 
 put a trick on. Mr. Ford says the language of the Iberians 
 was the Basque, which was superseded by the Romance, a 
 corrupt idiom formed from the fusion of the Roman and Gothic 
 languages ; that this hybrid underwent a further change from 
 its admixture with the Arabic at the Moorish invasion, when 
 two new dialects were formed — the Aljamia or Spanish, as 
 spoken by the Moors, and the Algarabia or Arabic, as spoken 
 by the Spaniards ; that the latter was so bad that the term in 
 its secondary sense is applied to any gibberish (garabia) — a 
 word which, strictly speaking, means logat-al-arabra, the 
 Arabic language. Dr. Johnson supposes that the term gibber- 
 ish was originally applied to the language of Geber, the Arabian 
 alchemist ; and, as a learned writer observes, many of the 
 quotations given by Dr. Salmon (Clavis Alchymise, 1692) 
 would certainly justify the etymology. 
 
 GIBBSITE. A mineral, colour dirty white, greenish white, 
 and greyish ; occurring in irregular stalactical masses at Rich- 
 mond in- Massachusetts; named after George Gibbs, Esq., 
 president of the American Geological Society. 
 
 GIBUS. A celebrated spring hat (a sort of cha^^eau bras) ; 
 named from the inventor, M. Gibus. 
 
 GIESECKITE. A mineral occurring in six-sided j^risms; 
 considered identical with elaolite ; named after Sir C. 
 Giesecke. 
 
 GILBERTIA. A genus of plants, consisting of small 
 trees or shrubs ; named after J. E. Gilibert, the French 
 botanist. 
 
 GILBERTITE. A mineral, colour yellowish-white, con- 
 sisting of alumina, silica, lime, magnesia, protoxide of iron, 
 and water ; from Stonagwyn, St. Just, Cornwall ; named by 
 Dr. Thomson, in honour of Davies Gilbert, president of the 
 Royal Society. 
 
 GILIA. A genus of plants, or. Monogynia ; named in 
 honour of Philippe Salvador Gilio, a Spanish botanist.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 97 
 
 GILLIESIA, A genus of plants ; named in honour of 
 Dr. Gillies, of Concepcion, iii Chili. 
 
 GINGER (Fr. gingembre, It. gengivo, Sp. gengihre, Port, gen- 
 givre, G. ingher, D. gemher, Sw. ingefdra, Dan. ingefer, Arab. 
 Pers. and Turc. zingibil or zinjibil, Syr. and Ch. nearly the 
 same). A plant, or the root of Zingiber officinale, a native of 
 China and the East Indies, but extensively cultivated in the 
 West Indies and America. The word, Avhich in L. is zingiber, 
 in Gr. ^lyyi^spis, is said to derive its name from the town of 
 Gengi in China, in the neighbourhood of which it was first 
 found. I find no such place, but Gingee is the name of a 
 town of British India. 
 
 GINGERLY. Nicely, cautiously ; from ginger, q.v. 
 
 GINGHAM. A kind of striped cotton cloth ; so named 
 from Guingamp, France, Cotes du Nord, where its manufac- 
 ture, as well as that of cotton and linen goods in general, is 
 
 largely carried on {S. F. Creswell). An umbrella made 
 
 of gingham. 
 
 GIPSY (L. ^gj/pti, Hun. Pharas hnerpek, race of Pha- 
 raoh ; It. cingani, cingari, zingani, zingari, Sp. gitdnos, bandits ; 
 G. ziguener, zigeni, and zigeuni, Fr. Bohemiens, Dan. and Sw. 
 Tartares; Arab, arami, thieves ; D. heidenen, idolators ; Hind. 
 Sliders; by others Saracens, and in 22 Hen. VIII. cap. 10 
 (1530), Egyptians). One of a race of vagabonds who infest 
 Europe, Africa, and Asia, strolling about, and subsisting 
 mostly by theft, robbery, and fortune-telling. Pope Pius II. 
 calls them Zigari, and supposes them to have migrated from 
 the country of the Zigri, which nearly answers to the modern 
 Circassia. The word gipsy is without doubt derived from 
 ^gyptii, from the supposition that the gipsies were from Egypt, 
 although their language indicates that they originated in 
 Hindustan. Cf. Munster, Geog. lib. iii. cap. 5 ; Pasquier, 
 Recherch. liv. iv. chap. 19 ; Ralph Volaterranus ; Grellman, 
 Germ. Disser. on Gipsies, trans, by Matt. Raper, 1787; Sir 
 Wm. Jones, Asiat. Res. V. iii. p. 7; Miscell. Bolognese, 
 in 18 vol. Rer. Italic; Krantz, Hist. Sax.; and Muratori, 
 
 Antich. Ital. A reproachful name for a dark complexion. 
 
 {S/iak.) A name of slight reproach to a woman, some- 
 
 H
 
 98 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 times implying artifice or cunning. The language of the 
 
 gipsies. 
 
 GIPSYISM. The state of a gipsy ; the arts and practices 
 of gipsies ; deception ; cheating ; flattery. 
 
 GIRARDIN. A kind of graft, after the manner of Gi- 
 rardin, a French gardener. 
 
 GIRONDE. In French political history, the name of a 
 celebrated Republican party, which, during the first years of the 
 Revolution of 1789, formed a powerful section of the second 
 National Assembly, called the Legislative, in contradistinc- 
 tion to the first, or Constituante, which framed the constitu- 
 tion of 1791, It was so named from the department of La 
 Gironde, which had returned Vergniaud, Gensonne, Guadet, 
 &c., the leaders of the party ; and it consisted chiefly of the 
 members of the departments of the west and south. 
 
 GIRONDIN, GIRONDIST. One of the Gironde, q.v. 
 
 GISEKIA. A genus of plants, consisting of one species, 
 the trailing gisekia, a native of the East Indies ; named in 
 honour of P. D. Giseke, a Dutch botanist. 
 
 GISMONDINE. A mineral consisting chiefly of silica and 
 lime, with traces of magnesia, oxide of ii'on, and oxide of 
 manganese ; found at Capo de Bove, near Rome ; named in 
 honour of the mineralogist Gismondi. 
 
 GIULIO or JULIO. A small coin of base silver, at 
 Leghorn and Florence, equal to about Qd. sterling ; doubtless 
 named after one of the Popes of Rome. 
 
 GLEDITSCHIA. A genus of plants, trees, which attain 
 a height of fifty to eighty feet, natives of the Carolinas and 
 Virginia ; named after Gottlieb Gleditsch, of Leipsic. 
 
 GLOXINIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Gesneriacece ; 
 called after M. Gloxin, a German botanist. — Crahb. 
 
 GMELINA. A tree, one species of which is a native of 
 Java, Amboina, and other parts of the East Indies. It received 
 its name from John George Gmelin, native of Tiibingen, pro- 
 fessor of chemistry and natural history at Petersburg, who 
 spent ten years in travelling through Siberia at the expense of 
 the Russian government, and whose Flora Sibirica is a work 
 of great reputation and merit. This genus also serves to com-
 
 VEllJiA NOMINALTA. 99 
 
 memorate four or five other botanists of the same family, espe- 
 cially Samuel Theophilus G-melin, nephew of the former. 
 
 GMELINITE. A mineral, a hydrous silicate, occurring at 
 Montecchio Maggiore ; at Castel, in the Vicentine ; at Glenarra; 
 and in the island of Magee ; named after Professor C. Gmelin, 
 of Tiibingen. 
 
 GOBELINS. A term applied in France to a species of 
 rich tapestry ; derived from Gilles Gobelins, a celebrated 
 dyer in the reign of Francis I. {Diet, de I' Acad.) " Gobe- 
 lins, a celebrated manufactory established in Paris in the 
 Faubourg St. Marcel, for the making of tapestry and other 
 furniture for the use of the crown. The house where this 
 manufactory is carried on was built by two brothers, Giles and 
 John Gobelins, both excellent dyers, and the first that brought 
 to Paris, in the reign of Francis I., the secret of dyeing that 
 beautiful scarlet colour still known by their name, as well as 
 the little river Bievre, on whose banks they fixed their dye- 
 house, and which is now known by no other name than that of 
 the Gobelins. It was in 1667 that this place, till then called 
 Gobelins' Folly, changed its name into that of the Hotel Royal 
 des Gobelins, in consequence of an edict of Louis XIV. 
 M. Colbert, having re-established, and with new magnifi- 
 cence enriched and completed, the king's palaces, particularly 
 the Louvre and Tuilleries, began to think of making furni- 
 ture suitable to the grandeur of those buildings. With this 
 view he called together all the ablest workmen in the divers 
 arts and manufactures, particularly painters, tapestry makers, 
 sculptors, goldsmiths, ebonists, &c., and by splendid offers, 
 pensions, privileges, &e., called others from foreign nations. 
 And to render the intended establishment firm and lasting, he 
 besought the king to purchase the Gobelins for them to work in, 
 and draw up a system of laws or policy in seventeen articles. 
 By these it is provided that the new manufactory shall be 
 under the administration of the superintendent of the king's 
 buildings, arts, 8fc. ; that the ordinary masters thereof shall 
 take cognizance of all actions and processes brought against 
 any of the persons in the said manufactory, their servants and 
 dependants ; that no other tapestry work shall be imported 
 
 H 2
 
 100 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 from any other country, &c. The Gobelins has since then 
 remained the first manufactory of the kind in the world. The 
 quantity and noble works that have been produced by it, and 
 the number of the best workmen bred up therein, are incredible ; 
 and the present flourishing condition of the arts and manufac- 
 tures of France is in a great measure owing thereto. Tapestry 
 work in particular is their glory. During the superintendence 
 of M. Colbert and his successor M. de Louvois the working 
 of tapestry is said to have been practised to a degree of per- 
 fection scarce inferior to what was before done by the English 
 and French. The Battles of Alexander, the Four Seasons, the 
 Four Elements, the King's Palaces, and a series of the principal 
 actions of the life of Louis XIV. from the time of his marriage 
 to the first conquest of Franche Comte, done from the designs 
 of M. le Brun, director of the manufactory of the Gobelins, 
 are masterpieces in their kind {Chamb. Cyc. 1788). 
 
 GODOYA. A genus of plants, trees; named in honour of 
 Emanuel Godoy, duke of Arcadia. 
 
 GOETHEA. A genus of plants, consisting of trees and 
 shrubs ; named in honour of the poet Goethe. 
 
 GOETHITE. A rare German mineral, colour brownish-red, 
 by reflection yellowish ; named in honour of the poet Goethe. 
 
 GOLDFUSSIA. A genus of plants, or. Angiospermia ; 
 named after Dr. Goldfuss. 
 
 GOLGOTHA. The elevated pew or gallery in which the 
 heads of houses till lately sat at Great St. Mary's, Cambridge ; 
 so called because it was the place of skulls. Cf. John xix. 17. 
 — S. F. Creswell. 
 
 GOLIATH. A name given by Lambert to a genus of in- 
 sects remarkable for their size and beauty, whose species in- 
 habit Africa, the East Indies, and the tropical parts of America ; 
 
 named from Goliath, the giant leader of the Philistines. 
 
 A synonym for giant. 
 
 GOMARA. A genus of plants, or. Angiospermia ; natives 
 of Peru ; named in honour of Lopez de Gomara, a Spanish 
 botanist. 
 
 GOMESA. A genus of orchidaceous plants ; named in 
 honour of Serior Gomez, a Spanish physician.
 
 VEKBA NOMINALTA. 101 
 
 GONGORISM. A term usod for bombastic writing ; so 
 called from Luis Gongora y Argote, a poet who tortured the 
 Spanish language without mercy, called his new phraseology 
 estilo culto, and answered with intemperate abuse the judicious 
 censure of his eminent contemporaries, the two brothers 
 Argensolas, Lope de Vega, and Quevedo. Gongora was born at 
 Cordova in 1561. A romawcero entitled " Delicias del Par- 
 nasso," contains all his romances and letriUas. The cultorista 
 Alonso Castillo Solorzano extended Gongorism even to Ame- 
 rica, Avhere he published his own works in Mexico in 1625. 
 See P. Cyc. 
 
 GOODENIA. A genus of herbaceous perennial plants, or. 
 Monogynia ; named in honour of Dr. Goodenough, bishop of 
 Carlisle. 
 
 GOODYERA. A genus of plants, one species of which, 
 G. repens, is found in Scotland ; named after Mr. John 
 Goodyer. 
 
 GORDIAN KNOT. An inextricable difficulty; hence, 
 to cut the Gordian knot is to remove a difficulty by bold or un- 
 usual measures. The Gordian knot was a knot in the leather or 
 harness of Gordius. a king of Phrygia, so very intricate that 
 there was no finding where it began or ended. An oracle 
 declared that he who should untie this knot should be master 
 of Asia. Alexander, fearing that his inability to untie it 
 should prove an ill augury, cut it asunder with his sword. 
 
 GORGON A. A name given to the anchovy from 
 the isle of Gorgona, in the Gulf of Genoa, noted for its 
 anchovy fisheries, in which the inhabitants are chiefly en- 
 gaged. 
 
 GORGONEIA. In architectural sculpture, masks carved in 
 imitation of the head of Medusa, who was one of the three 
 Gorgons ; used generally as key-stones. The Gorgons by a 
 mere look killed men, and even petrified them ; they were 
 destroyed by Perseus because they had polluted the temple 
 of Minerva. Perseus gave the head of Medusa to Minerva, 
 who fixed it on her segis or shield, which thenceforth had the 
 power of turning the beholders into stone. 
 
 GORGONEUM. A mask used in Greek and Roman
 
 102 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 theatres to represent hideous figures, in imitation of the 
 Gorgons. 
 
 GORTERIA. A genus of composite plants, mostly shrubs, 
 named after Professor Gorter, physician to Elizabeth, empress 
 of Russia. 
 
 GOSLARITE. A mineral, colour white, reddish, bluish ; 
 found in the Rammelsberg Mine near Goslar in the Harz, and 
 at other places in Europe. 
 
 GOSSAMER (found written gossamore, gossamour, and gos- 
 somer). A fine filmy substance, like cobwebs, floating in the 
 air in calm clear weather, especially in autumn. It is seen 
 in stubble fields, and on furze or low bushes, and is probably 
 formed by a species of spider. Some derive the word from 
 L. gossipmm, cotton. A contributor to N. & Q. 3rd S. 11, 16, 
 says, " The hold which the fable of the origin of these webs 
 had on the minds of the vulgar is shown by the persistent use 
 of the name Mary in Marien-Fdden, Mariengern, and Marien- 
 sommer." (Nativ. V. M., 8th Sep.) The French name also is 
 Fil lie la Bonne Vierge. Hence, and as all these religious 
 fables were necessarily widely known, it appears to me that 
 gaze a Marie (Mr. T. Keightley says gase-Marie), Eng. gauze 
 o' Mary, is a more likely derivation of gossamer than any yet 
 proposed. The old spellings of gossamour and gossamore 
 perhaps show the tendency to emphasize the last syllable, and 
 as equivalent to love-down (Fr. amour, It. amore'). They are 
 worth notice as exemplifying the fanciful and euphuistic ety- 
 mologies of Holofernes and others of his day." 
 
 GOTH. A rude, ignorant, or uncivilized person : lit. one 
 of the tribe or nation that anciently inhabited Scandinavia, 
 now Sweden and Norway. 
 
 GOTHAMIST. A wiseacre ; a person deficient in wisdom ; 
 so called from Gotham, in Nottinghamshire, noted for some 
 pleasant blunders {Bp. Morton). Old "Drunken Barnaby" 
 seems to have visited Gotham in one of his poetical journies 
 to the North, for he sings — 
 
 " Thence to Gotham, where sure am I, 
 Though all not fools, I saw many ;
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 103 
 
 Here a she- gull found I praucing, 
 And in moonshine nimbly dancing ; 
 There another wanton madling, 
 Who her hog was set a i<adling." 
 
 Throsby, however, seems to be of a different opiuion, for he 
 says he now thinks the inhabitants of this vilhige as wise as 
 their neighbours. A variety of opinions, indeed, have gone 
 abroad respecting this place. Wartou, spealving of " the idle 
 pranks of the men of Gotham," says, " that such pranks bore 
 a reference to some customary law tenures belonging to that 
 place or its neighbourhood, now grown obsolete, and that 
 Blount might have enriched his book of ancient tenures with 
 those ludicrous stories." Hearne also says, " nor is there more 
 reason to esteem the Merry Tales of the Mad Men of Gotham 
 (which was much valued and cried up in Henry VIII.'s 
 time, though now sold at ballad-singers' stalls) as alto- 
 gether a romance, a certain skilful person having told me more 
 than once that they formerly held lands there by such sports 
 and customs as are touched upon in this book." But Fuller 
 says, that the proverb, "As wise as a man of Gotham," " passeth 
 publicly for the periphrasis of a fool ; and a hundred fopperies 
 are forged and fathered on the townsfolk of Gotham," Still, 
 he thinks it no more remarkable than the customs of other 
 nations, for it has been well observed that a custom seems to 
 have prevailed, even among the eaiiiest nations, of stigmatizing 
 some particular spot as remarkable for stupidity. Amongst the 
 Asiatics Phrygia was considered as the Gotham of that day, 
 Abdera amongst the Thraciaus, and Boeotia amongst the Greeks. 
 Fuller, however, adds, " but, to return to Gotham, it doth 
 breed as wise people as any which causelessly laugh at their 
 simplicity. Sure I am Mr. William de Gotham, fifth master 
 of Michael House, Cambridge, anno 1339, and twice chancellor 
 of the university, was as grave a governor as that age did 
 afford ; and Gotham is a goodly large lordship, where the 
 ancient and respected family of St. Andrew have flourished 
 some hundreds of years, till of late the name is extinct, and 
 lands divided betwixt female co-heirs matched unto very 
 worshippful persons." From these various protests in favour 
 of the men of Gotham, it is evident that considei'able publicity
 
 104 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 had been giveu to the many ridiculous fables traditionally 
 told ; particularly of their having heard the cuckoo, but never 
 having seen her, and therefore hedged in a bush from whence 
 her note seemed to proceed, that being confined within so small 
 a compass, they might at length catch her, and satisfy their 
 curiosity. Ii has been observed by several writers in the last 
 century that what gave rise to the story is not now remembered ; 
 but they all mention that there is at a place called Courthill in 
 the parish, a bush still designated by the name of the Cuckoo- 
 bush. Cf. Beauties of England and Wales, Lond. 1813, vol. 
 xii. part. 1, Nottinghamshire, where may be found several 
 anecdoies concerning the Wise Men of Gotham. 
 
 GOTHAMITE. A term sportively applied to New York ; 
 so called from Gotham. See Gothamist. 
 
 GOTHIC. The language of, or pertaining to, the Goths ; as 
 Gothic customs, Gothic barbarity ; rude, ancient, barbarous. 
 
 A style of architecture with high and sharply-pointed 
 
 arches, clustered columns, &c. ; a term first used by Sir 
 Christopher Wren (by way of derision, it is said) to denote the 
 architecture of the Middle Ages, in contradistinction to 
 Classic architecture. According to Torre, the term Gothic 
 was first applied as a designation by Cesare Cesariano, trans- 
 lator of Vitruvius, in his commentary, 1521. Cesariano was 
 one of the architects of the Cathedral of Milan in 1491, and 
 author of " Saggiosopral'Architettura Goticacon piii proposito, 
 (iermanica dinominata." 
 
 GOUANIA. A genus of plants of one species, native of 
 St. Domingo ; named by Jacquin after Antoine Gouan, M.D., 
 author of Flora Monspeliaca, Hortus Monspeliensis, &c. 
 
 GRACE-CARD. The six of hearts, so termed in Ireland. 
 A Kilkenny gentleman, named Grace, solicited, with promises 
 of royal favour, to espouse the cause of William III., gave the 
 following answer, written on the back of the six of hearts, to 
 an emissary of Marshal Schomberg, who had been commis- 
 sioned to make the proposal to him : — " Tell your master I 
 despise his offer, and that honour and conscience are dearer 
 to a gentleman than all the wealth and titles a prince can 
 bestow." — J. C. H.
 
 VERBxV NOMINALIA. 105 
 
 GRECISM. An idiom of the Greek language, 
 
 GREEK. On the Continent, a name given to a gambler who 
 cheats. Towards the end of the reign of Louis XVI., a chevalier 
 of Greek origin named Apoulos, having obtained admission to 
 the court circle, played with great success. One day, how- 
 ever, he was ttikeujlagrante delicto, and, having been convicted, 
 was condemned to the galleys for twenty years. The circum- 
 stance caused a great noise at the time, and ever since similar 
 
 rogues have been termed Greeks. A jocular term for an 
 
 Irishman ; the Irish, as they assert, being the founders of the 
 Greek nation, 
 
 GREENGAGE. A species of plum. It has been asserted 
 that it was brought into England by a member of the Gage 
 family some time in the last century. A writer in N. & Q. 
 thinks it was a Sir Thomas Gage of Hengrave, in Suffolk; 
 that his own family were intimate with the Gage family, and 
 he is almost certain he had heard them allude to the circum- 
 stance. In Macintosh's Book of the Garden (ed. 1855, ii, 531) 
 occurs the following respecting the greengage : — " Of early 
 origin, introduced by Lord Gage from the Chartreux monastery 
 near Paris." Macintosh, however, enumerates several other 
 sorts of gage, as the imperial gage, Lawson's golden gage, the 
 purple gage, the red gage, the Woolston black gage, and the 
 yellow gage; and the most probable derivation of the word is 
 from the vernacular G. quetsche or qwetsche, Low G. Icwets, a 
 plum. Of. N. & Q. 3rd S, iii. 493. 
 
 GREENOCKITE. A native sulphuret of cadmium, colour 
 honey-yellow ; found at Bishopstown (Renfrew) and Cockney- 
 burn (Dumbarton); named in honour of Lord Greenock, after- 
 wards Earl Cathcart, 
 
 GREENOVITE. A mineral, colour deep rose-red, con- 
 sisting of silica, oxide of titanium, lime, and protoxide of man- 
 ganese ; found at St, Marcel, Piedmont; named in honour of 
 Mr, Greenough. 
 
 GREGORIARA. In Spain, the scientific name of the es- 
 piiiillera or right-hand grieve of iron and leather, worn by the 
 picadores iu the bull-fights ; named from its inventor, Don 
 Gregorio Gallo.
 
 106 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 GROBYA. A genus of orchidaceous plants ; named in 
 honour of Lord Grey of Groby. 
 
 GROG. A mixture of spirit and water not sweetened. 
 Old Admiral Vernon first introduced rum and water as a beve- 
 rage on board ship. The veteran used to wear a grogram 
 cloak {i.e. a cloak made of stuff composed of silk and mohair) 
 in foul Aveather, which gained him the apj)ellation of Old Grog. 
 From himself the sailors transferred the name to the liquor. — 
 (Economist, 1824. 
 
 GROGGY. In vulgar language, tipsy, intoxicated ; from 
 grog, q.v. A groggy horse is one that bears wholly on his 
 heels in trotting ; a grog-blossom, a rum-bud, a redness on the 
 nose or face of those who drink ardent spirits to excess, a 
 deformity that marks the vice of intemperance. 
 
 GROPPITE. A mineral, colour rose-red to brownish-red ; 
 found in the limestone quarry of Gropptorp in Sodermanland, 
 Sweden. 
 
 GROS DE NAPLES. A kind of stout silk so called 
 because made at Naples (Fr. gros, thick). Gros de Tours is 
 a silk made at Tours in imitation of gros de Naples. 
 
 GRUB-STREET. A term applied to low writing, as a 
 Grub-street poem ; from the name of a street (now Milton Street) 
 near Moorfields, London, formerly much inhabited by low 
 writers. 
 
 GRUNALTITE. A mineral found with quartz and copper 
 pyrites. It was named grunauite from Griinau, and saynite 
 from Sayn Altenkerchen, where it is respectively found. 
 
 GRUYfiRE. A celebrated cheese to be met with in most 
 parts of the Continent ; from Gi^yh^e, in Switzerland. 
 
 GUELFS. See Ghibelines. 
 
 GUERNSEY. A woollen waistcoat first made at Guernsey. 
 
 GUETTARDA. A genus of plants, natives of South 
 America ; named after J. S. Guettard, M.D,, author of a local 
 French Flora; Observations sur les Plantes, 1747; and other 
 botanical Avorks. 
 
 GUICHENOTIA. A genus of New Holland shrubs; 
 named after Antony Guichenot, who sailed round the world 
 with Captain Baudin.
 
 VERBA NOMINALTA. 107 
 
 GUILANDINA. The Bonduc or nicker-tree, a genus of 
 plants consisting of trees or shrubs ; named by Linnaeus in 
 honour of Melchior Gruilandinus, a Prussian, who filled the 
 botanical chair at Padua about 1583 or 1589. 
 
 GUILLEMOT. A Avaterfowl of the genus Uria, allied to 
 the penguins, auks, and divers ; found in the northern parts 
 of Europe, Asia, and America. (P. Oyc.) Webster derives the 
 word from W. qivilaivg, whirling about ; but it is more probably 
 from the name of the discoverer, Guillemot, a French dimi- 
 nutive of Guillaume, i.e. William. 
 
 GUILLOTINE. (Fr.) An instrument for the infliction of 
 capital punishment, proposed to the National Assembly of 
 France by Joseph Ignace Guillotin, a physician, native of 
 Xaintes, and a member of the Assembly ; and which from him 
 took its name. It was adopted by decree of 20th March, 1792. 
 The guillotine under other names had existed as a means of 
 public execution long before in Germany, Bohemia, Italy, 
 Scotland, and England. Crusius, in his Annales Suevici, fol. 
 1595 — 6, tom. ii. 296, says, " Antiquis autem temporibus, in 
 Germania etiam decollatio non gladio fiebat, sed querno ligno 
 habente scindens acutissime ferrum. Addit Widermannus, se 
 vidisse tale instrumentum IIala3 in vetere Nosodocheo (Sie- 
 chaus) priusquam id destrueretur, et hodiernum ibi sedificaretur. 
 Eflferebatur inde ilia machina, si quis plectendus esset : sup- 
 plicioque peracto eodem referebatur." — " Postea usus gladii suc- 
 cessit." In German this instrument was called der j)lanlce der 
 deil, the plank of wood ; and in olden language falhiel, the 
 falling hatchet. In Bohemia it was called hagec, something 
 akin to the plank. In Italy it was known by the name of 
 manaia. An engraving of it may be seen in Achillis Bocchii 
 Bonon. Symbolicarum Qugestionum, lib. v. 8vo, Bonon. 1555, 
 p. 36. There is a very beautiful engraving of the German 
 instrument in a representation of the beheading of the son of 
 Titus Manlius, by Henry Aldegrevers, dated 1553, Evelyn, 
 in his Memoirs, vol. i. 170, states that he saw a similar instru- 
 ment at Naples. Its use at Halifax is traced as far back 
 as the time of Edward III. In England what has been since 
 called the guillotine was used only at Halifax, and confined
 
 108 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 even thereto the punishment of felonies committed within the 
 forest of Hardwick. It was in 1650 that the last malefactors 
 there suffered by it (Watson's Hist, of Halifax, 214, 239). 
 Joseph Ignace Guillotin, who revived the use of this instru- 
 ment in France, is supposed by many to have perished at a 
 later period of the Revolution, like the Regent Morton, by his 
 own invention ; but this is not correct, as Dr. Guillotin died a 
 natural death, 26th May, 1814, at the age of seventy-six. 
 See Biog. Universelle ; P. Cyc. ; Galignani, 4 Feb. 1857; 
 and Memoirs of Empress Josephine, Lond. 1828. 
 
 GUINEA. Formerly a gold coin of Great Britain, at first 
 equal to 20^:. sterling, but afterwards raised to 21s. sterling. 
 The appellation of guinea was given to it because gi'eat 
 quantities of them were first struck by Charles II., in 1663, 
 from gold brought from the Guinea coast by the Royal African 
 Company. They were distinguished, some by an elephant 
 under the head, some a castle, others without, which was 
 continued under each reign until George I. 
 
 GUINEA-FOWL or GUINEA-HEN. A fowl of the galli- 
 naceous order, larger than the common domestic hen ; originally 
 from Guinea, where they are found in flocks of 200 or 300, 
 perching on trees, and feeding on worms and grasshoppers. 
 
 GUNDELIA. A genus of perennial composite plants ; 
 named in honour of Andrew Gundelsheimer, a German 
 botanist. 
 
 GUNNERA. A genus of plants of but one species, G. per- 
 pensa, native of the Cape; named by Linnfeus in honour of John 
 Ernest Gunner, bishop of Drontheim, founder of the Royal 
 Norwegian Society, to the " Transactions " of which he con- 
 tributed several valuable treatises on natural history; author of 
 Flora Norwegica ; born at Christiania in 1718. 
 
 GURHOFITE. A sub-variety of magnesian carbonate of 
 lime, colour snow-white; found near Gurhof, in Lower 
 Austria. 
 
 GURRAH. A kind of coarse India muslin ; doubtless from 
 Gurrah, in the British territory of Saugur and Nerbudda. 
 
 GUSTAYIA. A genus of plants of only one species ; named 
 in honour of Gustavus III. of Sweden, patron of Linnseus.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 109 
 
 GUTTA PERCHA (erroneously pronounced perka). A 
 gum which exudes from a forest tree growing in Singapore, 
 Borneo, and other of tlie Eastern islands, and which was first 
 imported into England in 1843. There are three varieties, 
 viz., Gutfa Glrek, Gutta Tuhan, and Gutta Percha. According 
 to some, Percha is the Malayan name for the tree which yields 
 this particular gum. It was, however, originally called 
 Gutia pulo Perecha, i.e. "gum of the island Percha;" which, 
 nevertheless, may have been so named from abounding in 
 these trees. Marsden, indeed, calls the island of Sumatra 
 Pulan Percha. The Malay gatah, guttah, is gum, balsam. 
 
 GUYAQUILLITE. A resin, consisting of carbon; hy- 
 drogen, and oxygen, found at Guyaquil, in South America ; 
 allied to " bog-butter," found in Irish bogs. 
 
 GUZMANNIA. A genus of plants, one species of which 
 grows on the branches of trees in Peru ; dedicated to Guzman. 
 
 GUY. A fright, a dowdy, an ill-dressed person ; so called 
 from the effigy of Guy Fawkes, carried about by boys on the 
 5th of November. 
 
 H. 
 
 HACKNEY. The carriage so named. This word is in- 
 serted on account of the very general belief that this vehicle 
 had its name from the suburb of Hackney. Mr. Pulleyn says, 
 " Hackney coaches, as well as hackney horses, derive their 
 name from the village of Hackney, which was, at a former 
 period, of such great resort that nunibers of coaches and 
 horses were in constant employ in carrying the citizens thither. 
 It was in the year 1634 that Captain Bayley first introduced 
 these coaches, when a tolerable long ride might then be pro- 
 cured for the small sum of 4d." Singularly enough, in another 
 part of the same work, Mr. Pulleyn says, " This village 
 [Hackney] was anciently celebrated for the numerous seats of 
 the nobility and gentry, 'which occasioned,' says Maitland, 
 ' a mighty resort thither of persons of all conditions from the 
 city of London ; whereby so great a number of horses were
 
 110 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 hired in the city on that account, that they were called 
 hackney or hack horses, and, from the number of them em- 
 ployed to go to this neighbourhood, in process of time gave a 
 name to this locality." I am disposed to think that neither of 
 these statements is correct. It is admitted that the hackney 
 coach was not introduced into England until 1634, whereas in 
 tlie most ancient record, dated in 1253, Hackney is called 
 Hakeneye (CI. 37, Hen. III., m. 14, de quadam via obstructa 
 apud Hakeneye). It is most probable that the place was 
 named either from an early owner, one Hacon; or from Aken-ey, 
 which might be rendered " the isle or place near water, 
 abounding with oaks ;" and that the carriage had its name 
 from the horse by which it was drawn. Roquefort (1808) has 
 haquenee, hacquenee, jument de prix, cheval de parade pour les 
 dames ; d'eqmis ; haquet, hacquet, petit cheval, et sorte de 
 voiture pour conduire des vins, des ballots — 
 
 Sus, sus, allez-vous en Jaquet, 
 Et pensez le petit hacquet, 
 Et luy faictes bien sa litiere. 
 
 Coquillart, Monol. du Pays. 
 
 haqnetier, conducteur de haquet ; liaqiie, cheval hongre, 
 d'equus. The Dice, de la Acad. Espail. (1734) has haccmea, 
 caballo algo mayor que las hacas, y menor que las caballos. 
 Covarr. dice que es voz Italiana, que este genero de caballos 
 vienen de Inglaterra y de Polonia ; Lat. equus Britannicus, vel 
 Polonus ; haca, caballo pequeiio, que de sa naturaleza y casta 
 no tiene la estatui'a de los demas caballos. Menage (1694) 
 renders the Fr. haqtienee, L. equus graclarius ; and he derives 
 the Eng. hacneij (sic), Flem. hackney, through the Fr. word 
 from the Barb. L. liakinea, from L. equus, thus equus, akus, 
 akinus, akineus, akinea, haquenee. He says further that 
 akinea, by aphoeresis, became kinea, whence the It. chinea ; 
 and that from akus came the diminutive akettus whence 
 haquet. Cotgrave (1650) gives hacquenee, commonly an am- 
 bling horse, gelding, or mare ; haquet, a dray or low and 
 open cart, such as London brewers use ; haquetia; a drayman. 
 Minshew (1617) gives hackney horse, Fr. haquenee, com. g. 
 haquendrt, It. acchinea, acchenia, chinea, Sp. hacanea, hdca,
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. Ill 
 
 Belg. hakeneijs, dictus u pedibus alternatim elcuatis ac souitum 
 reddentibus, liacke, hade, hacke, &c. &c. Dufresne gives the 
 Med. L. hakenekis et hakenettus, equus tolutarius, graduarius, 
 Gallice haquenee. Maudatum Eduardi III., Regis Angliae, 
 aun. 1373, apud Rymer, torn. 7, 27. Et vobis Hakeneios 
 cariagia, et alia necessaria pro ductione filiorum pra3dictorum, 
 in hac parte, pro denariis nostris, inde solvendis habere faciant. 
 Charta ann. 1413, ibid. p. 124. Et quatuor equorum, et unius 
 hakenetti ; haqueneya, equus tolutarius. Gall, haquenee. 
 Comput. ann. 1402, inter Probat. torn. 3. Hist. Nem. p. 169, 
 col. 1 : A Johanne Arraudi, pro una haqueneya morella, xxxvij 
 francos valentes, xxxij libras Turon. Un haubby d'Irlande, 
 apud Math, de Couciaco in Carolo VII. 593. 
 
 HADLEY. An excellent quadrant used at sea ; so called 
 from its inventor, John Hadley, Esq. 
 
 HAGLOE. A crab apple, raised by Mr, Bellamy, of 
 Hagloe, CO. Gloucester. 
 
 HAIDINGERITE. A very rare mineral; an arseniateoflime 
 and water ; supposed to have been found at Joachimsthal, in 
 Bohemia ; named from its discoverer or analyser, Haidiuger. 
 
 HAMITIC. A term applied to languages considered to be 
 intermediate between the Semitic and African lana;uao;es. The 
 word has been replaced by the term African, and is probably 
 derived from Xrj^i, the Coptic name of Egypt. 
 
 HANDY-PADDY. An instrument to economise the labour 
 of Irishmen in lifting building materials to a great height. It 
 consists of a wheel and axle, a long rope and a basket, and 
 can be seen at work any day in London, except on Sunday. — 
 S. F. Creswell. 
 
 HANK. Two or more skeins of silk, cotton, &c., tied to- 
 gether. Webster gives the Dan. hank, a handle, a hook, a 
 tack, a clasp ; Sw. hank, a band. A correspondent of N. & Q., 
 (3rd S. ii. 478) says, Hanks, a Bi'abant manufacturer, invited 
 over to England by Edward III., circa 1331, gave his name to 
 the skein of worsted. 
 
 HANSARD. A merchant of one of the Hanse towns, in 
 the north of Germany. 
 
 HANSARD. The name of the books containing the official
 
 112 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 printed records of the proceedings in Parliament ; so called 
 from the name of the printer. 
 
 HANSOM. A superior kind of light two-wheeled street 
 cab, in which the driver is perched on an elevated seat behind ; 
 named from the inventor or manufacturer. 
 
 HARBONG KA RAJ. In Hindustan, civil disorders, 
 maladministration : lit. the rule of Harbong, a rajah so named, 
 said to have ruled at a place opposite Allahabad, on the 
 Ganges; thence termed Harhong-pur, and of whose silliness 
 and unfitness for government many traditional anecdotes and 
 proverbial phrases bear record. — Elliot, 
 
 HARDAUR, HARBOUR. A name given to oblong 
 mounds raised in villages in Upper India, and studded with 
 flags to avert epidemic diseases, and especially cholera ; so 
 named in honour of Hardaul Lala, a Bundelkhand chief, 
 who, the natives of Hindustan believe, visited the camp of 
 Lord Hastings with cholera, in punishment of the profanation 
 committed by the Europeans in having once slaughtered cows 
 in the grove where Hardaul's ashes repose. — Wilson, Gloss. 
 
 HARLEQUIN (Fr. id. a buffoon; It. arleccldno, Sp. arleqinn, 
 Armor, harliqin, furluqin, a juggler). A buffoon, dressed in 
 party-coloured clothes, who plays tricks, like a merry Andrew, 
 to divert the populace. This character was first introduced 
 into the Italian comedy, but is now a standing character in 
 English pantomime entertainments. It has been suggested 
 that the last part of the word is from the Goth, and Sw. leca, 
 to play. Menage derives the word from the name of a 
 celebrated comedian, who so much frequented the house of 
 M. de Harley that his friends and acquaintances used to call 
 him Harlequino, "little Harley." This derivation is not satis- 
 factory. But see Pantaloon. 
 
 HARLEIAN, A name given to a most valuable collection 
 of MSS. now in the British Museum ; made by Robert Harley? 
 Earl of Oxford and Mortimer; born 1661, died 1724. 
 
 HARLOT. A prostitute, a common woman. Webster 
 gives W. herlawd, a stripling ; herlodes, a hoiden, from her to 
 push or challenge, llawd a lad ; and he says that the word 
 originally signified a bold siriplinrj, or a hoiden, and was for-
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 113 
 
 merlj applied to males as well as females. Bailey says, q.d. 
 whorelet, a little wliore. The modern It. arlotta is a glutton, 
 devourer. Dr. Johnson says the mother of William I. of 
 England, a furrier's daughter of Falaise, and whose name was 
 Arlotta (others write Arietta), was of so infamous a character 
 that our term harlot is derived from her. Camden also derives 
 the word from one Arlotha, concubine to William the Con- 
 queror. In Scripture, one who forsakes the true God and 
 
 worships idols (Is. i. 3). A servant, a rogue, a cheat (obs.) ; 
 
 wanton, lewd, low, base {Shah.) ; and, as a verb, to practise 
 lewdness {Milton). 
 
 HARPY. Any rapacious or ravenous animal; an extor- 
 tioner; a plunderer {Webster) ; so named from the fabulous 
 winged monsters, having the face of a woman and the body 
 of a vulture, Avith their feet and fingers armed with sharp 
 
 claws, of which Virgil gives a description. The largest of 
 
 the eagle tribe, the Harpyia destructor, inhabiting Mexico and 
 Brazil. 
 
 HARRINGTONITE. A mineral, colour snow-white ; of a 
 compact texture, much like an almond, occurring in the north 
 of Ireland ; named after one of the Harrington family. 
 
 HARTITE. A resin found in clefts in brown coal and 
 fossil wood at Oberhart, near Gloggnitz, in Austria. 
 
 HARTOGIA. A genus of plants, trees, from wiiich the 
 natives of Africa make their arrows ; named after Hartog, a 
 Dutch naturalist. 
 
 HARVEY. An apple ; named after the celebrated Dr. 
 Gabriel Harvey. 
 
 HARVEY. A sauce invented by a Mr. Harvey. 
 
 HASSELQUISTIA. A genus of plants, or. Digynia ; 
 named in honour of Fred. Hasselquist, a Swedish naturalist, 
 one of the most distinguished pupils of Linnteus. 
 
 HASSELTIA. A genus of South American trees, or. 
 Monogynia ; named in honour of the Dutch botanist Van 
 Hasselt. 
 
 HATCHETINE. A wax-like substance occurring in the 
 nodules of ironstone in South Wales; named after Mr. 
 Hatchett.
 
 114 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 HAUSMANNITE. One of the ores of manganese, colour 
 brownish-black, named after M. Hausmanu. 
 
 HAUYNE. A mineral of a blue colour of various shades, 
 found imbedded in volcanic rocks, basalt, clinkstone, &c. ; 
 named after the French mineralogist Haiiy. 
 
 HAVANNAH. A celebrated tobacco, of which cigars are 
 made ; named from Havannah, capital city of the island of 
 Cuba, whence it is brought. 
 
 HAVETIA. A genus of plants, trees, natives of the 
 Andes ; named in honour of the French botanist, M. Havet. 
 
 HAWKESBURY. Name of a duck (the A7ias julata) 
 inhabiting New South Wales, especially Hawkesbury River 
 there. 
 
 HAY^'DENITE. A mineral resembling chabasite, and 
 perhaps identical with it ; occurring near Baltimore, where it 
 was discovered by Dr. Hay den. — Webster. 
 
 HA YE SINE. A mineral, a borate, occurring over the dry 
 plains near Iquique, in Southern Peru ; named after Hayes. 
 The native name is tiza. 
 
 HAY^'LOCKIA. A genus of plants, or. Monogjjnia ; 
 named in honour of Mr. M. Haylocke. 
 
 HEBENSTREITIA. A genus of plants, or. Angiospermia ; 
 natives of the Cape ; named after Ernst Hebeustreit, a pro- 
 fessor at Upsal. 
 
 HECTOR. To threaten; to bully; to treat with insolence 
 {Dri/den). To tease; to vex; to torment by words; from 
 Hector, son of Priam, and the most valiant of all the Trojans. 
 The sense seems to have been greatly changed. (" The epithet 
 of a hectoring fellow is a more familiar instance of a participle 
 similarly formed, though strangely distorted in its use to express 
 a meaning almost the opposite of its original. The Hector of 
 Homer unites, we know, 
 
 'The mildest manners with the bravest mind.' 
 
 The sole bulwark of Troy, he reveres the opinion of her 
 citizens ; armed and hastening to the battle, he stops to cai'ess 
 his infant and to soothe the afflictions of its mother ; to his
 
 VERBA NOMINAL] A. 115 
 
 brother's faults he is indulgent ; and Helen herself witnesses 
 
 over his grave that she had never heard from him one accent 
 
 of unkindness, or ceased to be protected from the reproach of 
 
 others by his mild speech and kindly dispositions : — 
 
 -> / 
 
 z,y] T ccyacvo!ppo(ruvT], ko-l crois _-_a y -s eitmrixi. 
 
 Nugae Metrical, an unpublished work by Lord Grenville, 1824, 
 p. 86. E. II. B.) 
 
 HEDENBERGITE. A dark or nearly black cleavable 
 variety of augite, semi-metallic in appearance, containing a 
 large proportion of oxide of iron (Dana) ; from Hedenberg, 
 who first analysed it. 
 
 HEISTERIA. A genus of plants, uat. or Olacacece, called 
 after M. Heister, professor of botany at Helmstadt. — Crahb. 
 
 HELILAII-KABULEE or CABULI. A purgative 
 Indian plum, the myrobalan of the Arabs. D'Herbelot thinks 
 the name to be from Cahul, from having been first brought 
 thence to Arabia. 
 
 HELLENISM. A phrase in the idiom, genius, or construc- 
 tion of the Greek language, i.e. the language spoken by the 
 Hellenes, who were so called from Hellas, in Greece, or, as 
 some say, from Hellen. 
 
 HELLENIST. A Grecian Jew; a Jew who used the 
 Greek language ; one skilled in the Greek language. See 
 Hellenism. 
 
 HELLENISTIC. Pertaining to the Hellenists; as the 
 Hellenistic language, i.e. the Greek spoken or used by the 
 Jews who lived in Egypt and other countries whei'e the Greek 
 language prevailed. 
 
 HELOT. A slave in ancient Sparta; so named from Helos 
 (EA05), a city of Laconia, which was taken and destroyed by 
 the LacediBmonians, under Agis III., who reduced the EiAcyra; 
 to the lowest and most miserable slavery. 
 
 HELOTISM. The condition of the Helots, q.v. 
 
 HERACLEA. Water horehound ; from Heraclea, near 
 which it grows. — Forsyth. 
 
 HERCULEAN. Very great, difficult, or dangerous; such 
 
 I 2
 
 116 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 as it would require the strength aud courage of Hercules to 
 
 encounter or accomplish; as Herculean labour or task. 
 
 Having extraordinary strength aud size; as Herculean limbs. 
 
 HERCULES. A constellation in the northern hemisphere, 
 near Lyra; named I'rom Hercules. It has also been called 
 Hercules cum Bamo et Cerbero. 
 
 HERDERITE. A mineral occuiTing in Saxony, in crystals 
 imbedded in fluor (Brcmcle) ; named from Herder, who dis- 
 covered it. 
 
 HERITIERA. Looking-glass plant, a genus, nat. or. Ster- 
 culariacece ; called after L'Heritier de Bautelle, a French 
 botanist. — Crabb. 
 
 HERM ANNIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Sterculanacece ; 
 called after Hermann, a botanist and traveller in Ceylon. 
 
 HERMAPHRODITE. An animal partaking of the nature 
 of the two sexes. The word is said to be derived from Her- 
 maphroditus, son of Hermes and Venus. The poets feign 
 that Salmacis fell in love with him, and begged of the gods 
 that their bodies might be always united, and make but one. 
 The word is derived from 'Epfxrjs Mercury, A^po^irrj Yenus; 
 
 i.e. partaking of both sexes. A flower that contains both 
 
 the stamen and the pistil, or the male and female organs of 
 generation within the same calyx, or on the same receptacle. 
 
 A plant that has only hermaphrodite flowers. A brig 
 
 that is square-rigged forward, and schooner-rigged aft. 
 
 HERMENEUTIC, HERMENEUTICAL. Interpreting, 
 explaining, unfolding the signification, as hermeneutic theo- 
 logy, the art of expounding the Scriptures; from spij^rjVBVs an 
 interpreter, from Ep!J.rjS Mercury. 
 
 HERMENEUTIC S. The science of interpretation, or of 
 finding the meaning of an author's words and phrases, and of 
 explaining it to others; particularly applied to the interpreta- 
 tion of the Scriptures. See Hermeneutic. 
 
 HERMES. A name given to rough quadrangular stones or 
 pillars, having a head sculptured on the top, without arms or 
 body. Such stones were placed by the Greeks in front of 
 buildings, and used by the Romans as boundaries or land- 
 marks. As they originally bore the head of Hermes, or
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 117 
 
 Mercury, thej have been called by this name, even when sur 
 mounted by the heads of other deities, &c. 
 
 HERMETIC, IIERMETICAL. Designating chemistry; 
 chemical ; as the hermetic art; so named from Hermes, 
 Mercury, fabled inventor of chemistry; others say from 
 Hermes Trismegistus, an Egyptian priest and philosopher, who, 
 according to Diodorus, was the friend and counsellor of the 
 
 great Osiris. Designating that species of philosophy which 
 
 pretends to solve and explain all the phenomena of nature 
 from the three chemical principles, salt, sulphur, and mercury; 
 
 as the hermetic philosophy. Designating the system which 
 
 explains the causes of diseases, and the operations of medicine, 
 on the principles of the hermetic philosophy, and particularly 
 on the system of an alkali and acid ; as hermetical physic or 
 
 medicine. Perfectly close, so that no air, gas, or spirit can 
 
 escape; as a hermetic seal. Hence, hermetic books; books of 
 the Egyptians, which treat of astrology ; books which treat of 
 universal principles, of the nature and orders of celestial 
 beings, of medicine, and other topics. 
 
 HERMITAGE. A fine, high-flavoured, red wine, grown 
 on the slope of a hill near L'Hermitage, Tain, in the valley of 
 
 the Rhone. A white wine. The grape is called Ceras, and 
 
 is said to have been brought from Shiraz, in Persia, by one of 
 the hermits of the mountain, on whose summit are ruins of 
 what is supposed to have been a hei'mit's cell. 
 
 HERMODACTYL. In the materia medica, a root from 
 Turkey, in the shape of a heart flattened, anciently in great 
 repute as a cathartic; but that which is now fui'nished having 
 little or no cathartic quality. Some derive the word from 
 E^|X7jc Mercury, 5axTuAoc a finger; Mercury's finger. Eor- 
 syth, however, thinks it was more jirobably named from Hei'- 
 inius, a river of Asia, upon whose banks it grew; and SccktvXo;, 
 a date, which, he says, it resembles. 
 
 HERNANDIA. A genus of plants, the only species of 
 which ai'e H. so7iora, Whistling Ilernandia, or jack-in-a-box, 
 a tall erect tree, native of various parts of the East and West 
 Indies; named from the noise made by the wind in whistling 
 through its persistent involucels ; and the H. ovigera or Jno-
 
 118 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 carpus, egg-pointed Hernandia, native of North America. 
 Tlie genus derives its name from Francisco Hernandez, a 
 naturalist sent out to Mexico by Philip II. of Spain. 
 
 HERSCHEL. A planet discovered by Dr. Herschel in 
 1781, first called Georgmm Sidus, and now Uranus. 
 
 HERSCHELIAN. Designating a reflecting telescope of 
 the form invented by Sir William Herschel. In this telescope 
 only one speculum is employed, by means of which an image 
 of the object is formed near one side of the open end of the 
 tube, to which the eyeglass is applied directly. 
 
 HERSCHELITE. A mineral found in olivine, i.e. an olive- 
 coloured silicate of lime and magnesia, along with Phillipsite, 
 at Aci Castello, Etna, Sicily, by one of the Herschels. 
 
 HESSIAN. A boot formerly much worn in England ; 
 so named either from being introduced from Hesse, in Ger- 
 many, or from being first worn by Hessian troops. A 
 
 small two-winged fly or midge, nearly black, very destructive 
 to young wheat ; so called from having been brought into 
 America by the Hessian troops during the revolution. 
 
 HESYCHIUS. A valuable Greek lexicon extant, bearing 
 the name of the author, who is supposed to have lived about 
 the fifth or sixth century after the Christian era. 
 
 HEULANDITE. A mineral, colour of various shades of 
 white passing into red, grey, and brown; occurring principally 
 in amygdaloidal rocks, also in gneiss, &c. ; named after the 
 English mineralogist Heuland. 
 
 HIBBERTIA. A genus of plants, natives of Australia ; 
 named in honour of George Hibbert, F.R.S. 
 
 HIBERNICISM. An idiom or mode of speech peculiar to 
 the Irish, i.e. the natives of Hibernia. 
 
 HILARY TERM. The term of courts, &c , beginning 
 about the festival of St. Hilary, or near the middle of 
 January. 
 
 HINDOOISM or HINDUISM. The doctrines and rites 
 of the Hindoos or Hindus ; the system of religious principles 
 among the Hindoos, or natives of Hindustan. 
 
 HINDOOSTANEE or HINDUSTANI. The language 
 of the Hindoos or Hindus.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 119 
 
 IIIPPOCRAS or IPOCRAS. A medicinal drink, composed 
 of wine with an infusion of spices and other ingredients ; used 
 
 {IS a cordial. A name given to a kind of hot spiced wine, 
 
 inuch in use in the Middle Ages, and drank at all great enter- 
 tainments between the courses, or at the conclusion of the 
 repast. It appears to have been indifferently made of red or 
 white wine. Some assert that it was first made by Hippo- 
 crates or Hippocras. Webster says " quasi wine of Hippo- 
 crates." According to others it had its name from a peculiar 
 sort of cloth bag called Hippocrates' sleeve, through which 
 it was strained. Menage derives the Fr. hypocras (formerly 
 written ipocras) from iitOQ, which he says in Hippocrates 
 signifies a drink, and xaacriov, a word used by the modern 
 Greeks for wine; although it evidently comes from Kpacng, sig- 
 nifying a mixture, and everything made of wine with water. 
 See also Quar. Rev. June, 1825, 245. Gent. Mag. vol. 98, 
 part ii. 304, 1828 ; and Pegge. 
 
 HIPPOCRATEA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Hippocra- 
 teacem ; called after Hippocrates, a Greek physician, considered 
 the father of botany. 
 
 HIPPOCRATISM. The philosophy of Hippocrates, as it 
 regards medicine. 
 
 HISINGERITE. A mineral found in the cavities of cal- 
 careous spar, in Sudermannland ; doubtless named after Hisin- 
 ger. Hisingen is the appellation of an island upon which 
 Gottenburg was originally built. 
 
 HOBBISM. The principles of the sceptical Thomas 
 Hobbes. — Skelton. 
 
 HOBSON'S CHOICE. A vulgar proverbial expression 
 denoting a choice without an alternative ; the thing offered or 
 nothing. It is said to have had its origin in a person at 
 Cambridge named Hobson, who let horses, and obliged every 
 customer to take in his turn that horse which stood next the 
 stable door. — Encyc. Am. 
 
 HOCK. A highly esteemed Rhenish Avine, properly called 
 Ilochheimer ; from Hochheim, in Nassau, where it is pro- 
 duced. 
 
 HOCUS-POCUS. A juggler, a juggler's trick, a cheat used
 
 120 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 by jugglers; and, as a verb, to cheat. Webster suggests that 
 this word may be from W. hoced, a cheat or trick, and Iwg or 
 pwca, a hobgoblin. According to others, this familiar phrase 
 originated in derision of the words Hoc est coi-pus meumi 
 slovenly pronounced by the mumbling priest in delivering the 
 emblem as a reality (Cf. D'Israeli, Amen. Lit., and Athen. 
 Sept. 18, 1841). Tillotson is of the same opinion. He says, " In 
 all j)robability these common juggling words are nothing but 
 a corruption of Hoc est corpus, by way of ridiculous imita- 
 tion of the priests of the Church of Rome in their trick of 
 Transubstantiation. Sharon Turner (Hist. Anglo-Saxons, Ap- 
 pend, to b. ii. c. 3), however, derives the word from Ochus- 
 Bochus, a magician and demon much feared in the north of 
 Europe. Further he derives the term Old Nick from Nechus, 
 a malign deity who frequented the waters. 
 
 HOFFMANSEGGIA. A family of leguminous plants, 
 shrubs, named in honour of J. C. HofFmansegg, a German 
 botanist. 
 
 HOLLAND. Fine linen first manufactured in Holland. 
 It is called in French toile d'Hollande. In like manner the 
 Spaniards call a sort of fine linen Iretana, from being brought 
 from Bretagne. 
 
 HOLLANDS (^Schiedani). A spirit made in Holland. It 
 resembles gin, except in the impurity of the latter. 
 
 HOLMITE. A variety of carbonate of lime, analysed by 
 Holme. 
 
 HOMERIC. Pertaining to Homer or his poetry ; resem- 
 bling his verse. 
 
 HONITON. A pillow or cushion lace remarkable for the 
 beauty of its figures and sprigs, which are sewed on to a net ; 
 made at Honiton, in Devonshire. 
 
 HOO SZE. Raw silk ; so called from Hoo-kwang, a pro- 
 vince of China, where it is produced. 
 
 HOTTENTOT. A savage brutal man ; lit. one belonging 
 to a South African tribe, formerly considered the most degraded 
 of the human race. 
 
 HOTTENTOTISM. Amman distinguishes two species of 
 stammering ; the first he calls Hotteutotism, which consists
 
 VERBA NOMINAT.IA. 121 
 
 in modifying the sounds in such a manner that they become 
 unintelligible; so called from the Hottentots of South Africa. 
 IIOTTONIA. The water-violet, a genus of plants; named 
 in honour of Professor Hotton, of Leyden. 
 
 nOUSTONIA. A vernal plant, native of Virginia; 
 named after Wm. Houston, F.R.S., an English physician and 
 botanist. He died in the West Indies in 1733, leaving a MS. 
 catalogue of plants, the publication of vv^hich was undertaken 
 by Sir Joseph Banks. 
 
 HOUTTUYNIA. A plant, root annual, discovered by 
 Thunberg in Japan ; named in honour of Mart. Houttuyn, 
 M.D., of Holland, author of Natuurlyke Historie, Amst. 
 1773-83. 
 
 HOVENIA. A genus of Asiatic plants, or. Monogynia ; 
 named in honour of Dr. Ploven, of Amsterdam. 
 
 HUDIBRASTIC. A term applied to doggerel verse, like 
 that in which Butler's Hudibras is composed. "Its author is 
 known as the immortal Samuel Butler, and every specimen of 
 later satirical verse remotely approaching his in measure or 
 style is christened Hudibrastic." ..." From the general 
 level of broad humour and pungent wit which has given a 
 name to the Hudibrastic manner, he sometimes rises by a touch 
 of imagination into a pure poetical beauty which would not be 
 generally called Hudibrastic." Sat. Rev. July 16, 1864. 
 
 HUDSONIA. A genus of plants, shrubs; or. Monogynia; 
 named after William Hudson, F.R.S. 
 
 HUERNIA. A genus of plants, or. Digynia; named in 
 honour of the botanist Justus Huernius. 
 
 HUGONIA. A plant, a tree, of only one species, native 
 of the East Indies ; named by Linnseus in memory of Augustus 
 Johannes de Hugo, who travelled in Switzerland with Haller 
 in 1732, and assisted him with his Herbarium. 
 
 HUGUENOT. A name formerly given to a Protestant 
 by the Catholics of France, Numerous derivations have 
 been suggested, many of which will be found in Menage. 
 Among others are G. eidgenossen, confederates, from eid oath, 
 genoss consort ; les guenots de Husse, John Huss's imps ; hue 
 nos venimus, the beginning of the first protestation of the
 
 122 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 Apologetical Oration nicacle before Cardinal Lotliaringus, temp. 
 Francis II. of France ; but the most reasonable suggestion is 
 from Ilugon, a gate in Tours, where they first assembled ; or 
 fi-om Hugo, Hugon, or Ungues, their leader. The author of 
 Memoires et Eecherches de la France, attributed to Jan de la 
 Haye, p. 261, speaking of the ravages made by the Huguenots 
 against the Ecclesiastics, says, " De la furent appellez Huguenots, 
 parce que les Francois se souvinrent de la grande persecution 
 que leur ayeux avoient receu tant des Gots, Visigots, et Ostro- 
 gots, et nommerent ces dei'niers persecuteurs Huguenots, acause 
 d'un nomme Hugues, lequel avoit este Sacramentaire du temps 
 du Roy Charles VI." Again, J. Le Frere de Laval, La Vraye 
 et entiere Histoire des Troubles, p. 103, says " Un certain 
 historien Espagnol, qui a ecrit I'Histoire des Papcs en sa 
 langue, a invente un homme de sa fa^on, appelle Hugo, Heresi- 
 arque Sacramentaire ; Hugo, Haeresiarcha Sacramentarius ; de 
 qui les Heretiques de France ont este appellez Huguenots." 
 
 Bailey gives also " Huguenote (Fr.), a kind of kettle for a 
 
 stove, or an earthen stove for a pot to boil on ; hence, A la 
 huguenote, in cookery, a particular way of dressing eggs with 
 gravy." 
 
 HUMBOLDTINE. A native oxalate of iron ; named after 
 Humboldt. 
 
 IIUMBOLDTITE. A rai-e mnieral, consisting of a boro- 
 silicate of iron, found in trap rocks in the Tyrol ; named after 
 Humboldt. 
 
 HUMBUG-. An imposition under pretences ; one who thus 
 imposes. According to some, the word is derived from Ham- 
 burg, or rather, " news from Hamburg," because in war times 
 news from that city, being frequently false, was generally 
 looked upon with distrust. The word has also been derived 
 from Ilomberg, the distinguished chemist of the court of the 
 Duke of Orleans, who, according to a passage from Bishop 
 Berkeley's Shns, was an ardent and successful seeker after 
 the philosopher's stone ! " The derivation of this Avord, 
 now in such common use, is not generally known ; but it is of 
 Scotch origin. There was in former years residing in the 
 neighbourhood of the Mearns, in Scotland, a gentleman of
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 123 
 
 liinded property whose name was Hume or Home ; and his 
 estate was known as the Bogue. From the great falsehoods 
 that Hume of the Bogue was in the habit of relating about 
 himself, his family, and everything connected with him, it soon 
 became customary, when persons heard anything that was 
 remarkably extravagant or absurd, to say, ' That is a Hume o' 
 the Bogue.' The exj^ression spread like wildfire over the 
 Avhole country, and those who did not understand the origin 
 of the phrase, and applied it only to any extravagant action or 
 saying, contracted it into one word, and corrupted it to hum- 
 hug. We must define humbug. It is not naked untruth. A 
 draper's assistant who tells a lady that a dress will wash when 
 it will not does not humbug her — he merely cheats her ; but if 
 he persuades her to buy a good-for-nothing muslin by telling 
 her that he has sold such another to a duchess he humbugs 
 her, whether he speaks truly or not ; he imposes an inference 
 in favour of his commodity, through her large vanity upon her 
 small mind. Humbug thus consists in making people deceive 
 themselves, by supplying them with premises, true or false, 
 from which, by reason of their ignorance, weakness, or pre- 
 judice, they draw wrong conclusion." — Pulleyn. See also 
 Hotteri's Slang Diet. 
 
 HUMITE. A reddish-brown mineral, found near Naples 
 in a rock of granular topaz ; named after Sir Abraham 
 Hume. 
 
 HUNGARY GREEN or MOUNTAIN GREEN. A 
 sort of greenish powder found in little grains, like sand, 
 among the mountains of Kernausent in Hungary, and those of 
 Moldavia. 
 
 HUNTERIA. A genus of plants, trees, named in honour 
 of Dr. William Hunter, of Bengal. 
 
 HUNTLEYA. A genus of orchidaceous plants ; named 
 after the Rev. J. T. Huntley. 
 
 HUREAULITE. A mineral of a reddish-yellow hue, oc- 
 curring in very small crystals, found in the granite of Hureau 
 or Ilureault, near Limoges, in France. 
 
 HURLY-BURLY. Tumult, bustle, confusion (ShaL); 
 "said to owe its origin to Hurleigh and Burleigh, two neigh-
 
 124 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 bouring families that filled the country around theni with 
 contest and violence " {Pulleyn). 
 
 HURONIA. The generic name assigned by Mr. C. Stokes 
 to certain radiated corallines found by Dr. Bigsby in the trans- 
 ition limestone of Lake Huron, Upper Canada. 
 
 HUEONITE. A mineral, colour yellowish-green ; found 
 in boulder stones in the neighbourhood of Lake Huron. 
 
 HURRAH. A shout of joy or exultation. The origin of 
 this word belongs to the primitive idea that all men who die 
 for their country go to heaven; hur-raj in Slavonic meaning 
 Paradise. — Dalmatian Observer. 
 
 HUYGHENIAN. An eye-piece for diminishing the 
 spherical aberration by producing the refractions at two glasses 
 instead of one, and increasing the field of view ; invented by 
 Huyghens, the eminent mathematician and astronomer. 
 
 HYACINTII (L. hjacinthus, Gr. vccynv^os). Popular name 
 of some species of a genus of plants, said by the poets to have 
 been called after the youth Hyacinthus, who, having been 
 accidentally killed, was changed by his friend Apollo into this 
 
 flower. A red variety of zircon, sometimes used as a gem. 
 
 The colour of " tenne " or orange. 
 
 HYACINTHINE. Made of, consisting of, or resembling 
 hyacinth. — Milton. 
 
 HYGIEINA, HYGIEINE, or HYGIENE. Health, or 
 the art or science of preserving health ; that department of 
 medicine which treats of the preservation of Irealth ; said 
 to be so named from Hygeia, goddess of health. The Greek 
 has vyiaiyco, to be well. 
 
 HYGIENIC. Pertaining to health. See Hygieina. 
 
 HYMEN (Gr. vixr^v). The virginal membrane; said to- 
 have been so called from Hymen, son of Bacchus and Venus, 
 who presided over marriages, because this membrane is sup- 
 posed to be entire before marriage. The fine pellicle which 
 
 encloses a flower in the bud. 
 
 HYMENEAL, HYMENEAN. Pertaining to marriage 
 (Fope). A marriage song {Milton). See Hymen. 
 
 HYSON. A species of green tea from China ; named after 
 the merchant Avho first imported (exported ?) it. — Encyc. Brit.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 125 
 
 I. 
 
 IBERIS. A genus of plants, nat. or. Cruciferce ; so called 
 from Iberia, in Spain, where it was fii'st found. 
 
 ICARIAN. Adventurous in flight; soaring too high for 
 safety, like Icarus, son of Dajdalus, who fled on wings to 
 escape the resentment of Minos, but whose flight being too 
 high, he fell into the sea and was drowned, the sun having 
 melted the wax that cemented his wings. 
 
 IDRIALIN. A substance consisting of carbon and hydro- 
 gen ; from the quicksilver mines at Idria, in Carniola. 
 
 ILIAD. An epic poem in twenty-four books, composed by 
 Homer. The subject of this poem is the wrath of Achilles, 
 in describing which the poet exhibits the miserable effects of 
 disunion and public dissensions ; hence the phrase Ilias malo- 
 runi, an Iliad of woes or calamities ; a world of disasters 
 {^Cicero); named from Ilium, Ilion, Troy. 
 
 ILMENITE (another name for Mengite). A black metallic 
 mineral, consisting of titanic acid and oxide of iron; said to 
 occur in granite veins in the Ilmen mountains ; but qu. where ? 
 Ilmen is the name of a lake of Russia, gov. Novgorod, which 
 discharges its surplus waters into Lake Ladoga ; and Ilmenau 
 is the appellation of a town and of a river of Germany. 
 Brooke's name Ilmenite being preoccupied, it was changed by 
 Rose to Mengite. 
 
 INDIA or INDIAN RUBBER. A substance produced by 
 incision from several trees of different genera ; from India. 
 
 INDIAMAN. A large ship employed in the India trade. 
 
 INDIAN or INDIA INK. A substance said to consist of 
 lampblack and animal glue, brought chiefly from China, and 
 used in water colours. 
 
 INDIANITE. A doubtful mineral of the feldspar family ; 
 from India. 
 
 INDICOLITE. A variety of shorl or tourmalin of an 
 indigo-blue colour, sometimes with a tinge of azure or green ; 
 from indicum, indigo, and Xi^o;, a stone.
 
 126 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 INDIGO. A drug of a fine colour, prepared from the 
 leaves and branches of the Indigofera tinctoria. The word was 
 formerly written indico, and is derived from Tndicum lignum, 
 being brought from India. 
 
 INDIGrOGEN. White or reduced indigo, produced by the 
 action upon blue indigo of any deoxidating body. 
 
 INDIGOMETEE. An instrument for ascertaining the 
 strength of indig-o. 
 
 INNISHEOWN. A celebrated whisky distilled at Inni- 
 sheown, near Derry, Ireland. 
 
 INULA. See Elecampane. 
 
 INULIN. A peculiar vegetable principle extracted from 
 the Inula helenium, or elecampane. See Elecampane. 
 
 INVERNESS. A sort of woollen cape worn by men; from 
 Inverness, in Scotland. 
 
 IONIC. An oz'der in architecture characterised by a species 
 of column, simple and majestic, more slender than the Doric 
 and the Tuscan, but less slender and less ornamented than the 
 Corinthian and Composite, and whose distinguishing feature is 
 the volute of its capital; named from Ionia, in Asia Minor, 
 
 where it originated. A dialect of the Greek language used 
 
 in Ionia. In poetry, a foot consisting of four syllables, 
 
 either two short and two long, or two long and two short. 
 
 Among the ancients a light and airy kind of music. 
 
 IRANEE. A horse well limbed, and very powerful 
 in the quarters ; brought from Iran, the ancient name of 
 Persia. 
 
 IRISHISM. A mode of speaking peculiar to the 
 Irish. 
 
 IRVINISM. The ism of the Rev. Edward I rving, who 
 associated himself with the so-called " prophets," who pre- 
 tended to be inspired with the gift of prophecy, encouraged 
 manifestations of the " unknown tongues," and committed 
 other offences against ecclesiastical discipline. In 1830 he 
 was convicted by the Scotch presbytery in London, and dis- 
 missed from his incumbency in Regent Square. A vacant 
 picture gallery in Newman Street, Oxford Street, was, how- 
 ever, afterwards converted into a chapel for him by his ad-
 
 VERBA KOMINALIA. 127 
 
 mirers, and here he was i^ermitted to indulge unrestrained the 
 pro^ihetic messages with Avhich he believed himself to be 
 charged. He was born in 1792 at Annan, in Scotland, and 
 died 6th December, 1834. 
 
 ISABEL (Fr. isahelle, couleur Isabelle). A brownish-yellow 
 colour Avith a shade of brownish-red ; named after Isabelle of 
 Austria, daughter of Philip II. of Spain and Elizabeth of 
 France. Isabelle (born 1566, died 1633), having married 
 Albert, son of the Emperor Maximilian, and received as a 
 dowry the sovereignty of the Low Countries, declared war 
 against Holland, was present and assisted at the famous siege 
 of Ostend, and frustrated the attempts of the Prince of 
 Orange to draAV over to his side the Roman Catholic j)rovinces. 
 Despairing at the long resistance of the siege, Isabelle, it is 
 said, swore she would not change her linen until she was 
 mistress of the place. Ostend having resisted nearly three 
 years, the linen worn by the princess became of a tawny 
 colour ; hence, it is said, the name Isabelle for this colour. The 
 French biographer says, " The epoch at Avliich the infanta 
 made this strange voav is not fixed, but, inasmuch as the siege 
 lasted three years, three months, and three days, it is not at 
 all astonishing that the linen Avhich the princess wore should 
 have become of the faAvn colour, Avhich, after her name, is 
 still called couleur Isabelle." It is possible, hoAvever, that the 
 colour may haA'e been named from the complexion of the 
 princess. After speaking of the vain attempts to place the 
 princess on the throne of France, the biographer says, '*' C'est 
 ainsi que des anuees entieres d'eiforts et de combinaisons 
 politiques se terminerent par une scene de comedie. Ce ridi- 
 cule ne pouvait echapper aux auteurs de la fameuse Satire 
 Menippee. Dans la caricature des etats de Paris, c'est le 
 portrait de VEpousee de la Ligue, c'est-a-dire de I'infante elle- 
 meme, qui est suspendu sur la tete du president. Au-dessous 
 du portrait sont ecrits ces vers, qui contiennent une double 
 epigramme — 
 
 ' Pourtant si je suis brutette. 
 Amy, n'en prenez emoy; 
 Car autant aimer souhaitte 
 Qu'une plus blanche que moy.'
 
 128 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 Le teint basane de la princesse, et son age, qui n'etait cepen- 
 (iaiit que de vingt-huit a trente ans, ne sont jamais oublies dans 
 les satires ni meme dans les discours dont elle etait I'objet." 
 The French word is also used in Entomology, Ichthyology, 
 Ornithology, &c. 
 
 ISABELLINO. A new gold coin of Spain equal to 100 
 reals ; named from Queen Isabel. 
 
 ITALICS. Italic letters or characters; letters which 
 stand inclining ; the letters in which this clause is printed. So 
 called because first used in Italy. 
 
 ITALIANATE. To render Italian, or conformable to 
 Italian customs (obs.) 
 
 ITALIANIZE. To play the Italian ; to speak Italian. 
 
 lOXIA. A genus of bulbous plants, or. 7l/o«o^j/«z'a. Some 
 derive the word from Gr. <^oe, glue, from its viscous juice. 
 According to others, it was so called because its flower when 
 open resembles the wheel of Ixion. 
 
 J. 
 
 JACK. A general term of contempt for any saucy or 
 paltry fellow ; from Jack, nickname for John. An instru- 
 ment that supplies the place of a boy ; an instrument to pull 
 
 off boots. An engine to turn a spit ; as a kitchen 
 
 jack, a smoke jack, a bottle jack. A young pike. 
 
 A pitcher of waxed leather, A small bowl thrown out 
 
 for a mark to the bowlers. Part of a musical instrument 
 
 called a virginal. The male of certain animals, as of the 
 
 ass. A horse or wooden frame on which wood or timber 
 
 is sawn. In archaeology, a kind of defensive coat-armour 
 
 formerly worn by horsemen. In sea language, a flag, 
 
 ensign, or colours, displayed from a staff" on the end of a bow- 
 sprit. A quarter of a pint; in Yorkshire half-a-pint. 
 
 In mechanics, a machine for raising heavy weights. In 
 
 botany, a species of the bread-fruit tree. A term often
 
 VEKBA NOMINALIA. 1 -'9 
 
 applied to seafaring men. A large wooden male screw 
 
 turning in a female one. 
 
 JACK KETCH. In England, a public executioner or 
 hangman, a most useful officer. Macaulay (Flist. Eng. vol. I. 
 627), describing the execution of the Duke of Monmouth on 
 Tower Hill, July 15, 1685, says, "Monmouth mounted the 
 scaffold, then accosted John Ketch, the executioner, a wretch 
 who had butchered many brave and noble victims, and whose 
 name has, during a century and a half, been vulgarly given to 
 all who have succeeded him in his odious office. 'Here,' said 
 the duke, ' are six guineas for you. Do not hack me as you 
 did my Lord Russell. I have heard that you struck him three 
 or four times : my servant will give you some more gold if 
 you do the work well.' He then undressed, felt the edge of 
 the axe, expressed some fear that it was not sharp enough, 
 and laid his head on the block. The hangman addressed him- 
 self to his office, but he had been disconcerted by what the 
 duke had said. The first blow only made a slight wound. 
 The duke struggled, rose from the block, and looked reproach- 
 fully at the executioner. The head sank once more, the stroke 
 was repeated again and again, but still the neck was not 
 severed, and the body continued to move. Yells of rage and 
 horror rose from the crowd. Ketch flung down the axe with a 
 curse : ' I cannot do it,' he said, ' my heart fails me.' ' Take 
 up the axe, man,' said the sheriff, 'Fling him over the rails,' 
 roared the mob. At last the axe was taken up. Two more 
 blows extinguished the last remains of life, but a knife was 
 used to separate the head from the shoulders. In the year 
 which followed Monmouth's execution Ketch was turned out 
 of his office for insulting one of the sheriffs, and was succeeded 
 by a butcher named Rose ; but in four months Rose himself 
 was hanged at Tyburn, and Ketch was reinstated." 
 
 JACKET (Fr. Jaquette, Bas. jacaya, O. Sp. xaqueta, now 
 jaquefxi, a jacket, a short loose coat; xaco, now jdco, a short 
 jacket; xaquetilla, now jacquetilla, a small jacket). The 
 garment so named, said to be of German origin. The word 
 is probably a diminutive of the name Jacques, or, as some say, 
 of Jack. Froissart says Henry, duke of Lancaster, on his 
 
 K
 
 130 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 retm'n to England, entered London in a " courte Jacques of 
 cloth of gold, a, la faclioa d'Almayne " (see Planche). Mr. 
 Boys thinks jacket is " Little John," or " Little Jacky," the 
 term being transferred from the wearer to his coat ; and he 
 instances the Portuguese josezinlio, i.e. Little Joseph or Little 
 Joey, which is often used for the dress of the schoolboy. 
 
 JACOB. A ladder ; from Jacob's dream. — Grose. 
 
 JACOBiEA. St. James's wort ; ragwort ; " so named 
 because it was dedicated to St. James, or because it was 
 directed to be gathered about the feast of that saint." — 
 Forsyth. 
 
 JACOBINISM. Unreasonable or violent opposition to 
 legitimate government ; an attempt to overthrow or change 
 government by secret cabals or irregular means ; popular 
 turbulence ; the principles of the Jacobins, a society of violent 
 revolutionists, who, during the French Revolution of 1789, 
 held secret meetings, in which measures were concerted to 
 direct the proceedings of the National Assembly, and who had 
 their name from the place of meeting, the monastery of the 
 Jacobiue monks. 
 
 JACOBITISM. The principles of the partisans or adhe- 
 rents of James II. of England after he abdicated the" throne, 
 and of his descendants of course ; opposers of the Revolution 
 in 1688 in favour of William and Mary. From Jacohus, 
 James, 
 
 JACOB'S LADDER. In naval affairs, a rope ladder with 
 wooden steps or spokes for going aloft ; so named from Jacob's 
 ladder (G-en. xxviii. 12). A plant of the genus Smilax. 
 
 JACOB'S MEMBRANE. The thin external membrane 
 of the retina, considered by Dr. Jacob to be a serous mem- 
 brane. 
 
 JACOB SON'S NERVE. Another name for the tympanic 
 branch, described by Jacobson. 
 
 JACOB'S STAFF. An instrument (called also cross-staff 
 and bore-staff) formerly used for taking the meridian altitude 
 of the sun or stars ; said to be so named because the divisions 
 marked upon it resembled the steps of Jacob's ladder (Gen. 
 xxviii. 12). "On I'appelait, dit-on, baton de Jacob, parceque
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 1.31 
 
 les divisions marquees sur le nioutaut ressemblaieut aux degres 
 de rechellc mysterieuse de Jacob (See Encyc. Cathol. " Baton "). 
 
 A i^ilgrim's staiF, concealing a dagger, formerly used by 
 
 pilgrims in Spain. 
 
 JACOBUS. Gold coins of the value of 20s., 23s., and 
 25s., struck in the reign of James I. 
 
 JACONET. A light soft muslin, of an open texture, used 
 for dresses, necklocks, &c.; probably from the name of the first 
 manufacturer. Jaconet, a double diminutive of Jacques. 
 
 JACQUARD. An appendage to a loom, consisting of a 
 set of perforated cards and droppers for weaving figured goods, 
 both silk and cotton ; named from the inventor, Jacquard, who 
 was born at Leyden 7th July, 1752, and who caused so great 
 a revolution in the industry of weaving. The term has also 
 been applied to carpets. 
 
 JAQUEMONTIA. A genus of South American plants, 
 herbs or sub-shrubs; named in honour of Victor Jacque- 
 mout. 
 
 JACQUERIE. In French history, the name given to the 
 revolt of the French peasantry against the nobility in 1356 ; so 
 called from their leader Jacques, or Jacques Bonhomme. Roque- 
 fort gives '■'Jacquerie, revolte qui eut lieu en 1356; elle fut ainsi 
 nommee de son chef, qui s'appeloit Jacques; (\!o\\Jacquiers, les 
 seditieux qui participerent a cette revolte ; en bas Bret, jacqiier, 
 persecuteur ; Jaquerie, Jaques ; soldats, faction de seditieux et 
 de voleurs. Ce nom fut donne a une troupe de paysans qui se 
 revolterent en 1318 (suivant Borel) centre leur seigneurs, a 
 cause des exactions qu'ils exerQoient contr'eux. Comme le 
 Roi Jean, qui regnoit alors, etoit prisonnier en Angleterre (ce 
 qui n'est arrive qu'en 1356), les seigneurs, par derision, ap- 
 pelerent cette sedition la Jaquerie, du nom de leur chef Jaques 
 Bonhomme, et les factieux Jacquiers : elle commenga dans le 
 Beauvoisis. Froissart parle de cette sedition." The Encyc. 
 des Gens du Monde says, " Jacquerie : en France, vers le 
 milieu du XIV^ siecle, les nobles appelaient par derision le 
 peuple Jacques Bonhomme, et quand leur exces eurent fait 
 soulever ce dernier, la sedition populaire s'appela Jacquerie. 
 La Jacquerie appartient an regne du Roi Jean, I'uu des plus 
 
 K 2
 
 132 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 malheureux que I'histoire nous ait fait counaitre ; guerre 
 etrangere, guerre civile, peste, famine, tout sembla se reunir 
 alors pour livrer la France a la plus horrible misere." 
 
 JACQUINIA. A genus of plants, the species of which 
 are shrubs, natives of South America and other warm climates ; 
 named by Linngeus in honour of the celebrated Nicholas 
 Joseph Von Jacquin, professor of botany at Vienna, born 
 at Ley den in 1727, who published a history of American 
 plants, &c. 
 
 JALAP (Sp. and Port, jaldpa, Fr. jalaj)). The root of a 
 plant having little or no taste or smell, much used in powder as 
 a cathartic ; from Xalapa or Jalapa, in Mexico, whence it is 
 imported. 
 
 JALAPIN. A vegetable proximate principle of the offi- 
 cinal jalap. 
 
 JAMACINA or JAMAICIN. An alkaloid obtained from 
 the Andira inermis, or cabbage bark tree, of the West Indies ; 
 named from Jamaica. 
 
 JAMESONITE. A steel-grey ore of antimony and lead; 
 named after Professor Jameson. 
 
 JANSENISM. The doctrine of Cornelius Jansen, a 
 Roman Catholic bishop of Ypres, in Flanders, who was as- 
 serted to have denied free will, and to have held to irresistible 
 grace and atonement, in his book called Augustinus. — S. F. 
 Cresswell. 
 
 JANUARY (L. Januarius). The first month of the year 
 according to the present computation. At the foundation of 
 Rome March was considered the first month. January and 
 February were introduced by Numa Pompilius (Encyc). The 
 Latin word is said to be derived from the Roman god Janus 
 (Dor. Zav, ZoivoQ, Jupiter), to whom this month was supposed 
 to be sacred. He had tAvo faces, and the doors of his temple 
 were shut in time of peace, and open in time of war. Hall 
 says January was so called from being the gate or opening 
 (^janua) of the year. 
 
 JAPAN. Work varnished and figured in the manner prac- 
 tised by the Japanese. Hence, to cover with a thick coat of 
 iiard brilliant varnish, an art derived from the Japanese ;
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 133 
 
 hence, to black and gloss, as in blacking shoes or boots, 
 
 To ordain (JJniversitij'). 
 
 JAPHETIC. A term formerly applied to the nations in- 
 habiting the north of Asia and all Europe, and to the lan- 
 guages spoken by them ; so called from Japhet, eldest son of 
 Noah, 
 
 JASEY, A contemptuous name for a wig, and even for a 
 head of bushy hair ; as if composed of Jersey yarn, of which 
 jazy is a corrupt pronunciation. — Forhy. 
 
 JEAN. A twilled cotton, usually striped, used for stays, 
 &c. ; probably from the first maker, Jean (John). Satin jean 
 is woven smooth and glossy, after the manner of satin. 
 
 JEFFERSONIA. A genus of North American herba- 
 ceous plants ; named in honour of Jefferson, president of the- 
 United States. 
 
 JEFFERSONITE. A variety of augite, colour dark 
 olive green, passing into brown; found embedded in franklinite 
 and garnet, in New Jersey, North America ; named in honour 
 of Jefierson, president of the United States. 
 
 JEHU. A name for a coachman ; said to be so called from- 
 Jehu, son of Nimshi, who rode in a chariot. " And the driving 
 is like the driving of Jehu, the son of Nimshi, for he driveth 
 furiously." 2 Kings, ix. 20. — S'. F. Cresu-ell. 
 
 JEMMY. In thieves' language, a short and stout crowbar 
 for opening doors ; from the nickname for James. 
 
 JENNETING, JUNEATING, JUNETING, or GINET- 
 TING. A species of early apple; " said to be corrupted from 
 juneating, an apple ripe in June, or at St. Jean, the name of a 
 place in France. — Webster. 
 
 JENNY. A machine for spinning, moved by water or 
 steam, and used in manufactories, " It was originally in- 
 vented by Hai'greaves in 1767, but ultimately improved by 
 Richard Arkwright, a barber, but who afterwards became an 
 eminent manufacturer, ultimately Sir Richard Arkwright, Bart, 
 The term jenny was derived from his wife, whose name was 
 Jane, but whom he used to address by the familiar name of 
 Jenny ; thinking, no doubt, that, as the latter had been very 
 prolific, his new invention would be equally so under a simi-
 
 134 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 lar ai^pellation. The result justified such a conclusion." — 
 PuUei/n. 
 
 JEREMIADE. Lamentation; a tale of grief, sorrow, or 
 complaint ; from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, the prophet, 
 over Jerusalem. 
 
 JERKIN. A jacket ; a short coat ; a close waistcoat. 
 Bailey derives the word from A. S. cyrtelhin, diminutive of 
 cyrtel, a coat. The Rev. Mr. Boys thinks jerkin may be a 
 diminutive of Jerry, i.e. Little Jerry, and he instances the 
 dress of the schoolboy in Portugal, often called josezinlio, i.e. 
 Little Joseph or Little Joey, the term being facetiously trans- 
 ferred from the wearer to his coat." 
 
 JERSEY. A fine yarn of wool; named from the island so 
 
 called. A woollen over-jacket all in a piece, used in 
 
 rowing, &c. 
 
 JESSE. A branch, or large candlestick of brass branched 
 into several sconces, hanging down in the middle of a church 
 or choir, in order to spread the light to all parts ; so called as 
 resembling the branch or genealogical tree of Jesse (arbor 
 Jessce ; stirps Jessce), of w-hich a picture was formerly hung 
 up in churches. It was first brought over into England by 
 Hugh de Flory, abbot of St. Austin's in Canterbury, about 
 1100, as thus recorded by the historian of the abbey : — " Pul- 
 pitum etiam in ecclesia fecit, candelabrum etiam magnum in 
 choro aireum, quod Jesse vocatur, in partibus emit transma- 
 rinis." Chron. Will. Thorn., p. 1796 ; and Cowel, Interpreter. 
 
 JESUITIC, JESUITICAL. Designing; cunning; de- 
 ceitful ; prevaricating ; lit. pertaining to the Jesuits or their 
 principles and arts. The Jesuits were members of the Society 
 of Jesus, founded by Ignatius Loyola in 1534, a society re- 
 markable for their cunning in propagating their principles. 
 
 JET {D.git, Fi-.jayet, L. gagates). A mineral, of a velvet- 
 black colour, found in unconnected heaps ; wrought into toys, 
 buttons, mourning jewels, &c. ; the same word as agate, q.v. 
 
 JEW. A cheat; to cheat ; overreaching being by all na- 
 tions supposed to be the peculiar function of a Jew. — S. F. 
 Creswell. 
 
 JEWISHNESS. The rights of the Jews.— 3Iartm.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 135 
 
 JEW'S EAR. Popular name of a species of fungus 
 bearing some resemblance to the human ear. 
 
 JEZEBEL. Formerly employed to denote a forward im- 
 pertinent woman, and perhaps not yet wholly disused (^John- 
 son) ; an impertinent, daring, vicious woman (Spectator) ; so 
 called from Jezebel, who displayed her pernicious charms at 
 her window {Ibid). Jezebel (whose name, by the bye, in 
 Hebrew signifies chaste) was such an impious woman that she 
 is regarded in the Scriptures as the symbol of fornication and 
 wickedness. After Jehu had slain her son Jehoram he came 
 to Jezreel, and "Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face 
 and tired her head, and looked out at a window " (2 Kings, 
 ix. 30). 
 
 JINGO. " By Jingo." A common form of oath, said to be 
 a corruption of St. Gingoulph. See Halliwell. 
 
 JOBATION. A scolding; a long tedious reproof (Grose) ; 
 a lecture, reprimand; from Job, his friends having remon- 
 strated much with him. " Probably corrupted from jaivbat/on, 
 a jawing" (*S'. F. Cresivell). 
 
 JOB'S TEARS. A grass-like plant of the genus Coix, 
 with shining pearly fruit, resembling fixlling tears. 
 
 JOCKEY. A man who rides horses in a race ; primarily 
 a boy that rides horses ; from Jaclce;/, a diminutive of Jack. 
 
 A dealer in horses; one Avho makes it his business to buy 
 
 and sell horses for gain. A cheat; one who deceives or 
 
 takes undue advantage in trade. To cheat ; to trick ; to 
 
 deceive in trade. —   — To jostle by riding against one. 
 
 JOE. A too marvellous tale, a lie, a stale joke ; from Joe 
 Miller. The full name is occasionally used, as in the phrase, 
 " I don't see the Joe Miller of it," i.e. I don't perceive ihe wit 
 you intend. — J. C. Hotten. 
 
 JOE or JOEY. A fourpenny piece, a supply of which was 
 kept by the late Joseph Hume for paying cabmen {S. F. Cres- 
 well). " These pieces are said to have owed their existence 
 to the pressing instance of Mr. Hume, from whence they for 
 some time bore the nickname of Joeys. As they were very 
 convenient to pay short cab fares, the Hon. M.P. was extremely 
 unpopular with the drivers, who frequently received only " a
 
 136 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 groat " where otherwise they would have received a sixpence 
 without any demand for change" (Hawkins's Hist. Silver 
 Coinage of England). 
 
 JOHANNES. A Portuguese coin equal to 8 dollars; often 
 contracted into joe; as a joe, half-joe; named from the figure 
 of King John, which it bears. 
 
 JOHANNITE. A mineral consisting of sulphate of cop- 
 per, sulphate of oxide of uranium, and Avater, in unknown 
 proportions ; found in crystals and reuiform masses at Joa- 
 chimsthal and Jo/ia/i/i-Georgenstadt, in Bohemia. 
 
 JOHANNISBERG. The most famous of the Rhenish 
 wines ; named from the Chateau of Johannisberg, the property 
 of Prince Metternich, near Riidesheim, on the right bank of 
 the Rhine, situated in the midst of the vineyards themselves. 
 The first owners of the vineyard were the monks, it having 
 been originally attached to the abbey and convent of St. John, 
 afterwards secularized. The best grapes grow close under the 
 castle, and, indeed, partly over the cellars. So precious are 
 they that those which fall are picked off the ground with a 
 kind of fork made for the purpose. 
 
 JOHN. A pear used in Worcestershire for making perry ; 
 probably named from the gardener. 
 
 JOHN APPLE [Deux Ans). An apple good for spring 
 use, when other fruit is spent ; perhaps named from tlie 
 gardener. It is probably the same with the Apple John men- 
 tioned by Shakspeare. 
 
 JOHN BULL. The well-known collective name of the 
 English nation, first used in Arbuthnot's satire, the History of 
 John Bull, usually published in Swift's works. 
 
 JOHNSONISM. A peculiar word or manner of Dr. 
 Johnson ; the literary style introduced by him. 
 
 JONATHAN. The origin of this term, as applied to the 
 United States, is as follows : — " When General Washington, 
 after being appointed commander of the army of the revolu- 
 tionary war, went to Massachusetts to organize it, he found a 
 great want of ammunition and other means for its defence, and 
 on one occasion it seemed that no means could be devised for 
 ihe necessary supply. Jonathan Trumbull the €lder was then
 
 VERBA NOMIXAfJA. 137 
 
 governor of the State of Connecticut, uud the general, placing 
 the greatest reliance on his excellency 's j udgment, remarked, ' We 
 must consult Brother Jonathan on the subject.' The general 
 did so, and the governor was successful in supplying many of 
 the wants of the army ; and thenceforth, when difficulties arose, 
 and the army was spread over the country, it became a bye- 
 phrase, ' We must consult Brother Jonathan,' and the name 
 has now become a designation for the whole country, as 'John 
 Bull ' has for F.ngla.mV'—Bartlett. 
 
 JONCQUETIA. A genus of plants of only one species, 
 native of Guiana, where it is called Tapirhn ; named in 
 memory of Denis Joncquet, who published a catalogue of his 
 own garden, entitled Hortus, sen Index Plantarum, quas 
 colebat a 1658 & 1659. 
 
 JONESIA. A genus of leguminous plants, trees, whose 
 species are few, and indigenous to the islands of the Malayan 
 Archipelago ; named in honour of Sir Wm. Jones, the cele- 
 brated scholar; born 1743, died at Calcutta 1794. 
 
 JOSEPH. A woman's riding dress, formerly much in use 
 (Grose). See Jacket. 
 
 JOSEPHINIA. A genus of Australian herbaceous plants ; 
 named by Ventetat in honour of his munificent patroness, the 
 Empress Josephine. 
 
 JOSEPHISM. The Emperor Maximilian belonged to a 
 family which, although it boasts of its orthodoxy, has given a 
 name to the heresy which under the name of Josephism is 
 more distasteful than Jansenism or Protestantism to the Court 
 of Rome. — Sat. Rev. 16th July, 1864. 
 
 JOSSINIA. A genus of plants, trees and shrubs, indige- 
 nous to the Mauritius ; named after Jossiu. 
 
 JOVE. The planet Jupiter ; from Jove, the supreme 
 
 deity among the Romans. The air or atmosphere, or the 
 
 god of the air. In alchemy, a name for tin. 
 
 JOVELLANA. A genus of South American plants, or. 
 Angiospermia ; named in honour of Don Gaspar Melchior 
 de Jovellanos, one of the most distinguished Spaniards of 
 modern times. 
 
 JOVIAL. Gay, merry, airy, joyous, jolly, as a jovial youth,
 
 138 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 a jovial throng ; from L. jovialis, lit. belonging to Jupiter ; or, 
 as others say, " Merry as Jove ;" or q.d. one born Jove la'to, 
 under the influence of the planet Jove or Jupiter. See Jove. 
 
 JUDAIC, JUDAICAL. Pertaining to the Jews; from 
 Judah. 
 
 JUDAISM. The religious doctrines and rites of the Jews, 
 
 as enjoined in the laws of Moses ; from Judah. Conformity 
 
 to the Jewish rites and ceremonies. 
 
 JUDAIZE. To conform to the religious doctrines and 
 rites of the Jews. 
 
 JUDAS. A deceitful person ; so named from Judas Is- 
 cariot. Judas-haired : red haired, deceitful. 
 
 JUDAS-TREE. A leguminous lowering tree, of the 
 genus Cercis, common in the East, on one of which Judas is 
 said to have hung himself. 
 
 JUGLANS. A genus of plants of eight species, one of which 
 is the common walnut-tree ; from Jovis glans, the nut or acorn 
 of Jupiter, to whom the oak was sacred. " Quasi Jovis glans, 
 the royal fruit, from its magnitude." — Forsyth. 
 
 JULIAN. In chi'onology, the designation of a period of 
 7980 years, a number produced by multiplying 28, the years 
 of the solar cycle, by 19, the years of the lunar cycle, and 
 their product by 1 5, the years of the Roman indiction ; named 
 
 in honour of Julius Scaliger, who invented it. The old 
 
 account of the year, as regulated by Julius Ctesar, which con- 
 tinued to be used in England till 1752, when the Gregorian 
 
 year, or new style, was adopted. Among the Romans, a law 
 
 which made adultery punishable by death ; also a law made by 
 Julius C^sar to regulate the office and duties of a judge. Cf. 
 Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, c. ii. ; Heineccius, p. 646 ; and 
 Gibbon.— — In cookery, a pottage made of a leg of mutton 
 roasted, and put into a pot with beef, a fillet of veal, &c. 
 
 JULIENNE {soupe a la Julieime). A soup made of several 
 sorts of herbs and vegetables ; perhaps named after a French 
 cook. The name of a French plant. 
 
 JULY (L. Julius). The seventh month of the year. It was 
 at first called by the Romans Quintiiis, or the fifth month, ac- 
 cording to the old calendar, in which March was the first
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA 139 
 
 month of the year. The name was afterwards changed to 
 Julius, in honour of Julius Cajsar, who was born in this month. 
 JUNE (L. Junius, Junius mensis). The sixth month of the 
 year ; from the surname of a Roman family, the most noted of 
 whom was L. Junius Brutus, who abolished regal power at 
 Rome. 
 
 JUNGERMANNIA. A genus of cryptogamic plants ; 
 named after Louis Jungermann, a German botanist, who died 
 in 1653. 
 
 JUNO. A small telescopic planet, which revolves round 
 the sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter ; discovered 
 in 1804 by Harding of Bremen ; named after Juno, sister 
 and wife of Jupiter. 
 
 JURA. A term applied to the limestones belonging to the 
 oolitic group, and constituting the chief part of the mountains 
 of the Jura, between France and Switzerland. 
 
 JURANQON. A white wine, perhaps the best in the Py- 
 renees ; named from the village of Juran^ou, where it grows. 
 JURASSIC. A system, with Continental writers, synony- 
 mous with our oolitic system ; named from the mountains of 
 the Jura, q.v. 
 
 JUSSIEUA or JUSSIiEA. A genus of plants, of eleven 
 species, mostly annuals, natives of Jamaica, Java, Japan, 
 South America, and India ; named by Linneeus in honour of 
 Antoine de Jussieu (uncle of the celebrated Antoine Laurent 
 de Jussieu), demonstrator of plants in the royal garden at 
 Paris, who edited Tournefort's Institutes in 1719, and de- 
 scribed plants in the Paris Memoirs for 1709. 
 
 JUSTICIA. A genus of tropical plants, whose species are 
 very numerous, mostly shrubby or herbaceous annuals ; named 
 after James Justice, F.R.S. 
 
 JUSTINIAN. The appellation of a code or general com- 
 pilation of the best and most useful laws or constitutions, 
 promulgated by the emperors previous to the reign of Justi- 
 nian, beginning from Hadrian's perpetual edict down to his 
 own time; made by order of Justinian. The code was first pub- 
 lished in April, a.d. 529, and the revised code, under the title 
 of Codex Justinianeus, repetitte preelectionis, in December, 534.
 
 140 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 K. 
 
 KALLABIZE. To open letters surreptitiously. " Tlie 
 trial of Kallab, the post official, who iu three years opened 
 and destroyed above 60,000 letters, is now going on at Vienna. 
 The fellow lies so impudently that he severely tries the 
 patience of his judges and of the public. T'he Viennese have 
 formed a verb from the man's name, and letters surreptitiously 
 opened are said to be hallabizedr — Times, 1 Oct., 1862, p. 10. 
 
 KANEITE. A miueral, consisting of manganese, arsenic, 
 and a trace of iron; supposed to be from Saxony; so named 
 from being first observed attached to a mass of galena by Mr. 
 R. J. Kane, of Dublin. 
 
 KANTISM. The doctrines or theory of Emanuel Kant, 
 the celebrated German metaphysician. 
 
 KAOLIN (Fr. terre a porcelaine ; G. porzellanerde). The 
 name given by the Chinese to fine white clay with which they 
 fabricate the biscuit of their porcelains. " A variety of clay 
 used for making porcelain, jjroceeding from the decomposition 
 of the mineral feldspar; it is also called petunse " {Dana). 
 In Chinese the word is written kaou-ling {kaou lin), and was 
 so called from a hill on the east side of the village of King- 
 tih-chin, where it is found. The earth of this hill (says 
 Morrison), when first taken to form the tun (or petuntsze), 
 belonged to four people, whose names were Wang, Ho, Fung, 
 Fang, and these names are still stamped on the kaouling clods. 
 From the Kaouling Hill there were superior, middling, and 
 inferior earths taken. The best sort was known by breaking 
 and examining the porcelain, i.e. if the breaking was smooth 
 and even, and without veins or granular coarseness ; but if it 
 appeared as cut with a knife, the porcelain was of a weak 
 brittle nature. Speaking of j)etmitze (var. petuntse, petunse'), 
 Morrison says the tun or stone is divided into red, yellow, and 
 white tun (^petuntsze) ; the red and white tun are used for the 
 fine wares ; the yellow only for tlie coarse wares. Morrison 
 does not, however, render tun, stone ; it is therefore possible 
 t\i&t petuntsze, i.e. white tuntsze {^pili tuntsze), may have been so
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 141 
 
 called as coming from Tuntsze, the name of a place on the 
 Grand Canal. I note, however, that pih tung signifies white 
 copper {tung, copper or brass). " Kaolin is found in Devon 
 and Cornwall " {S. F. Cresivell). 
 
 KEITIIIA. A genus of labiate plants ; named in honour 
 of the Rev. Patrick Keith. 
 
 KENDAL-G-REEN. A species of green cloth formerly 
 made at Kendal or Kirby-Kendal, county Westmoreland. 
 
 KENNEDY. A poker ; also to strike or kill with a poker ; 
 a St. Giles's term, so given from a man of the name being killed 
 with a poker ; frequently shortened to neddy. — J. C. H. 
 
 KEPLER'S LAWS. In astronomy, laws established by 
 Johann Kepler, who was born in 1571 near Weil, in Wiirtem- 
 burg ; called to the chair of astronomy at Gratz in 1593, and 
 died in 1630. These laws are three: 1. That every planet 
 moves so that the line drawn from it to the sun describes 
 about the sun areas proportional to the times. 2. That the 
 planets all move in elliptic orbits, of which the sun occupies 
 one of the foci. 3. That the squares of the times of the 
 revolutions of the planets are as the cubes of their mean 
 distances from the sun. 
 
 KERSEY (D. kerzaai; 0. D. and Teut. karsaye, kersei/e ; 
 Sp. carisea ; Fr. cariset, carisee, carize). A species of coarse 
 woollen cloth ; a coarse stuif made chiefly in Kent and Devon- 
 shire. Kerseymere, more commonly cassimere (found cassimer 
 and casimer, Sp. casimero), is a twilled cotton cloth. Accord- 
 ing to some, kersey is a corruption of " coarse say" (say, a kind 
 of serge used for linings, &c. ; Fr. sayette, a sort of woollen 
 stuff made at Amiens). If so, kerseymere would seem to be 
 compounded of kersey and mere, which anciently signified " en- 
 tire ;" or of Fr. mh'e, " principal, first," whence mere-laine, 
 " choice wool." Skinner queries kersey as being derived from 
 Cesarea, or Jersey. The Encyc. Metrop. says, " Kersey is 
 either coarse and say (a stuff"), or from the island of Jersey 
 (Gersey), formerly, perhaps, famous for this kind of cloth ; 
 kerseymere is a thin stuff, generally woven plain from the 
 finest wools, and in England manufactured chiefly in the 
 Western districts ; but that kersey, on the other hand, is a very
 
 142 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 coarse stuff, usually ribbed and woven from long wool, and the 
 principal manufactures of it are in the North of England. It 
 is plain that these two words signifying such distinct things 
 cannot have a common origin ; whatever may be the source of 
 kersey, kerseymere is probably a corruption of Cashmir, a country 
 in which the finest wool is produced, and which consequently 
 is most celebrated for the works of its looms." 
 
 KERSEYMERE. See IvERSEr. 
 
 KEVENHULLER. A large triangular cocked hat worn in 
 England about the end of the reign of George II., imported 
 from Germany (See Planche's Hist, Brit. Cost.); probably 
 named after the ancient and illustrious German family of 
 Kevenhuller. 
 
 KIDDERMINSTER. An ingrain carpeting, named from 
 Kidderminster, in Worcestershire, where it was originally 
 made. The largest quantity is now manufactured in Scot- 
 land. 
 
 KIEFEKIL or KEFFEKIL. A species of clay used 
 chiefly in forming the bowls of tobacco pipes ; and by the 
 Tatars in place of soap. According] to some, it is another 
 name for meerschaum, and signifies " earth of Kaffa " (Turc. 
 K" ghll, clay) ; but qu. from Kaffa, a country of Eastern 
 Africa, south of Abyssinia; or from Kaffa (Theodosia), a town 
 of Russia on the south-east coast of the Crimea ; or Kaiffa, a 
 seaport of Palestine, This clay is also found in Canada, in 
 Flanders, and in other places, 
 
 KILLINEY. A mineral resembling spodumene, discovered 
 in granite veins at Killiney, near Dublin. 
 
 KILLINGIA or KYLLINGIA, A genus of plants of 
 seven species, natives of the East and West Indies, Japan, the 
 Society Isles, and the Levant ; named by Rottboll in memory 
 of Petrus Kylling, a Dane, who in 1688 published a botanical 
 work entitled Viridarium Danicum, 
 
 KIMMERIDGE. A thick bed of clay, constituting a 
 member of the oolitic group, occurring well develo23ed at 
 Kimmeridge, in the isle of Purbeck, Dorsetshire. 
 
 KIN ATE (D. kina). A salt formed by the union of kinic 
 acid with a base. See Kinic Acid and Cinchona.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 143 
 
 KINIC ACID. An acid procured from the Cinchona or 
 Peruvian bark. See Cinchona and Quinine. 
 
 KIRSCH or KIRSCHWASSER. A distilled liquor ob- 
 tained by fermenting the small black cherry ; from G. kirsche, 
 a cherry, q.v. 
 
 KIRWANITE. A mineral, colour dark olive-green ; found 
 in cavities of basalt on the north-east coast of Ireland ; named 
 in honour of Mr. Richard Ivirwan, an eminent mineralogist, 
 who died in 1812. 
 
 KITAIBELIA. A genus of herbaceous plants ; named in 
 honour of Professor Robert Kitaibel, of Hungary, one of the 
 authors of Plantar Rariores Hungarise. 
 
 KIT-KAT. A name given to a particular size or dimension 
 of portrait-painting, viz., three feet by two feet four inches of 
 canvas ; so called from a club of gentlemen in the reign of 
 Queen Anne, whose portraits were taken on canvas of that 
 dimension. The club held their meetings at a house kept by 
 one Christopher Kat or Kit Kat, and consisted of forty-two 
 members, whose portraits were painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller 
 in 1710. The apartment not being sufficiently large for half- 
 lengths, a shorter canvas was adopted ; hence the technical 
 
 term Kit-Kat size. " A term applied to a club in London to 
 
 which Addison and Steele belonged ; so called from Christopher 
 Cat, a pastrycook, who served the club with mutton pies ; 
 applied also to portraits a little less than a half-length, because 
 such were placed in the club-room." — Chalmers. 
 
 KLAPROTHIA. A genus of plants or twining shrubs ; 
 named iu honour of M. H. Klaproth, distinguished for his 
 chemical and mineralogical researches, and professor of 
 chemistry at Berlin ; born at Wernigerode, Upper Saxony, iu 
 1743, died in 1817. 
 
 KLEINHOVIA. A genus of plants of only one species, 
 the K. hospita, a tree, native of Java, Amboina, and the 
 Philippine Islands ; named by Linnasus in honour of M. Ivlein- 
 hoff, formerly director of the Botanic Gardens in Batavia. 
 
 KLEINIA. A genus of plants, or. Polygamia ccqualis ; 
 named iu honour of the German zoologist, James Theodore Klein, 
 who flourished in the early part of the eighteenth century.
 
 144 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 KLUGrlA. A genus of plants, or. Angiospermia ; named in 
 honour of Dr. F. A. Klug. 
 
 KNAUTIA. A genus of herbaceous plants ; named in 
 honour of two distinguished Gei'mau botanists, Christopher 
 Knaut the father, and Christian Knaut the son. 
 
 KNEBELITE. A mineral ; colour gray, spotted dirty- 
 white, red, brown, and green ; locality unknown ; named by 
 Dobereiner after Major Von Knebel. 
 
 KNICKERBOCKERS or NICKERBOCKERS. Long 
 loose breeches, generally worn without braces, and buckled or 
 buttoned round the waist and knee (See Times, 23 May, 1859, 
 p. 12, c. 3); of American origin, but whether derived from a 
 proper name is doubtful. Washington Irving published his 
 Sketch Book and his History of New York under the name of 
 Diedrich Knickerbocker. Mr. J. A. Bartlett renders the word 
 Knickerbocker, " a descendant of one of the old Dutch families 
 of New York City." 
 
 KNOXIA. A genus of plants of only two species, K. Zey- 
 lanica, native of Ceylon, and K. corymhosa, native of the East 
 Indies ; named by Linnseus in honour of Robert Knox, an 
 Englishman, who spent many years in examining the natural 
 productions of Ceylon, and who published an historical rela- 
 tion of that island in 1681. 
 
 KOBELLITE. A mineral resembling grey antimony, but 
 brighter in lustre ; from the cobalt mine of Hvena, in Sweden ; 
 named after Von Kobell. 
 
 KOELPINIA. A genus of plants, formerly established by 
 several eminent botanists under the name of Rhagadiolus, and 
 by LinnjEUs under that of Lapsana ; named by Pallas in honour 
 of Alexander Bernard Koelpin, professor of physic at Stettin, 
 and author of several botanical tracts. 
 
 KQi^NlGlA. A genus of plants of but one species, an 
 annual, native of Iceland ; named by Linnaeus in honour of 
 his friend and disciple, Dr. John Gerard Koenig, M.D., of 
 Courland, who first found the plant in Iceland, in 1 765, and 
 who made several valuable botanical contributions to Linnasus 
 from his observations in India. 
 
 KOHAUTIA. A genus of erect herbaceous plants ; named 
 in honour of Francis Kohaut.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 145 
 
 KOLREUTERIA. A j^euus of [jlauts, uatives of China; 
 named in honour of John Theophihis Koh-euter, M.D., pro- 
 fessor of natural history at Carlsruhe, and author of several 
 botanical dissertations. 
 
 KONIGA. A genus of cruciform plants ; named in 
 honour of Charles Konig, F.R.S., of the British Museum. 
 
 KRAMERIA. A genus of plants, shrubs, nat. or. Poly- 
 galacece ; natives of South iVmerica ; named in honour of the 
 German botanists, J. G. H. and W. H. Kramer, father and son. 
 
 KREMNITZ. A pure variety of white lead, from Krem- 
 nitz, in Hungary. 
 
 KRUBERA. A genus of herbaceous plants ; named in 
 honour of John Julius Kruber. 
 
 , KUHNIA. A genus of North American plants, trees ; 
 named by Linnseus in honour of his pupil, Adam Kiihn, of 
 Pennsylvania, who first brought this plant to Europe. 
 
 KUMAON. A celebrated tea from Kumaon, a province of 
 North Hindustan, at the foot of the Himalayas. 
 
 KUTCHIN-KUTCHING. A child's amusement which 
 consists in jumping about with the legs bent in a sitting pos- 
 ture. A correspondent of Notes and Queries, speaking of the 
 expedition of Sir John Richardson to the Arctic shores, refers 
 to his picture of the Kutchin-Kutcha Indians dancing, in 
 which the principal performer is actually figuring in the midst 
 of the wild circle in the way described ; and he thinks the 
 nursery term may be something more than a mere coincidence. 
 SeeN. & Q. 1st S. ix. 304. 
 
 KYANIZE. To prevent the rotting of wood by immersing 
 it in a solution of corrosive sublimate or other substances 
 (Silliman) ; from Ki/an, the inventor of the process (Webste?'). 
 
 L. 
 
 LABATIA. A genus of plants, evergreen trees, natives 
 of Guiana and Hispaniola ; named by Professor Schwartz in 
 honour of Jean Baptiste Labat, a Dominican friar, who, 
 
 L
 
 146 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 between 1700 and 1713, investigated the plants of Africa and 
 the West Indies. 
 
 LABRADORITE. A variety of opalescent felspar from 
 Labrador. It is also called opaline, or Labrador spar. 
 
 LABYRINTH (L. lahyrintlms, Gr. KajSvpiv^os). A maze, 
 an inexplicable difficulty ; so called from the Egyptian or 
 Cretan Labyrinths, places formed with winding passages, which 
 rendered it difficult to find the way from the interior to the 
 
 entrance. In anatomy, that part of the internal ear behind 
 
 the cavity of the tympanum. In metallurgy, a series of 
 
 troughs in a stamping-mill through which water passes for 
 v/ashiiig pulverized ore. 
 
 LACHENALIA. A genus of bulbous plants, almost 
 exclusively natives of the Cape; named by Jacquin jun. 
 in honour of Werner de Lachenal, formerly professor of 
 botany and anatomy at Basle, a distinguished pupil of Haller, 
 and friend of Linn^us. 
 
 LACONIC, LACONICAL. Short, brief, pithy, senten- 
 tious, expressing much in few words, as a laconic phrase ; so 
 named from the Laconians or Spartans, who spoke in this 
 style. 
 
 LACONICUM. A stove or sweating-room ; so called 
 because they were much used by the natives of Laconia. 
 
 LACONISM or LACONICISM. A concise style ; a brief 
 sententious phrase or expression. — See Laconic. 
 
 LACRIMA CRISTI {Lachryma Christi). " The tears of 
 Christ ;" a celebrated wine made from a grape growing at the 
 foot of Vesuvius. 
 
 LAFAYETTE FISH {Leiostomus obliquus). A delicious 
 sea-fish, Avhich appears in the summer in great abundance at 
 Cape Island, on the Jersey coast, and is hence called the Cape 
 May-Goody. The name Lafayette Fish, by which it is known 
 at New York and its vicinity, was given it on account of its 
 appearance one summer coinciding with the last visit of Gene- 
 ral Lafayette to America. — Professor S. F. Baird. 
 
 LAFITTE (CHATEAU). One of the four famous red Bor- 
 deaux wines, called Clarets by the English ; so named from 
 the extensive vineyard of Chateau Lafitte in the Haut-Medoc,
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 147 
 
 wliicli produces {uinuully about 943 hectolitres of the first 
 quality, and 200 of the second quality. 
 
 LAGERSTROEMIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Ly- 
 thracecB, whose species are natives of the East Indies ; called 
 after M. Lagerstroem. 
 
 LALLA ROOKH. A mantle of pale grey cloth, trimmed 
 with black velvet, and forming a plain circular in front ; so 
 called from Moore's Lalla Rookh. 
 
 LAMIUM. A genus of plants, nat. or. Lahiatce (arch- 
 angel or dead nettle) ; so named from Lamium, a mountain of 
 Ionia, where it grew ; or from lama, a ditch, because it usually 
 grew about ditches and neglected places. — Forsyth. 
 
 LANARKITE. A mineral, a sulpho-carbonate of lead, 
 found at Leadhill, in Lanarkshire, Scotland ; also in Siberia, 
 the Harz, and the Tyrol. 
 
 LANDAU. A carriage whose top may be opened and 
 thrown back ; called from Landau, in Germany, where first 
 made. 
 
 LANDAULET. A chariot opening at the top like a 
 landau, of which word it is a diminutive. 
 
 LAODICEAN. Lukewarm in religion, like the Christians 
 of Laodicea (now Latakia), in Asia Minor. 
 
 LAODICEANISM. Lukewarmness in religion. Revela- 
 tion of St. John, iii. 16. 
 
 LAPUTAN. Impossible, absurd, ridiculous; a term 
 derived from Laputa, the flying island mentioned in Gulliver's 
 Travels, whose inhabitants (or rather those of Lagudo, metro- 
 polis of the underlying island) were engaged in all sorts of 
 absurdities. " It is plain from the context that the late Arch- 
 bishop of Dublin meant to include his friend's project among 
 those which are taken for Laputan before they are realized, 
 and taken for granted after, as if neither in conception nor 
 execution they had ever involved any theoretical or practical 
 difficulty."— The Globe, on Babbage, Sep. 1864. 
 
 LARDIZABALA. A genus of South American plants, a 
 twining shrub, found in the woods of Chili and Peru ; named 
 in honour of Michael Lardizabala, a Spanish naturalist. 
 
 LATAKIA. A tobacco famed both in the East and
 
 148 VERBA NOMINAIJA. 
 
 throughout Europe; brought from Latikia (the anc. Laodicea), 
 in Syria, near which it is largely cultivated. 
 
 LATERAN. Certain ecclesiastical councils, so called from 
 having been held at the Lateran, one of the churches at 
 Rome, with a palace and other buildings annexed to it. The 
 church is said to have been named from a man who owned the 
 ground in the time of Nero. See Burgon's Letters from Rome, 
 and Wordsworth's Italy. 
 
 LATINI8M. A Latin idiom, a mode of speech peculiar to 
 the Latins, or people of Latium, in Italy. 
 
 LATOUR. A celebrated Bordeaux wine from Chateau 
 Latour, between Julien and Pauillac. 
 
 LATROBITE. A mineral, colour pink or rose red, allied 
 to the felspars ; from the island of Latrobe, near the Labrador 
 coast. 
 
 LAUBENHEIMER. A wine from Laubenheim, in Ger- 
 many. 
 
 LAUG-ERIA. An upright branching shrub ten feet high, 
 native of Carthagena, Havannah, &c.; named by Jacquin after 
 Robert Laugier, professor of chemistry and botany at the 
 University of Vienna when the botanic garden was first esta- 
 blished there. 
 
 LAUMONITE. A mineral found in groups of prismatic 
 crystals or prismatic distinct concretions ; called from Gillet 
 Laumont, who first observed it, in 1785, in the lead mines of 
 Hulgoet, in Bretagne. 
 
 LAURENTIAN. A vast series of stratified and crystal- 
 line rocks of gneiss, mica-schist, quartzite, and limestone, 
 about 40,000 feet in thickness, discovered by Sir W. E. Logan 
 northward of the St. Lawrence, in Canada. 
 
 LAUROSIS. The spodium of silver ; so called from 
 Mount Laurus, where there were silver mines, — Forsyth. 
 
 LAVATERA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Malvacece; named 
 by Tournefort in honour of Lavater, physician and botanist of 
 Zurich, and father of the celebrated physiognomist. 
 
 LAVOISERA. A genus of showy Brazilian shrubs, or. 
 Monogynia ; named in honour of M. Lavoisier. 
 
 LAWSONIA. A genus of plants, nat. or, Lythracece ; na-
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 149 
 
 tive of India, Egypt, &c., whose leaves are much used by the 
 Egyptian women to colour their nails yellow, which they 
 esteem an ornament ; dedicated by Linnaeus to John (Miller 
 says Isaac) Lawson, M.D., of North Britain, author of 
 a Voyage to Carolina, containing much information on the 
 plants of that country, Lond. 1709. The Arabian plant 
 alcanna or henna is a species of Lawsonia. 
 
 LAXMANNIA. A name originally given by Forster 
 (Genera, t. 47) to a syngenesious tree of St. Helena, which 
 Solander considered as a Bidens, but which George Forster 
 (Plautffi AtlanticEe, 56) subsequently referred to Spilanthus. 
 The name was given in honour of the Rev. Ericus Laxmann, 
 native of Finland (professor of the Academy at Petersburg), 
 who made many botanical discoveries in Siberia, and who died 
 in 1796. 
 
 LAZAR (Sp. lazaro). A person infected with nauseous 
 and pestilential disease (^Shahs. Dryderi); named from Lazarus. 
 
 LAZARET or LAZARETTO {^i^lazereto; It. lazzeretto ; 
 Fr. lazaret). Sometimes called a lazar-house ; a public build- 
 ing, hospital, or pest-house for the reception of diseased per- 
 sons, especially those affected with contagious distempers ; so 
 named from Lazarus. For a good account of a Lazaret see 
 Diet, de la Convers. Par. 1837. 
 
 LAZZARONI (It.). In Naples, the poor who live by 
 begging, or have no permanent habitation ; so called from the 
 hospital of St. Lazarus, which serves as their refuge. — Brande, 
 
 LEADHILLITE. A mineral related to aragonite, found 
 principally at Leadhills, in Lanarkshire, Scotland, associated 
 with other ores of lead. The island of Grenada, and that of 
 Serpho in the Grecian Archipelago, are also stated to be 
 localities for it. 
 
 LEBECKIA. A genus of leguminous plants, natives of 
 the Cape ; named in honour of M. Lebeck. 
 
 LEBRETONIA. A genus of plants, or. Polyandria ; 
 named in honour of Manuel le Breton, a French botanist. 
 
 LECCA GUM. The gum of the olive tree, which is 
 abundantly collected at Lecca, in Calabria. 
 
 LECHEA. A genus of North American plants, or. Orl-
 
 150 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 gynia ; named by Linnaeus in honour of Professor John Leche, 
 of Abo, Finland, member of the Stockhohn Academy, and 
 author of several papers on zoology, botany, and rural eco- 
 nomy. 
 
 LECHENAULTIA. A genus of plants, or. Monogynia, 
 natives of the tropical parts of New Holland ; named after M. 
 Lechenault, a distinguished French botanist and traveller. 
 
 LEDEBURIA. A genus of umbelliferous plants ; named 
 in honour of M. Ledebure. 
 
 LEDERERITE. A mineral ; a hydrous silicate ; found in 
 bright, transparent, six-sided prisms at Cape Blomidon, in 
 Nova Scotia, supposed to be chabasie ; named after Baron 
 Lederer, formerly Austrian consul at New York. 
 
 LEEA. A genus of shrubby plants, natives of the East 
 Indies ; named by Linn^us in honour of Mr. James Lee, 
 author of An Introduction to Botany. 
 
 LEEDSITE. A mineral regarded as a mechanical mixture 
 of sulphates of lime and baryta ; from near Leeds, Yorkshire. 
 
 LEELITE. A mineral ; colour deep flesh-red ; consisting 
 of silica, alumina, protoxide of iron, and potash ; called after 
 Dr. Lee, of St. John's College, Cambridge. 
 
 LEHUNTITE. A compact zeolite found in Antrim by 
 Captain Lehunt. 
 
 LEMANEA. A genus of Fuci, in which the frond is 
 hollow, and converted into a recepticle ; named in honour of 
 M. Leman, a French botanist. 
 
 LEMANITE. A synonym of felspar ; named from Lac 
 Leman (Lake of Geneva), where it is found. 
 
 LEMNIAS (Lemnian earth). A kind of astringent medi- 
 cinal earth used in the same cases as bole ; from the isle of 
 Lemnos, in the ^gean Sea, whence it is brought. 
 
 LEMONIA. A genus of West Indian plants, or. Mono- 
 gynia; named after Sir C. Lemon. 
 
 LENZINITE. A mineral of two kinds, the opaline and 
 argillaceous ; a variety of clay found at Eifeld, in Prussia ; 
 named after Lenzius, a German mineralogist. 
 
 LEONHARDITE. A mineral, consisting chiefly of silica, 
 alumina, and lime ; found in Hungary and Bavaria ; also at
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 151 
 
 Copper Falls and in Lake Superior region ; doubtless named 
 after its discoverer Leonhard. 
 
 LEOPOLD. A gold coin of Belgium, equal to 24fr. 20c.; 
 named after the present King of Belgium. 
 
 LEOPOLDONE. A silver coin of Tuscany, similar to the 
 francescone ; that of 1790 being of the assay value of 4s. 5|d. ; 
 njimcd after Leopoldo, a Duke of Tuscany. 
 
 LERBACHITE. A mineral composed of lead, mercury, 
 and selenium; found under the same circumstances as claus- 
 thalite at Lerbach and Tilkerode, in the Harz. 
 
 LERCHEA. An irregular-growing shrub ; named by 
 LinniBus in honour of John James Lerche, principal physician 
 to the Russian armies, who was born at Potsdam in 1703, and 
 died at. Petersburg in 1780. 
 
 LESPEDEZA. A genus of North American leguminous 
 plants ; named after Lespedez, formerly Governor of Florida. 
 
 LESSERTIA. A genus of leguminous plants, natives of 
 the Cape ; named after M. B. Lessert, of Paris. 
 
 LESTIBUDESIA. A genus of plants, the best known 
 species of which is the L. ai^borescens, found in New Holland ; 
 named in honour of Lestiboudois, a French naturalist. 
 
 LETHEAN, Inducing forgetfuluess or oblivion. " Time 
 will show how far the Prince (Napoleon) is superior to the 
 Lethean and somniferous effects of the atmosj)here of the 
 official circle " (^Standard). Shakspeare uses letheed in the 
 same sense. From Lethe, a river of the infernal regions, whose 
 waters were said to cause forgetfuluess of the past (Gr. \rj&rj, 
 forgetfulness, oblivion). 
 
 LETTSOMIA. A genus of plants, or. Monoyynia ; named 
 after Dr. John C. Lettsom, F.R.S. 
 
 LEUCHTENBERGITE. A mineral, composed of silica, 
 alumina, magnesia, peroxide of iron, lime, and water ; named 
 after the Duke of Leuchtenberg, or from Leuchtenberg in 
 Bavaria. 
 
 LEUISIA. A genus of plants ; named after Captain M. 
 Lewis, Avho accompanied Captain Clerke to North America. 
 
 LEUSEA. A genus of composite plants ; named by Can- 
 dolle after his friend M. Leleuse.
 
 152 VEKBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 LEUTHRITE or LEUTTRITE. A greyish-white mine- 
 ral ; a decomposed rock, analogous to the sandy varieties of 
 dolomite ; found at Leuthra or Leuttra, near Jena, in Saxony. 
 
 LEVANTER. A strong easterly wind in the Mediterra- 
 nean, so called because it comes from the Levant. The cant 
 
 name for one who bets at a horse-race, and runs away without 
 paying the wager lost ; any one who runs away disgracefully. 
 It was no doubt formerly considered fashionable to travel in 
 the East ; when, therefore, any one was in pecuniary difficulties, 
 and it was convenient for him to keep out of the way, it was 
 perhaps given out that he was gone to the Levant ; hence 
 doubtless the term levanter. 
 
 LEVANTIN. A name still given not only to all the 
 traffickers and ships of the maritime towns of the Levant, but 
 also to those of the States of Barbary. The sailors of Pro- 
 vence and Languedoc were called Levantins, when the French 
 marine was divided into Ocean marine or of the West, and 
 marine of the Mediterranean or of the Levant or East. 
 
 LEVANTINE. A kind of silk cloth from the Levant. 
 
 LEVITICAL. Priestly (i/iYtoft); from the Levites, officers 
 in the Jewish church. 
 
 LEVITICUS. A canonical book of the Old Testament, 
 containing the laws and regulations relating to the priests and 
 Levites among the Jews, or the body of the ceremonial law. 
 
 LEVYNE. A mineral, supposed to be identical with 
 chabasite ; found in Scotland, Farol, Greenland, Iceland, &c.; 
 named after the English mineralogist Levy. 
 
 LEYDEN JAR. A glass jar or bottle used to accumulate 
 electricity ; invented at Leyden, in Holland. 
 
 LHERZOLITE. A mineral, a variety of pyroxene ; from 
 Lherz, in the Pyi'enees. 
 
 LIB ANUS. The frankincense tree ; from Lebanon (or 
 Libanus), a mountain in Syria, where it grows. — Forsijth. 
 
 LIBETHENITE. A mineral, consisting of phosphoric 
 acid, oxide of copper, and Avater ; found in cavities in mica 
 slate at Libethen in Hungary, at Ehl near Linz on the 
 Rhine, at Gunnis Lake in Cornwall, and at Nischnii-Tagilsk 
 in the Ural.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 153 
 
 LICIITENBERG'S FIGURES. When the knob of u 
 charged Leydeii phial is drawn over a flat surface of lac or 
 resin, as, for instance, the plate of an electro-phosphorus, it 
 leaves a charge in its track, positive or negative, as we choose ; 
 and if after this a mixture of certain powders be sifted upon 
 the plate, as, for instance, of powdered sulphur and red lead, the 
 sulphur will adhere to the one, and the red lead to the other 
 electrified surface, and, with a little management, groups of 
 figures resembling flowers may be thus brought out as Lich- 
 tenberg first observed. — Brande. 
 
 LIEBERKUHNIAN GLANDS. In anatomy, simple 
 secerning cavities, thickly distributed over the whole surface 
 of the large and smaller intestines ; so called after Lieber- 
 kiihnn, who observed them in the small intestines, where they 
 ai"e visible only with the aid of a lens, their orifices appearing 
 as minute dots scattered between the villi. 
 
 LIEBIGIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Gesneracece ; named 
 in honour of Professor Liebig. 
 
 LIEBIGITE. A mineral of a green colour, found with 
 pechuran at Adrianople ; named after Liebig. 
 
 LIEVRITE. A mineral first discovered in 1802 on the 
 Rio la Marina, in the isle of Elba, by M. Lelievre. It has 
 also been found in Norway, Siberia, the Harz, and in Tyrol 
 and Saxony. It was named lievrite after its discoverer ; 
 ilvaite from Elba ; and yenite or jenite by the French, in 
 commemoration of the battle of Jena, in 1806. 
 
 LIGURITE. A mineral ; colour apple-green, occasionally 
 speckled ; named from Liguria, in ancient geography a divi- 
 sion of Italy. 
 
 LILLIPUTIAN. A person of very small size (sometimes 
 used as an adjective) ; lit. one belonging to a diminutive race 
 described in Swift's Kingdom of Lilliput (Gulliver's Travels). 
 " Cette fable est une imitation assez ingenieuse de celle des pyg- 
 mees dont il est tant de fois question dans les anciens poetes." 
 
 LINARITE. The cupreous sulphate of lead, a mineral so 
 named from occurring at Linares, in Andalusia ; but also found 
 at Leadhills in Scotland, Roughten Gill in Cumberland, and 
 near Ems in Germany.
 
 154 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 LINCOLN GREEN. A colour of clotli formerly made in 
 Lincoln (*S'/)enser). "And worn by foresters and rovers" 
 (;S'. F. C.) 
 
 LINCOLNIA. A genus of plants, shrubs, natives of the 
 Cape ; named by Linnaeus in honour of a botanist named 
 Lincoln. 
 
 LINDACKERITE. A mineral, vitreous ; verdigris to 
 apple-green ; analysed by Lindacker. 
 
 LINDERA. A genus of plants, the only species of which 
 is a tree, L. umbella, native of Japan ; named by Thunberg 
 in memory of John Linder, a celebrated Swedish botanist, 
 author of Flora Wiksbergensis. 
 
 LINDERNIA. A genus of plants, or. Angiospermia, whose 
 species are herbaceous annuals ; named by Alboni in honour of 
 Francis Balthazar von Lindern, a physician of Strasbourg. 
 
 LINNvEA. A genus of plants, or. Angiospermia ; named 
 by Gronovius in honour of his friend Linnaeus. 
 
 LINN^AN SYSTEM. The mode of classification for 
 distinguishing plants, animals, and minerals adopted by Lin- 
 naeus or Von Linue, the celebrated botanist, who was born at 
 Rashult, province Smaland, in Sweden, 13 May, 1707, O.S. 
 
 LINSEY-WOOLSEY. Stuff made of linen and wool 
 (mixed), originally manufactured at Lindsey, near Hadleigh, 
 
 in Suffolk. Vile ; mean ; of different and unsuitable jDarts 
 
 (^Johnson). 
 
 LISBON. A sweet light-coloured wine from Lisbon. 
 
 LIVONICA-TERRA. A species of fine bole found in 
 Livonia, a government of Russia. 
 
 LIVORNINA. An old silver coin current at Livorno 
 (Leghorn), equal to 4s. o^d. 
 
 LLOYD'S. A part of the Royal Exchange, in London, 
 appropriated to the use of underwriters and insurance brokers; 
 so named from Lloyd's Coffee-house, where there were formerly 
 rooms for the same purpose. 
 
 LOBELIA. An extensive genus of plants ; named after 
 M. Lobel, a French physican to King James I. The L. injlata, 
 or Indian tobacco, is an annual plant of North America, and 
 has been often used as an emetic and expectorant, &c.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 155 
 
 LOCHABER AXE. A formidable war weapon formerly 
 used by the Scotch Highlanders ; so named from Lochaber. a 
 district of Invernessshire, domain of Banquo, Thane of Loch- 
 aber, and ancestor of the royal house of Stewart. It was upon 
 one of the wildest mountains in this wild country that the 
 Pretender erected his standard in 1745. 
 
 " Farewell to Lochaber, and farewell my Jean, 
 Where heartsome with thee I have many days been." 
 
 Ramsay. 
 
 LOLLARDY. The doctrines of the Lollards {Webster), a 
 sect in G-ermany who dissented from the church before she re- 
 nounced popery. They sprang from William Lollard, who 
 began to propagate his opinions in 1315, and was burned at 
 Cologne in 1351. After his death the term was used reproach- 
 fully to designate the disciples of WicklifFe. They were pro- 
 scribed by Parliament in 1406, and many of them were exe- 
 cuted about 1414. 
 
 LOMBARD. A money-lender or banker ; a profession 
 first exercised in London by the Lombards. — Smart. 
 
 LOMBARD-HOUSE or LOMBARD. A public institu- 
 tion for lending money to the poor at a moderate interest upon 
 articles deposited and pledged ; called also Mont de Piete. 
 See Lombard. 
 
 LOMBARDIC. Au epithet applied to one of the ancient 
 alphabets derived from the Roman, and relating to the manu- 
 scripts of Italy {Astle); so named from the Lombards. 
 
 LONDON CLAY. An extensive deposit of a bluish clay, 
 except near the surface, abounding in Middlesex, Essex, Suf- 
 folk, and part of Norfolk. It occasionally includes beds of 
 sandstone, and of a coarse argillaceous limestone, from which 
 Parker's Roman cement is made. 
 
 LONDON PRIDE. A flower ; the Saxifraga imbrosa. 
 
 LONDONISM. A mode of speaking peculiar to London. 
 —Fegge. 
 
 LONDONIZE. To give a manner or character which 
 distinguishes the people of London. — Smart. 
 
 LORCHA. A Chinese ship ; Mr. Cobden (H. of C. 26
 
 156 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 Feb. 1857) says, "a vessel called a lorcha, a name derived from 
 the Portuguese settlement at Macao, at the mouth of the Can- 
 ton River, opposite Hong Kong, and which merely means that 
 it is built after the European model, but not that it is built in 
 Europe." This word may however be from the Chinese loiv 
 chuen, a sort of fighting ships ; from chuen, a ship, or any 
 vessel that navigates the water ; or from the Portuguese lancha, 
 a launch, pinnace, or small ship. 
 
 LORETTE. A modern French term designating a class of 
 women of light and easy manners, and given to pleasure. The 
 lorette has much analogy with the grisette, from whom, how- 
 ever, she distinguishes herself by habits of luxury, ordinarily 
 ignored by the latter. " The Lorettes are said to have received 
 their name from formerly frequenting the Church of Notre 
 Dame de Lorette at Paris " {_S. F. Creswell). 
 
 LOTHARIO. A gay deceiver. A correspondent of Notes 
 and Queries says, " This expression doubtless takes its name 
 from Don Quixote, where, in the ' Impertinent Curiosity ' (a 
 story inserted in the second part of that romance), Lothario is 
 the name of one of the characters, who seduces his friend's 
 wife;" but the term is more probably derived from the follow- 
 ing line in Rowe's tragedy of the Fair Penitent, act v. sc. 1: — 
 
 " Is this that haughty gallant, gay Lothario ?" 
 
 Another correspondent of N. & Q. says, " ' The gallant, gay 
 Lothario !' the ' dear Perfidious !' is a character in one of the 
 early tragedies of the poet Nicholas Rowe, the Fair Penitent, 
 which is somewhat upon the model of Le Festin de Pierre of 
 Moliere : the hero of each being a libertin effreiie ; and perhaps 
 I may more delicately explain the characters of both by quoting 
 the monologue of the valet of Moliere's hero (^Sganarelle), upon 
 the denouement ; or I might say, la catastrophe, did not Moliere 
 call it a comedy : — ' Voila par sa mort, un chacun satisfait. Ciel 
 offense, lois violees, filles seduites, families deshonorees, parens 
 outrages, femmes mises a mal, maris pousses a bout, tout le 
 monde est content.'" See also Notes and Queries, 2nd S. 102, 
 479.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 157 
 
 LOUDONIA. A Swan River shrub discovered by Drum- 
 mond in 1843. "The genus was named by Dr. Lindley in 
 compliment to Mr. Loudon." — Ift^s. Loudon. 
 
 LOUIS D'OR. A gold coin of France, first struck in 
 1640, in the reign of Louis XIII. ; value 20s. sterling. 
 
 LUB AN-MATTEE. A gum olibanum, possessing a strong 
 agreeable citron-like odour, and but little taste ; named from 
 Bunder Mattee, the port whence it is brought. 
 
 LUCERN, LUCERNE, or LUZERNE (Port, luzerna and 
 medicagem dos pastos). A leguminous plant of the genus 3Ien- 
 dicago, cultivated for fodder. " Qu. W. llysau, plants ; lly- 
 sieuyn, a plant ; Corn, lyzuan ; or from Lucerne, in Switzer- 
 land." — Webster. 
 
 LUCULLITE. A sub-species of rhomboidal limestone, the 
 nero antico of the Italians. The Consul Lucullus so much 
 admired its compact variety as to honour it with his name. 
 
 LUDLOW ROCKS. A name given by Murchison to the 
 upper portion of the Silurian system, as developed near 
 Ludlow, in Shropshire. 
 
 LUDWIGrlA. A genus of plants, natives of India; named 
 by Linnteus in honour of C. T. Ludwig, author of Definitiones 
 Plantarum. 
 
 LUHEA. A genus of plants, trees, natives of Brazil; 
 named by Willdenow in honour of Charles Van der Luhe, a 
 German botanist. 
 
 LULLABY. A song to soothe babes ; that which quiets 
 (Locke). " As is a nurse's song of lullaby, to bring her babe 
 to sleep " (Shak.) From lull and by. " Lullaby, or L'Elaby, 
 from a supposed fairy called EUaby Gathon, Avhom nurses in- 
 vited to watch the sleeping babes, that they might not be 
 changed for others. Hence changeling, or infant changed " 
 (Pidleyn). 
 
 LUNANEA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Terebinthacece ; 
 named after John Lunan, author of Hortus Jamaicensis. 
 
 LUSH. Intoxicating drinks of all kinds, but generally 
 used for beer. " Lush and its derivatives claim Lushington, 
 the brewer, as sponsor," — Globe, 8 Sep. 1859. 
 
 LUSHINGTON. A drunkard, or one who continually
 
 158 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 soaks himself with drains and pints of beer. " Some years 
 since there was a Lushington Club in Bow Street, Covent 
 Garden " (J. C. H.) See Lush. 
 
 LUSIAD. The celebrated epic poem written by Camoens 
 on the establishment of the Portuguese government in India. 
 The Portuguese title which he gave it, Os Lusiados, " The 
 Lusitanians," denotes the true motive of its subject. Don 
 Luis de Camoens, called the Homer and Virgil of Portugal, 
 was born at Lisbon, although Coimbra and Santarem have 
 disputed this honour. According to some, he was born in 
 1517; but most biographers say 1524. 
 
 LUTHERANISM. The doctrines of religion as taught by 
 Martin Luther, who was born in 1483 at Eisleben, in Lower 
 Saxony, and died there 18 Feb. 1546. 
 
 LYCEUM (Fr. Lijcee). A house or apartment appropriated 
 to instruction by lectures or disquisitions ; named from Lyceum 
 {AvKsiov), a place near the River Ilissus, in Attica, where 
 
 Aristotle taught philosophy. An association of men for 
 
 literary purposes. 
 
 LYDIAN. Soft, effeminate ; a kind of soft slow music 
 anciently in vogue ; so called from Lydia, in Asia Minor. 
 
 LYDIAN STONE. A flint slate used by the ancients to 
 try gold and silver ; a touchstone ; named from Lydia, in Asia 
 Minor, where it was doubtless found. 
 
 LYNCH (an American word). To inflict pain or punish 
 summarily without the forms of law, as by a mob, or by un- 
 authorized persons. See Lynch Law. 
 
 LYNCH LAW. The practice of punishing men for crimes 
 or oflx;nces by private unauthorized persons without a legal 
 trial. " A name given in America to an irregular and sum- 
 mary administration of justice by the populace, and which 
 originated from the difliculty of adhering to the usual forms of 
 law in the newly-formed states. The name is derived from a 
 Virginian farmer of the name of Lynch, who was the first to 
 flog a thief without any judiciary appeal." {T. Wright, M.A.) 
 Lynch law originated in what is now known as the Piedmont 
 country of Virginia, which was at the time the western fron- 
 tier. The nearest court of criminal jurisdiction held its sessions
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 159 
 
 at Williamsburg, which is but seven miles from Jamestown, 
 where the first settlement was made. When the condition of 
 the country at that time is duly considered, it will be seen that 
 practically the inliabitants of the Piedmont country had no 
 law, and were actually forced to be a law unto themselves. 
 Misdemeanours and crimes of every sort were of frequent 
 occurrence ; and yet the apprehension and delivery of a crimi- 
 nal involved an arduous journey of hundreds of miles, mostly 
 through a wilderness, which not only occupied weeks, but 
 months. Now in every district there were men of sound 
 judgment and high character, to whom controversies were 
 constantly referred, and whose decisions Avere regarded as 
 final. Prominent among these was a man named Lynch, 
 whose awards exhibited so much justice, judgment, and im- 
 partiality that he was knoAvn throughout the country as Judge 
 Lynch. In the course of time criminals were brought before 
 him, and he awarded such punishments as he considered just and 
 proper. There were other persons, in different districts, who 
 acted as arbitrators, and who awarded punishments ; but Judge 
 Lynch was the most conspicuous, and consequently the system 
 took his name, and was called Lynch law. This was a com- 
 pliment to his integrity and high character. But of late years 
 the term has been regarded as a reproach, because violent and 
 unprincipled men, such men as Lynch was wont to punish, 
 have set the laws at defiance, and, while inflamed with passion, 
 or maddened by a thirst for revenge, have usurped the prero- 
 gatives of the courts of justice. — Washington Sentinel. 
 
 LYSANDRIA. A Samian festival, celebrated with sacri- 
 fices and games, in honour of Lysander a Spartan general, 
 very celebrated about the close of the Pelojionnesian War. 
 
 LYSIARCH. An ancient magistrate, being the pontiff of 
 Lycia, or superintendent of the sacred games of that province. 
 
 LYSIMACHIA. A genus of herbaceous plants, of four 
 British species, one of which (money-wort) is very common 
 in marshes in the north of England ; named after Lysimachus 
 of Sicily, who is said to have discovered its styptic and 
 astringent qualities.
 
 160 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 M. 
 
 MAASTRICHT ROCKS. An upper calcareous formation 
 about ten feet thick, reposing on ordinary Avliite chalk with 
 flints, at Maastricht, on the banks of the Meuse. 
 
 MACABRE or MACABER, Antiquaries are not decided 
 as to the origin and meaning of the name of the Macaber 
 Dances, commonly called Dance of Death. The general 
 opinion seems to be that they I'eceived their name from 
 Macaber, a German, who first headed this whimsical subject 
 in some verses, in 1460, translated by P. Desrey of Troyes 
 into Latin. The most ancient known representation of these 
 dances is in the cloisters of a convent at Minden, in Westphalia, 
 bearing date in 1 383. In the fifteenth century they were 
 painted on the walls of cloisters, cemeteries, and churches ; on 
 covered bridges, as on the bridge at Lucerne, in Switzerland; 
 in castles, as at the Castle of Blois, built by Louis XII. in 
 1502 (See Universite Catholique, vol. ii. 376). "Macaber: an 
 early German poet, author of a work entitled the Dance of 
 Death, or the Dance of Macaber, consisting of a series of 
 dialogues between Death and a number of personages belong- 
 ing to various ranks of society. An English translation of 
 this work was published by Dugdale and Dods worth, in the 
 third volume of the Monasticon Anglicanum ; and French 
 and Latin versions have been repeatedly printed. The Dance 
 of the Dead painted by Holbein, in the cloister of the 
 Augustinian convent at Basle, has contributed much to the 
 fame of Macaber." {Rose Bio(j. Diet.') Macaber, poete alle- 
 mand, serait tout a fait inconnu sans I'ouvrage qu'on a sous 
 son nom : c'est un recueil de dialogues entre la Mort et des 
 personnages choisis dans les divers etats de la societe ; idee 
 rajeunie et developpee par Jacques Jacques, chanoine d'Em- 
 brun, dans le Faut mourir. Cet ouvrage, indique par Fabricius 
 (Bibl. mecl. et infin. latinitai) sous ce titre. Speculum morticini, 
 on Specxdum chorea mortttorum (le Miroir de la mort, ou le 
 Miroir de la danse des morts), parait avoir ete ecrit originaire-
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 161 
 
 ment en allemaud, et a passe de cet langage en latin, en fran- 
 pais, et meme en anglais. La l'"^ edition fran^aise, restee 
 longtemps inconnue aux plus savants bibliographes, a ete 
 decouverte par ChampoUion-Figeac, dans les manuscrits de 
 la bibliotbeque de Grenoble ; et il a donne une Notice de ce 
 livre siugulier dans le Magasiii EncyclojJe'dique, annee 1811, 
 t. 6, 355 et suiv. Cette edition, composee de deux cahiers for- 
 mant dix feuillets et vingt pages petit in-fol., contient dix- 
 sept dialogues et autant de petites estampes gravees sur bois ; 
 elle a ete imprimee a Paris, par Guy ou Guyot Marchant, 
 demorant au grant hostel de.Nauarre, le 28 Septembre, 1485, 
 Lc mcme imprimeur en publia une 2<^ edition, augmentee de 
 plusieurs nouveaux personnages, avee cet intitule, Ce present 
 livre est appele Miroir salutaire j^our toutes gens, et de tous estats, 
 et est de grande utilite et recreation, etc. Paris, 1846, le 7 juin. 
 Debure en a donne la description dans la Bihliographie instruc- 
 tive, no. 3109; mais il n'en a pas copie le titre, et il a reuni 
 sous le meme article deux ouvrages distincts ; la Danse Maca- 
 bre des homines, et la Danse Macabre des femmes. D'apres le 
 catalogue de la bibliotbeque de Paris, Debure attribue la ver- 
 sion franijaise de cet ouvrage a Micbel Marot; mais c'est une 
 distraction uu pen forte, puisque Clement, pere de Micbel 
 Marot, n'etait pas encore ne. Les biographes indiquent une 
 3® edition de la Danse Macabre, sortie des presses de Guy 
 Marcliant, sous ce titre — Chorea ab eximio Macabro versibus 
 alemanicis edita, etc., Paris, pour Godefroi de Marnef, Octobre, 
 1490, in-fol., fig.; elle avait ete revue et corrigee par Pierre 
 Desrey de Troyes. Champollion, qui a donne la note chrono- 
 logique des editions de la Danse Macabre, n'a pas cite celle de 
 Desrey ; et M. Brunei, trompe par le double titre latin et fran- 
 9ais, a suppose qu'il avait paru deux editions diiferentes de cet 
 ouvrage, en 1490, cbez le meme imprimeur {voy. le Manuel du 
 Libraire, t. l""- 385 et 386). La Danse Macabre des hommes et 
 celle des femmes out ete reunies pour la premiere fois, suivant 
 Champollion, dans I'edition de Troyes, Nicolas Lerouge, in- 
 fol., fig. gotb. sous ce titre — la Grant Danse Macabre des 
 hommes et des femmes, historiee et augmentee de personnages et 
 beaux dits en latin, en vers, sans date, mais avant Fan 1500; 
 
 M
 
 162 VERBA NOMINALTA. 
 
 et ce savant n'a connu que deux editions posterieures — Geneve, 
 1503, in-4"' et Paris, 1589, in 8°' citees toutes deux dans la 
 Bibliogi-aphie de Debure. M. Brunet en indique trois autres : 
 Lyon, 1499, in-fol. goth.; Rouen, Guill. de la Mare, sans date, 
 in-4°'fig., lettres rondes; et Paris, Groulleau, 1550, petit in- 12, 
 fig. La traduction anglaise de la Danse Macahre est due "k 
 Jean Porcy, poete reste inconnu meme a ses compatriotes; elle 
 a ete inseree dans le Monasticon anglicanum de Rog. Dodsworth 
 et Guill. Dugdale (Londres, 1673), t. 3, 368—374, precedee 
 d'une seule gravure de W. Hollar. La Danse des morts a ete 
 souvent reproduite par les artistes du 15® et du 16® siecle; on 
 en retrouve les differents sujets dans les encadrements des 
 livres de prieres, reimprimes si frequemment en caracteres 
 eemi-gothiques, de 1490 ^ 1550. La Danse des morts, que le 
 fameux peintre Holbein avait executee dans le cloitre du cou- 
 vent des augustins de Bale, a joui longtemps d'une grande 
 celebrite {yoy. Holbein et Mathias Merian). Paul Chretien 
 Hilscher, pasteur a. Dresde, mort le 3 aout, 1730, a public en 
 allemand une notice des Danses des morts, a I'occasion des 
 dessins et des tableaux de ce genre conserves dans la galerie 
 de Dresde : Beschreihung des Todten Tantzes wie solcher zu 
 Dressden auf den Schloss gemaldet, Budissen, Riclitei', 1721, 
 in-8° Biog. Univ. vol. 25, Par. in voce Macaber. The writer 
 of the article, in a note, says: — Est-ce bien la le nom d'un ecri- 
 vain ? " Et u'est ce pas plutot, suivant I'ingenieuse conjecture 
 de M. Van Praet, I'alteration du mot arabe Magharah, qui 
 siguifie cimitiere ? C'est ce qu'on ne pent deviner ; et on a 
 du suivre I'opinion commune, ne fut-ce que pour pouvoir donner 
 une idee d'un livre siugulier et recherche des curieux." 
 
 MACADAMIZE. To cover, as a road, way, or path, with 
 small broken stones, so as to form a smooth, hard surface ; so 
 called from the inventor, McAdam. 
 
 MACASSAR OIL. An oil which is said to beautify and 
 promote the growth of the hair ; so called from Macassar, a 
 Dutch settlement on the south-west peninsula of the island 
 Celebes, whence it is said to be brought. Hence anti- 
 macassar, a coverlet for chairs, sofas, &c., originally used to 
 protect from oil and dirt, but now chiefly as an ornament.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 163 
 
 MACCABEES. Name of certain apocryphal books of the 
 Old Testament, which give an account of Jewish affairs in the 
 time of the Maccabean princes, — Murdoch. 
 
 MACHIAVEL. An epithet for a knave. See post. 
 
 MACHIAVELISM. The principles of Machiavel, or 
 practice in conformity with them; political cunning and artifice, 
 intended to favour arbitrary power. — Cyc. 
 
 . " Am I politick ? am I subtle ? am I a Machiavel ?" 
 
 Merry W. of W. 
 
 " Alen9on, that notorious Machiavel." 
 
 1 Hen. VI. 
 
 " And set the murd'rous Machiavel to school." 
 
 3 Hen. VI. 
 
 From Niccolo Machiavelli, the celebrated political writer 
 and historian, secretary and historiographer to the Republic of 
 Florence, author of Del Principe, who was born at Florence in 
 1469, and who died in 1530. The intention of the writer of Del 
 Principe has been matter of great controversy, some holding 
 him up as a promoter of tyranny, others maintaining that he 
 was its concealed but decided enemy, and that he meant to put 
 the people on their guard against its machinations. It has 
 nevertheless affixed to his name a lasting stigma, and machia- 
 velism has become a received appellation for perfidious and in- 
 famous politics. The present age had better pass no judg- 
 ment upon the matter. 
 
 MACKINTOSH. A term applied to waterproof garments, 
 particularly overcoats, made so by the use of India rubber ; 
 named from the inventor. 
 
 MACLEAYA. A genus of plants, natives of China; named 
 in honour of A. Mac Leay, F.R.S. 
 
 MACLURITE. A mineral, colour brilliant pale green, 
 consisting of magnesia with other matters ; occurring in New 
 Jersey, in Orange County, New York, and at Pargas, in Fin- 
 land; named in honour of Dr. Maclure, the mineralogist. 
 
 MAQON. A celebrated red wine made from grapes grown 
 in the neighbourhood of Ma9on, on the Saone. 
 
 MACQUARIA (Fr. Macquarie ; L. Macquaria). A genus 
 
 M 2
 
 164 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 of fishes established by Cuvier and Valenciennes (Hist, de 
 Poiss. t, 2, 377), the only species of which is the Macquaria 
 Australasica, whose flesh is said to be very delicate ; named 
 from the River Macquarie, in Eastern Australia; also the name 
 of a river of Tasmania. 
 
 MACQUER'S SALT {Sel arsenical de Macquer-). Neutral 
 arsenical salt ; super-arseniate of potass ; so named from Pierre 
 Joseph Macquer, who first discovered the combinations of 
 arsenic acid. Macquer was born in Paris in 1718, of a noble 
 family, originally from Scotland ; was a skilful chemist, phy- 
 sician, and professor of pharmacy; made many discoveries in 
 natural philosophy, and was author of several works on 
 chemistry, &c. He died in 1784. 
 
 MADAPOLLAM. A sort of long cloth sufficiently fine to 
 be fit for the Indian market ; named from Madapollam or 
 Maddapollum, a maritime town of Hindustan, prov. Madras, in 
 whose vicinity it is manufactured. 
 
 MADEIRA. A rich sherry formerly made on the Isle of 
 Madeira. I have drank very good at Christiania within the 
 last ten years, and it might even be had in England within the 
 last twenty years. 
 
 MADELINE {Poire de la Madelaine). A pear, called, 
 among other names, poire de St. Jean. 
 
 MADONNA. Artistic name for any picture representing 
 Our Lady. 
 
 MADONNINA. A silver coin of Genoa of twenty soldi ; 
 probably struck in honour of the Madonna. 
 
 MADRAS. A handkerchief made at Madras. A rice. 
 
 MADRIGAL (Sp. and Port, id.; It. madrigale). A little 
 amorous poem, sometimes called a pastoral poem, containing a 
 certain number of free, unequal verses, not confined to the 
 scrupulous regularity of a sonnet, or the subtilty of the epigram, 
 but containing some tender and delicate, though simple, thought, 
 
 suitably expressed {Cyc.) An elaborate vocal composition 
 
 in five or six parts. There is a diversity of opinion as to the 
 origin of the word. Some derive it from Gr. (xxySpoc, a fold, 
 stable, enclosure. Covarruvias (Tresor de la langage Cas- 
 tillane), under mandra, says, " y de aqui se dixo madrigal, can-
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 165 
 
 cion de pastores, quando se recogen a festear en las madras o 
 cayernas ; quasi mandrigal ;" and hence madrigal, song of the 
 shepherds, when they assemble together to feast in tlie madras 
 or caverns ; as though mandrigal. And at the word madrigal : 
 "Madrigal, villa famosa por el buen vino; madrigal, quasi 
 mandrigal ; cancion de las que los pastores cantan sesteando 
 en las cavernas ;" Madrigal, famous place for good wine ; 
 madrigal, as though mandrigal, song sung by shepherds when 
 feasting in the caverns. Of the same opinion are Bembo, 
 Dolce, and Menage. Menage, citing the above passages from 
 Covarruvias, says, " The Italians have dropped the n in mad- 
 riale, from mandriale, as in sposo from sjjonsus, misura from 
 mensura, preso from prehensus, &c.;" and that in French the 
 word was anciently madrigale, not madrigal. Menage, how- 
 ever, admits — from the passage in Covarruvias, and from 
 the following, from Papirius Masso, in the life of Pope Euge- 
 niusIV., "Alfonsum Testatum, Hispania, excellentium ingeni- 
 crum parens, in Madrigale tenuivico, genuit " — that there was 
 a place in Spain called Madrigal ; and he adds, " N 'auroit-ou 
 point appele de ce lieu les Madrigaux ? de la mesme fa^on que 
 de la vallee de Vire, on a appele Vaudevilles, les Vaudevilles." 
 There can be little doubt that the word is derived from some 
 locality in Spain. There is Madrigal, a town, province 
 Avila, memorable as the birthplace of Isabella of Castile ; 
 Madrigal, in Guadalajara ; Madrigal, a small village, province 
 Caceres ; Madrigal, a pasture ground and a house, province 
 Toledo ; and Madrigal del Monte, province Burgos. Of 
 Madrigal in Avila, Madoz says, " Destruida esta poblacion en 
 las guerras entre cristianos y musulmanes, la repoblaron estos, 
 quienes la dieron el nombre de Madrigal." Huet (Traite des 
 Romans, 124, last ed.) thinks Martegalcs and Madrigaux 
 the same thing, and that both words had their origin from 
 the Martegaux, montagnards of Provence ; and he says in. like 
 manner the G-avots, montagnards of the country of Gap, gave 
 name to the dance called Gavotte. 
 
 MAGDEBURG HEMISPHERES. A hollow sphere 
 composed t)f two hemispheres which fit air-tight ; intended to 
 show the amount of the air's pressure, by the amount of force
 
 166 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 with which they are so held together after the interior air has 
 been removed by the air-pump. It was first suggested by 
 Otto Von Guericke, an eminent philosopher, who was born in 
 1602, settled at Magdeburg, and died in 1686. 
 
 MAGELLANIC CLOUDS. Three conspicuous nebulse 
 situated near the South Pole, resembling thin white clouds ; so 
 called from Magellan or Magalhaens, the Portuguese navigator, 
 who also discovered the Straits of Magellan, at the extremity 
 of South America. 
 
 MAGENTA. A brilliant red colour (discovered by Hoff- 
 man ?) ; so called in honour of Napoleon III.'s victory at 
 Magenta, in North Italy. — S. F. Creswell. 
 
 MAGIANISM. The doctrines of the Magi, a sect of philo- 
 sophers, who held that there are two principles, one the cause 
 of good, the other of evil. See Magic. 
 
 MAGIC. The production of wonderful effects by the sup- 
 posed aid of superhuman beings, or of departed spirits ; sor- 
 cery ; enchantment ; L. magia, G. ^oiyzia. ; so called, according 
 to some, from Mouyog, a Persian philosopher. 
 
 MAGNESIA. A soft white powder without taste or smell, 
 seldom found pure, but mixed with other minerals ; so named 
 from Magnesia, in Asia Minor, now Manisa or Manser, a city 
 in the pashalic of Anadolia, where it was found. Others 
 derive the word from fji^ccyvrji, the loadstone, because it sticks to 
 the tongue as iron does to the magnet. 
 
 MAGNESITE. A silicate of magnesia, containing a large 
 quantity of water ; a name also given to a carbonate of mag- 
 nesia, q.v. 
 
 MAGNET. The loadstone ; a term applied to certain 
 specimens of iron ore, having the property of attracting iron 
 and some of its ores, and, when freely suspended, of pointing to 
 the Pole ; a bar of steel to which the peculiar properties of 
 the loadstone have been imparted, either by contact or by other 
 means. L. magnes, tis, Gr. [xayvrjs, the loadstone ; so called from 
 the mountains of Magnesia, in Asia Minor, which were famous for 
 the production of the loadstone. According to Pliny (i. 5, c. 
 30 and 36, and i. 36, c. 16), the loadstone was found on Ida, in 
 Phrygia, by one Magnes. Lempriere says " Magnes was a young
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 167 
 
 man who found himself detained by the iron nails which were 
 under his shoes as he walked over a stone mine. This was no 
 other than the magnet, which received its name from the per- 
 son who had been first sensible of its power." Some make 
 Magnes a slave of Medea, whom that enchantress changed into 
 a magnet. 
 
 MAGNETIC. A term applied to any metal, as iron, 
 nickel, cobalt, &c., which may receive, by any means, the pro- 
 perties of the loadstone, and lie when suspended in the direc- 
 tion of a magnetic meridian. 
 
 MAGNETISM. The properties of the magnet, q.v. 
 
 MAGNOLIA (Fr. magnolier). A genus of plants, trees or 
 shrubs, all natives of North America and Asia ; named by 
 Plumier in honour of Professor Magnole, of Montpellier. 
 
 MAJOLICA (It. viaioUca, maiorica) . A name given to a 
 kind of earth used for making dishes, vases, &c. ; afterwards 
 applied to the ware itself, which resembles porcelain ; so called 
 from Maiolica or Maiorica, i.e. Majorca, where it was first made. 
 A similar ware was also anciently made at Faenza, in the 
 Romagna. 
 
 MAJORANA (Origcma majoranci). Systematic name of 
 sweet marjoram ; so called from flowering in May {quod mense 
 Maio Jloreat). 
 
 MAHERNIA. A genus of plants, natives of the Cape ; 
 named, according to Professor Martyn, as anagrararaatic of 
 Hermannia (q.v.), a genus to which it is very nearly allied. 
 
 MAHMOUDI or MAMOUDI. A silver coin of Persia, 
 equal to about 50 centimes French money ; also a silver piece 
 of 5 piasters, equal to 4fr. 14c. ; struck by Sultan Mahmoud in 
 1811. 
 
 MAHOUND. A term which was popularly applied to any 
 idol, and thence given to the devil, and sometimes to any 
 savage character ; mediaeval corruption of the name Mahom- 
 med.— T. Wright, M.A. 
 
 MAID MARIAN. Originally the lady of the May games, 
 in a morris dance ; afterwards a character personated by a 
 man in woman's clothes ; also the name of a dance. — Toone. 
 Smart.
 
 168 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 MAINTENON (cotelettes a la). A manner of dressing 
 cutlets ; so called after Madame de Maintenon, mistress of 
 Louis XIV. 
 
 MALABATHRUM (/xaAa/SaS^ov). The leaf of the tree 
 whose bark is called Cassia ; named from Malabar, whence it 
 is brought, and Hind, hetre, a leaf. 
 
 MALAGA. A sweet wine from Malaga, in Spain. 
 
 MALAPROPISM. An ignorant vulgar misapplication of 
 language ; so named from Mrs. Malaprop, a character in 
 Sheridan's comedy of The Rivals. Mrs. Partington has lately 
 succeeded to the mantle of Mrs. Malaprop, but the phrase 
 Partingtonism is as yet uncoined. — /. C. Hotten. 
 
 MALAYAN. A great variety of the human family, sup- 
 posed to have originated in the Malay peninsula, and which 
 
 are distributed over the Western Oceania. The language 
 
 of the Malay peninsula. 
 
 MAL DE SIAM. In India, a name for yellow fever ; sup- 
 posed to have been originally brought from Siam. 
 
 MALLAM-TODDALI. A tree in Malabar, whose root, 
 bark, leaves, and fruit are esteemed as a specific in epilepsy ; 
 so called from Malayalam, native name of the province of 
 Malabar. 
 
 MALKIN. A mop; hence, a dirty drab {Webster). A 
 kind of mop, made of clouts, for sweeping ovens ; hence a 
 frightful figure of clouts dressed up ; hence a dirty wench 
 {Ha/imer) — 
 
 " The kitchin malkin pinnes 
 Her richest lockram 'bout her reechie necke, 
 Clamb'ring the walls to eye him." — Shalts. 
 
 " Put ou the shape of order and humanity, 
 Or you must marry vialkin the May lady." 
 
 Beaum. and F. Mens. Thomas. 
 
 " He went, and ere malkin could well lick her ear 
 (For it but the next door was, foi-sooth), we were there." — 
 
 Cotton. Voyage to Ireland, c. 2. 
 
 A diminutive of Mai, Moll, the nickname of Mary. 
 
 MALLIGO. Malaga wine. Corruption of Malaga. 
 "And Malliyo glasses fox thee." — Sd. Gipsy, iii. 1.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 169 
 
 MALMSEY (Fr, malvoisie, formerly inalvaise, It. malvosio, 
 Sp. marvisia). A sort of grape ; also a strong and sweet 
 wine. 
 
 " And then throw him into the malmsey-biitt in the next room." — Shahs. 
 
 " I'll drown you in the mnlmsey-hutt within." — Ibid. 
 
 " That arrant malmsey-nose knave, Bardolph." — Ibid. 
 
 The word is derived from Malvasia (hodie Monemvasia), a 
 town near Argos, in the Morea, in whose territory the grape 
 grew. This wine is now principally made at Madeira, and if 
 not manufactured in London, it is simply because it is not 
 in demand. 
 
 MALPIGHIA. A genus of plants, trees or shrubs ; called 
 after Malpighi, a naturalist of Pisa. 
 
 MALTHUSIAN. The political doctrines of the Rev. 
 Thomas Robert Malthus, F.R.S., as laid doAvn in his essay 
 on the Principles of Population. In this work the learned 
 author advocates the anti-connubial system ; a system founded 
 on the supposition that population increases in a geometrical^ 
 while food only increases in an arithmetrical, degree. Malthus 
 was born at Albury, in Surrey, in 1766, and died at Bath in 
 1835. 
 
 MAMERTINES (Fr. Mamertins). A band of mercenaries, 
 who, uniting with the Sicilians, seized upon Messana (Messina) 
 B.C. 270. Pressed by the Carthaginians, they sought the aid 
 of the Romans (b.c. 264-265), and thus originated the first 
 Punic war. Some assert that the Mamertines were so called 
 from Mamers or Mars ; but according to the best authority, 
 these people derived their name from Mamerte, in ancient 
 geogi-aphy 'a town of Sicily, near Messina. Mamers is the 
 name of a place in France (Sarthe). 
 
 MAMMET. A doll, or dollish person ; probably so called 
 from Mahomet, to whom the black dolls hanging over rag- 
 shops bear a distant resemblance. Mammet and jioppet were 
 old names for what is now called a Marionette (*S'. F. Cres- 
 tvell). Webster renders vumimet, a puppet ; a figure dressed. 
 Johnson derives mammet from mum or mamma. Richardson ren-
 
 170 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 ders maivmet, mammot, mammet, anything set up as an object of 
 adoration : a popet or puppet, a fondling ; generally an idol, 
 a graven image ; from Mahomet ; and mawmetry, the religion of 
 Mahomet ; idolatory ; the worship of graven images. 
 
 " This no is world to play with mammets, and to tilt with lips." — 
 
 1 Hen. iv. 
 
 " And then to haue a wretched puling foole, 
 A whining mammet, in her fortune's tender, 
 To answer, lie not wed, I cannot loue." — R. & J. 
 
 " There you shall find in every corner a mmunet ; at every door a beggar ; 
 and in every dish a priest." — B}^- Sail. Ep. i. Dec. 1. 
 
 " In destruction of maumetrie, 
 And in encrese of Cristes lawe dere, 
 They ben accorded so as ye may here." 
 
 Chaucer. The Man of Lawes Tale, v. 4656. 
 
 " An idolastre peraventure ne hath not but o maumet or two, and the 
 avaricious man hath many ; for certes, every fl^orene in his cofFro is a mau- 
 met. And certes, the sinne of vtnumetrie is the first that God defended in 
 the ten commandments, as bereth witnesse Exod. c. .xx. Thou shalt have 
 no false gods before me, ne thou shalt make to thee no graven thing." — 
 Id. The Persones Tale. 
 
 " We charge the prelatical clergy with popery, to make them odious, 
 tho' we know they are guilty of no such things : just as heretofore they 
 call'd images mammets, and the adoration of images mamvietry ; that is, 
 Mahomet and Mahometry ; odious names, when all the world knows the 
 Turks are forbidden images by their religion." — Seldeii. Table Talk. 
 Popery. 
 
 See also Notes and Queries, July 6, 1864, p. 28 ; and Promp. 
 Parv. under " Mawmet," et scq. 
 
 MAMMON (Syr.). Riches, wealth. 
 
 " Mammon is liches or aboundance of goods." 
 
 Tyndall. Works, p. 233. . 
 
 " Ye cannot serve God and yjiammon." — Matt. vi. 
 
 " And of mavimonaes money mad hym many frendes." 
 
 Piers Ploughman, p. 170. 
 
 So called from Mammon, god of riches, the god chiefly wor- 
 shipped by Christians in the present age of progress. 
 
 MAMMONIST. One devoted to the acquisition of wealth;
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 171 
 
 one whose affections are placed supremely on riches ; a world- 
 ling {Hammond). So called from Mammon, god of riches. 
 
 " When I'd arrive the very top of all, 
 That the mistaken maniinonists miscall, 
 And think their chiefest blessings, health and wit." 
 
 Brome. A Paraphrase upon Ecclesiastes, c. i. 
 
 " The great mnminonist would say, he is rich that can maintain an army." 
 — Bp. Hall. The Righteous Mammon. 
 
 MANCINITE. A mineral, colour brown ; from Mancino, 
 near Leghorn. 
 
 MANDILLIAN. A kind of garment worn temp. Elizabeth ; 
 i.q. Mandeville, which Randal Holmes describes as " a loose 
 hanging garment," and much like to our jacket or jumps, but 
 without sleeves, only having holes to put the arms through ; 
 yet some were made with sleeves, but for no other use than to 
 hang on the back {Planche). The word is doubtless derived 
 from either a local name or a local surname. 
 
 MANDOZY. A term of endearment ; probably named from 
 the valiant fighter Mendoza. — /. C. Hotten. 
 
 MANGABEY. The precarious name of a monkey found 
 in the territory of Mangabey, near Madagascar. See Buffon. 
 
 MANGANATE, MANGANESATE. A compound of 
 manganesic acid, with a base. See Manganese. 
 
 MANGANESE (at first called by Gahn magnesium). A 
 greyish-white metal, found in the ashes of plants, the bones of 
 animals, and in many minerals; very hard and difficult to fuse; 
 from Magnesia, q.v, 
 
 MANGANITE. One of the ores of manganese {q.v.); 
 called also manganese ore. 
 
 MANICHEISM. The doctrines or system of principles of 
 the Manichees or Manicheans, followers of Manes, a Persian, 
 who tried to combine the Oriental philosophy with Christianity, 
 and maintained that there are two supreme principles, the one 
 good, the other evil, which produce all the happiness and 
 calamities of the Avorld. They held the first principle, or light, 
 to be the author of all good ; the second, or darkness, the 
 author of all evil.
 
 172 
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 MANILLA. A cigar from Manila, capital of Luzon, and 
 of all the Philippine Isles. 
 
 MANNHEIM GOLD. Another name for Dutch gold or 
 orsedew, an inferior sort of gold-leaf, made of copper and zinc, 
 sometimes called leaf-hrass ; so named from being principally 
 manufactured at Mannheim, on the Rhine. 
 
 MANSARD. In architecture, a roof Avith a double slope on 
 each side ; a gambrel roof (Fr. mansarde, a garret ; garret- 
 window) ; so called from its inventor. Mansard, a French 
 architect, who died in 1666. 
 
 MANTON. A celebrated gun manufactured by the late 
 Joseph Man ton. 
 
 MANUS CHRISTL Refined sugar, so boiled as to make 
 a cordial for weak persons. — Crahh. 
 
 MANX. A term applied to the ancient language of the 
 Isle of Man ; whence its name. 
 
 MAPPIA. A genus of plants, the only species of which is 
 the M. guianensis, a shrub, native of Guiana ; named after 
 Marcus Mappus, professor of medicine at Strasburg, author of 
 Catal. Plantarum Horti Acad. Argentinensis, 1691 ; Hist. Plant, 
 Alsaticarum, a posthumous work by Ehi'mann, 1742. 
 
 MARANTA. A genus of perennial tropical plants, from 
 the roots of one species of which (J7. arundinacea) is priucijjally 
 obtained the aiTowroot of commerce, which species is much 
 cultivated in the gardens and provision grounds of the West 
 Indies ; named by Plumier in memory of Bartholomeo Maranta, 
 a Venetian physician, who lived towards the middle of the six- 
 teenth century, and was one of the chief Italian botanists of 
 his time. 
 
 MARAUDER. A rover in quest of booty or plunder; a 
 plunderer ; usually applied to small parties of soldiers. To go 
 in a marauding party is to go in search of pillage or plunder . 
 
 " Some place decoys, nor will they not avail, 
 Replete with roasted crabs ; in every grove 
 These fell jnarcmders gnaw." 
 
 Grainger. Sugar Cane, b. ii. 
 
 Some derive the word from the Fr. niaraud, a rascal ; from Gr. 
 fj.iapo§, stained, contaminated, infamous. Webster gives the
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 173 
 
 Fr. maratul, tlie Ethiopic marnda, to hurry, to run ; the Ileb. 
 •]nn {marad), to rebel ; the Dan. marodei', a robber in war, a 
 corsair. The Heb. marad signifies to be disobedient, perverse, 
 rebel, fall away from one's allegiance; the Arab, marada, 
 to be obstinate, stubborn, contumacious, wilful. Richardson 
 seems to think the word may be from the verb to mar. Menage 
 notices the derivation from a Count Merodes, who commanded 
 in the armies of Ferdinand II., but Duchat shows that the 
 word existed long before. A correspondent of Notes and 
 Queries says, " On the old carriage road from Achen to 
 Cologne, not many miles from Achen, is an extensive wood, in 
 which is a fine old chateau called Merode. It was formerly 
 quite concealed from the road by the thick wood, or perhaps, 
 more correctly speaking, forest. It had the reputation of pos- 
 sessing a brigand for its owner. The persons who made expe- 
 ditions with the owner from this chateau were called Ileroder^s, 
 and were marauders." 
 
 MARAVEDI. In Spain, a small copper coin less than a 
 farthing sterling. It is now a fictitious money, of which 2 
 form an ochavo, and 34 a real. The word is derived 
 from the Arab, mardbateen, literally money of the tyrants 
 Alraoravides, a family of Mussulman princes (five in number, 
 of whom Abubekr, son of Omar, was the first) who reigned in 
 Africa and Spain in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth cen- 
 turies, and who were so called from Arab, almoraheth, signifying 
 " champion of religion." " Mot par lequel les Espagnols de- 
 signaient une petite monnaie.de cuivre qui vaut un centime et 
 demi. C'est aujourd'hui une monnaie fictive dont deux ferment 
 un ochavo, et 34 un real. La plus ancienne mention qui soit 
 faite des maravedis dans I'histoire d'Espagne est sous Alphonse, 
 lors de la bataille de Las Navas. On trouve dans les lois Es- 
 pagnoles des maravedis de differentes especes (de Almoravide)." 
 
 MARCELINE. A mineral, colour greenish-black ; so 
 named from being found near Saint Marcel, in Piedmont. 
 
 MARCELLIANISM. The doctrines and opinions of the 
 Marcellians, a sect towards the close of the second century ; so 
 called from Marcellus of Ancyra, their leader, who was accused 
 of reviving the errors of Sal^ellius. Some, however, are of
 
 174 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 opinion that Marcellus was orthodox, and that it was his 
 enemies, the Arians, who fathered their errors upon him. — 
 Chambers's Cyc. 
 
 MARCETIA. A genus of Brazilian shrubs ; named in 
 honour of M. Marcet, a friend of De Candolle. 
 
 MARCH (L. Martins). The third month of the year, 
 according to modern computation. The Roman year originally 
 began with this month. Romulus named it Martius in honour 
 of his father, Mars, god of war. *' March is drawn in tawny, 
 with a fierce aspect, and a helmet upon his head, to show this 
 month was dedicated to Mars " (Peacham). 
 
 MARCHIONESS. A maid of all work ; a title now in 
 regular use, but derived from the nickname of a character in 
 Charles Dickens's Old Curiosity Shop. — J. C. Hotten. 
 
 MARCOBRUNNER. A celebrated Rhine wine, posses- 
 sing much body and aroma, from Markobrunn. 
 
 MARE (A. S. mara, G-. mar, D. maere, Sw. mara, incubus, 
 D. nacht-merrie, Gr. nachtmar'). The morbid oppression in sleep 
 otherwise called incubus. " The word is now only used in the 
 compound 7iightma7'e, which ought to be written nightmar " (Web- 
 ster). " Mushrooms cause the incubus, or the mare in the sto- 
 mach " (Bacon's Nat. Hist,). The word is said to be derived 
 from Mara, in Northern mythology, a spirit that oppressed 
 persons in sleep. ^'Ma7'a, from whence our nightmare is derived, 
 was, in the Runic theology, a spirit or spectre of the night, 
 which seized men in their sleep, and suddenly deprived them 
 of speech and motion" (Warton, Higt.Eng. Poetry, vol. i. diss. 1). 
 
 " Mab, his merry queen, by night 
 Bestrides young folks that be upright, 
 In elder times the inare that hight, 
 Which plagues them out of measure." — Drayton. 
 
 MARENGO. In Piedmont, an appellation for the twenty 
 franc gold piece ; doubtless named from Marengo, province 
 Alessandria. 
 
 MARGARET or MAGDALEN. An apple so named. 
 
 MARGARET (QUEEN) or CHINESE STAR. A plant 
 (Beine Marguerite).
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 175 
 
 MARIBOUS. In a deed of John Arundell, Esq., of Lan- 
 herne, Cornwall, dated 25 Jannary, 1632, appointing John 
 Dale, his baylifF foi' the Manor of Connerton and Hundred of 
 Penwith, Cornwall, said John Dale is ordered to collect " Ale 
 Silver, Smoke Silver, Tything-money. Maribous-money, and 
 Maribous of themselves." In a deputation (10 April, 1648) 
 the word is written Mariboues or Maribones, the letters u and 
 n in all old deeds being commonly written exactly alike. This 
 word may be the same with maraboutin, of which Bescherelle 
 says, " Monnaie d'or qui eut cours dans le moyen age en 
 Espagne, en. Portugal, en Languedoc. De graves discussions 
 s'^leverent au commencement du XVIII'' siecle au sujet de 
 ce mot ; mais aucun d'eux ne parait avoir devine la veritable 
 Etymologic du nom de cette monnaie, qui doit avoir ete intro- 
 duite ou frappee dans la Peninsule, sous la denomination des 
 Morabethoun ou Almoravides." 
 
 MARIENGROSCHE. A coin of Hamburg, equal to 
 about a penny ; so named from Marie, and G-. groschen. 
 
 MARIGOLD {Mary and gold; Caltha, Lat.) A yellow 
 flower, devoted, I suppose, to the Virgin (Johnson) ; " q.d. 
 aurum Mariw, a colore floris luteo ; from the yellow colour of 
 the flower " (Skintier). 
 
 " Absence hath robb'd thee of thy wealth and pleasure, 
 And I remain, like marigold, of sun 
 Deprlv'd, that dies by shadow of some mountain." 
 
 Druminond. Son. C4, pt. i. 
 
 MARIOLA. In ancient writers, a shrine or image of the 
 Virgin Mary {Bailey). Hie quoque fere i^erficit pulclwam Mario- 
 lam cum pertinentiis. Mat. Paris in Vitis Abbatum S. Albani. 
 In australi ecclesice parte, juxta nohilem Mariolam, ibid (Coivel). 
 
 MARIOLATRY. A term used to denote the worship of 
 the Virgin Mary by Roman Catholics {Xar^svuj, to worship). 
 
 MARIONETTES. Puppets moved by springs. Menage 
 renders the word "■ petites Jilles ; en prenant I'espece pour le 
 genre : comme qui diroit, petites Marions " {Marion being itself 
 a diminutive of Marie). Bouillet (Diet, des Sciences, &c., 
 Paris, 1854) derives the name from Marion, an Italian, who
 
 176 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 introduced the marionettes into France under Charles IX. The 
 Greeks knew marionettes under the name of neuros^msta, and 
 the Romans under that of imagunculcB, simulacra, oscilla. The 
 Italians, who are very great amateurs in marionettes, call them 
 pupiji and fantoccini. M. Ch. Magnin published in 1852 a 
 curious " Histoire des Marionnettes." 
 
 MARMATITE. A black mineral, consisting of the sul- 
 phurets of zinc and iron ; so named fi'om being found at 
 Candado and Salto, near Marmato, in New Granada. 
 
 MARONEAN ( Vinum Maroneum). Among the Greeks, a 
 wine said to have been grown on the side of Ismarus, a hill or 
 promontory of Thrace ; doubtless near the town of Maronea ; 
 probably so named from Maro or Maron, a king of Thrace and 
 priest of Apollo, who gave Ulysses the excellent wine that 
 would bear twenty times as much water, and with which he 
 intoxicated Polyphemus. See Horn. Od. i. 197, seq. ; Pliny, 
 H. N. X. iv. 4. 
 
 MARRIOTTE'S LAW. In pneumatics, a general pro- 
 perty of elastic fluids, that the pressure is directly proportional 
 to the density ; discovered by Marriotte, an eminent French 
 philosopher, native of Burgundy, who flourished about the 
 middle of the seventeenth century, and w^as author of several 
 important works. 
 
 MARRUBIUM. Horehouud, a genus of plants. Some 
 derive the word from the Heb. marrob, a bitter juice, on 
 account of its taste. According to others, it was so called by 
 the ancients from having been originally found near Marruhium, 
 a town of the Marsyans in Italy, eastward of Lake Fucinus. 
 
 MARRY (properly 3Iart/). A vulgar oath. 
 
 " Ye ? quod the preest, ye, sire, and wol ye so? 
 Mary thereof I pray you hertily." — Chauc. 
 
 A corruption of Bj/ Mary (^Tyrivliitt) or By Holy Mary — 
 
 "By Holy Mary (Butts), there's knavery, 
 Let 'em alone, and draw the curtaine close." — Shaks. 
 
 MARS. One of the seven primary planets, remarkable for 
 the red colour of his light ; named after Mars, god of war.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 177 
 
 In heraldry, another name for gules or red. An old 
 
 mythological designation of several preparations of iron. 
 
 MARSALA. A wine made at Marsala, a seaport of 
 Sicily. The Marsala wines only came into repute since 1802, 
 when Lord Nelson introduced them for the use of the British 
 fleet. The district is estimated to yield annually about 30,000 
 pipes of wine, of which two-thirds are exported. There are 
 at Marsala six establishments, four British and two Sicilian. 
 Three of the British are on a large scale. 
 
 MARSDENIA. A genus of plants, natives of New Hol- 
 land; named in honour of William Marsdeu, Esq., F.R.S., 
 late secretary to the Admiralty, author of a History of Su- 
 matra, and of a Dictionary of the Malayan Language. 
 
 MARSEILLAISE. A patriotic and warlike hymn, the 
 words and music of which were composed at Strasbourg, in 
 1792, by Rouget de Lisle, an officer in the army. It had been 
 written for the army of the Rhine, and on that account re- 
 ceived from its author the title of " Le chant de guerre de I'armee 
 du Rhin," but shortly afterwards, the Marseillais, who in 1792 
 came to Paris to demand the abolition of royalty, and who 
 took part in the attack on the Tuileries, made it known in 
 the capital, when it was baptised by the name of the Mar- 
 seillaise, or Hymne des Marseillais, the only appellation by 
 which it is now known. 
 
 MARSELLA. A twilled linen, probably from Marseilles, 
 which is also noted, amongst other articles, for its elegant 
 quilts. 
 
 MARTELLO. A sort of tower or fortification adapted to 
 the defence of sea-coasts ; so named from Martello, a Corsican 
 engineer, the first inventor. Hence our Martello towers, 
 circular buildings of masonry erected along parts of the 
 British coasts as a defence against the meditated invasion of 
 Bonaparte. 
 
 MARTEN or MARTERNE. A carnivorous animal allied 
 to the weasel, whose fur is used in making hats and muffs. 
 " L. martes, a name that seems to come a Marte, because it 
 destroys poultry and other birds ; Vi martia (Vossius and 
 Gresner)." — Richardson. 
 
 N
 
 178 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 MARTIAL. Pertaining to war, united to war, as martial 
 equipage, martial music, martial appearance ; so called from 
 
 Mars (gen. Martis), god of war. Warlike, brave, given to 
 
 war, as a martial nation or people. Suited to battle, as a 
 
 martial array. Belonging to war, or to an army and navy ; 
 
 opposed to civil, as martial law ; a court-martial. Per- 
 taining to Mars, or borrowing the properties of that planet. 
 Pertaining to iron, called by the old alchemists Mars. 
 
 MARTIAL. A pear ; in some parts called Angelic Pear 
 {Poire Angelique), and in the South of France Poire Douce. 
 
 MARTIALISM. Bravery; martial exercises. See Mak- 
 
 TIAL. {obs.) 
 
 MARTIN, MARTINET, or MARTLET (Fr. martinet, 
 
 Sp. martinete). A bird of the swallow kind, which forms its 
 
 nest in buildings. The Germans call it mauer-schwalbe, wall 
 
 swallow, and Webster seems to think, therefore, that the word 
 
 may have been formed from the root of L. miiru,s (W. mur), a 
 
 wall : 
 
 " But, like the martlet, 
 Builds in the weather on the outward wall, 
 Euen in the force and rode of casualtie." — Shaks. 
 
 Miushew thinks — with more ingenuity than truth, says 
 Skinner — " that these birds are so called because they come 
 here about the end of March, and leave us about the feast of 
 St. Martin." 
 
 MARTIN. The Lord Martin (Martin Sire) ; a pear so 
 named ; called also Hocrenaille and Ronoille. 
 
 MARTINET. In military language, a strict disciplinarian, 
 or rather one who is stupidly fussy about trifles, derived from 
 Col. Martinet, an officer of'the French infantry. 
 
 MARTIN GAL, MARTINGALE (Fr. martingale, It. and 
 Sp. martingala). A strap or thong fastened to the girth 
 under a horse's belly, and at the other end of the musrole, 
 passing between the fore legs. 
 
 " Lord what a hunting head she carries ; sure she has been ridden with 
 a martingale. — Beaum. §* F. 
 
 According to Berenger (Hist, and Art of Horsemanship, c.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 179 
 
 10), it was invented by Evangelista, an eminent horseman of 
 Milan. The primary signification of the French word is 
 rendered " Culottes dont le pent etait place par derriere." 
 The martingale breeches are said to have been so called from 
 the Martegaux, a people of Provence, who first wore them. 
 They were still in fashion at the French court in 1579. See 
 Beza, H. Stephens, Manage Diet. Nat. ; Dial, du Nouv. Lang. 
 
 Fr. Ital. p. 210 ; and Rabelais, liv. i. ch. 20. In ships a 
 
 short perpendicular spar, under the bowsprit end, used for 
 
 reeving the stays. Technical name of a system employed 
 
 by gamblers, as they imagine, to make success certain. It 
 consists in doubling the stake every time you lose. 
 
 MARTINMAS. The mass or feast of St. Martin, the 
 11th of November. 
 
 MARTYNIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Pedaliacece ; 
 named after Professor Martyn. 
 
 MARYLAND. One of the principal kinds of tobacco im- 
 ported into England ; from Maryland, in the United States. 
 
 MASCAGNIN (mas-kan'-i/m). Native sulphate of am- 
 monia, found in volcanic districts ; named after Mascagni, who 
 first discovered it. 
 
 MASDEU. A red wine, doubtless from Masdeu, France, 
 dep. Pyrenees-Orientales (Roussillon). Mas-dieu is the name 
 of a village, dep. Gard (Languedoc). 
 
 MASONITE. A mineral, colour blackish-green, found 
 near Katharinenburg, in Siberia, and in Rhode Island ; named 
 after Mason. 
 
 MASORETIC, MASORETICAL. Relating to the Maso- 
 rites, inventors of the Hebrew vowel points and accents. 
 They adhered to the traditionary readings of the Scriptures, 
 and were authors of the Masora, a Jewish critical work on the 
 text of the Hebrew Scriptures, written in the eighth and 
 ninth centuries. The word masora signifies tradition, from 
 IDD, to deliver. 
 
 MASSONIA. A genus of plants of four species, natives 
 of the Cape ; named by Thunberg after Francis Masson, 
 author of Stapeliae Novae, who, in company with Thunberg, 
 found these plants. 
 
 N 2
 
 180 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 MATARO. A wine from Mataro, in Catalonia. 
 
 MATLOCKITE. A mineral of a yellowish colour, with 
 sometimes a greenish tinge, found in the Cromford Level, 
 near Matlock, county Derby. 
 
 MATTHIOLA. A tree, a species of Guettarda, a native 
 of America; named by Plumier after Pietro Andrea Matthio- 
 lus, the celebrated botanist and commentator on Dioscorides. 
 
 MATUSCHK^A. A genus of plants of only one 
 species, a native of Guiana ; named after Count Matuschka, 
 author of Flora Silesiaca. 
 
 MAUD. A grey woollen shepherd's plaid, something 
 between a shawl and a railway rug. The word occurs in Guy 
 Manuering. It was probably named after one of the royal 
 family of England or Scotland, perhaps Matilda or Maud, 
 daughter of Malcolm, King of Scots, and first wife of 
 Henry I. ; or Henry's daughter, the Empress Matilda ; or 
 Matilda, who married Stephen, grandson of William the 
 Conqueror. 
 
 MAUDLIN. Sentimental ; drunk ; fuddled ; approaching 
 to intoxication ; stupid. 
 
 " And the maudlin crowd melts in her praise." — Southern. 
 
 "She largely, what she wants in words, supplies 
 With maudlin eloquence of trickling eyes." — Roscommon. 
 
 The word is corrupted from Magdalen, from a ludicrous 
 resemblance to the picture of St. Mary Magdalene, who is 
 drawn by painters with eyes swelled and red with weeping. 
 
 A reformed prostitute. (Sweet) A jslant of the genus 
 
 Achillea, allied to milfoil. 
 
 MAUMETRY. See Mammet. 
 
 MAURANDIA. A genus of plants, evergreen climbing 
 herbs ; named by Dr. Ortega in honour of the wife of Dr. 
 Maurandy, professor of botany at Carthagena. 
 
 MAURI A. A genus of plants, trees, nat. or. Terebtnthacece ; 
 natives of Peru ; named in honour of Antonio Mauri. 
 
 MAURITIA. A genus of plants, or. Hexandria ; natives 
 of Surinam ; named in honour of Prince Maurice of Nas- 
 sau.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 181 
 
 MAUSOLEUM. A magnificent tomb, or stately sepul- 
 chral monument ; so called from Mausolus, king of Caria, a 
 pi-ovince of Asia Minor, to whom Artemisia, his widow, 
 raised a superb monument. This building, erected B.C. 352, 
 was esteemed one of the seven wonders of the world. Ac- 
 cording to Pliny, it was 111 feet in circumference, and 140 
 feet high, and it is said to have been encompassed by thirty- 
 six columns, and greatly enriched with sculpture. " Arte- 
 misia was renowned in history for her extraordinary grief 
 at the death of her husband Mausolus. She is said to have 
 mi*ed his ashes in her daily drink, and to have gradually 
 died away in grief during the two years that she survived 
 him. She induced the most eminent Greek rhetoricians 
 to proclaim his jiraise in their oratory, and to j^erpetuate 
 his memory she built at Halicarnassus the celebrated monu- 
 ment Mausoleum, which was regarded as one of the seven 
 wonders of the world, and whose name subsequently became 
 the generic term for any splendid sepulchral monument " (Cic. 
 Tusc. iii. 31 ; Strabo xiv. p. 656 ; Gellius x. 18 ; Plin. H. N. 
 XXV. 36, xxxvi. 4, 9 ; Val. Max. iv. 6, ext. 1 ; Suid. Harpocr, 
 s. vv. AprsjaicTia and MocvtrcuXo;). Another celebrated monu- 
 ment was erected by her in the island of Rhodes, to com- 
 memorate her success in making hei'self mistress of the 
 island. The Rhodians, after recovering their liberty, made it 
 inaccessible, whence it was called in later times the AfSarov 
 (Vitruv. ii. 8). See Dr. W. Smith's Diet. 
 
 " Some (great princes) have amused the dull, sad years of life, 
 (Life spent in indolence, and therefore sad) 
 With schemes of monumental fame ; and sought 
 By pyramids and mausolean pomp, 
 Short liv'd themselves, t' immortalise their bones." 
 
 Coioper. Task, b. 5. 
 
 "The whole chapel called by his (Henry VII.) name, is properly 
 but his mausoleum, he building it solely for the burial-place of 
 himself and the royal family, and accordingly ordering by his 
 will that no person should be interred there." Dart. Antiq. 
 Westm. Abbey, vol. I. p. 32. See also Holland, Plinie, b. 
 xxxvi. c. 5.
 
 182 VEKBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 MAWMETRY or MAUMETRY. See Mammet. 
 MAWWORM. A hypocrite ; so named from a character 
 in Gibber's play of the Hypocrite. 
 
 "Ah, do despise me ; I'm the prouder for it ; I likes to be despised." 
 
 MAX D'OR or MAXIMILIAN. A gold coin of Bavaria, 
 equal to 13s. 7^d. ; doubtless named after the Emperor 
 Maximilian. 
 
 MAY (L. Mains, Fr. Mai, It. Maggio, Sp. Mayo). The 
 fifth month of the year beginning with January, but the 
 third beginning with March, as was the ancient practice of 
 the Romans. Some derive " Maius a majoribus, like Junius a 
 junioribus." Bailey says, " Maius from majores, so called by 
 Romulus in respect of the senators." Festus derives the 
 word from Maia, mother of Mercury, to Avhom this month was 
 
 made sacred. To celebrate the 1st of May with rural 
 
 sports. 
 
 MAY-DUKE. The popular and most universally culti- 
 vated cherry, thriving well in nearly all countries, situations, 
 and soils. The name is said to be a corruption of Medoc, a 
 district in the south of France, where this variety (the type 
 of all the class now called dukes) is said to have originated. 
 Charles Mcintosh's Book of the Garden, ii. 542. 
 
 MAZARINE. Formerly a hood made after the fashion of 
 that worn by the Duchess of Mazarin. — Bailey. 
 
 MAZARINE. A deep blue colour ; probably named after 
 Cardinal Mazarin, regent of France during the minority of 
 
 Louis XIV. A particular way of dressing fowls (in Fr. 
 
 a la Mazarine). Formerly a little dish to be set in the 
 
 middle of a large one. Formerly a sort of small tart filled 
 
 with sweetmeats. 
 
 MEANDER. A winding course ; a winding or turning in 
 a passage, as the meanders of the veins and arteries {Hale). 
 
 " While lingering rivers in meanders glide." — Blackmore. 
 
 So named from Meander, a tortuous river of Phrygia. 
 
 A maze ; a labyrinth ; perplexity, as the meanders of the law 
 (Arbuthnot). To wind, to turn, to flow round; to make
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 183 
 
 flexuous ; to wind or turn in a course or passage ; to be in- 
 tricate. A fretwork in arched roofs (found mccander'). 
 
 MEANDRINA. A genus of corals with meandering cells, 
 as the braiu-stone coral. — Mantell. See Meander. 
 
 MEC^ENATIANUM. In ancient Italy, a rare wine, of 
 exquisite flavour, introduced at his table by Mecaenas, the 
 friend of Augustus, Virgil, and Horace. 
 
 MECHLIN. A species of beautiful and durable lace made 
 at Mechlin (Malines), in Belgium. It is now nearly super- 
 seded by the manufacture of tulles, and only a very small 
 quantity is made. 
 
 MECHOACAN {mechoacanna) . White jalap, the root of 
 an American species of convolvulus, from Mechoacan, in 
 Mexico ; a purgative of slow operation, but safe. — Encyc. 
 
 MEDICA. A sort of trefoil ; from Media, its native soil. 
 — Forsyth. But see Medicago. 
 
 MEDICAGO, A genus of plants, nat. or. Leguminosce ; 
 from Medike, the name given by Discorides to a Median grass. 
 
 MEDIN, MEDINO. A coin and money of account in 
 Egypt. According to Kelly, at Cairo forty Medini are equal 
 to Is. 7jf/. It was probably first coined at Medina. 
 
 MEDINENSIS VENA. The muscular worm, which in 
 some countries inhabits the cellular membrane between the 
 skin and-muscles ; the guinea worm. " So called because it is 
 frequent in Medina, and improperly called vena for vermis; 
 and sometimes nervus Iledinensis.'" Hooper, Lex. Med. 
 
 MEDJIDITE, A mineral, a hydrous sulphate, occurring 
 near Adrianople, Turkey; also at Joachimsthal, in Germany ; 
 named in honour of Sultan Abdul Medjid. 
 
 MEDOC. A celebrated red wine produced at M^doc, an 
 ancient district of France, prov. Guienne, now comprised in 
 dep. Gironde. A kind of shining pebble. 
 
 MEDUSA. A tree from Cochin China. See Medusa. 
 
 MEDUS-iE. A genus of gelatinous radiate animals called 
 sea-nettles ; so named because their organs of motion spread 
 out like the snaky hair of Medusa. 
 
 MEDUSIDANS. Gelatinous radiate animals, which float 
 or swim in the sea, of which Medusse is the genus. See 
 Medusa.
 
 184 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 MEIBOMIAN or MEIBOMIUS'S GLANDS {ciUarrj 
 follicles). The small glands lying under the inner membrane 
 of the eyelid, first described by Henry Meibomius, an emi- 
 nent professor of medicine, who was born at Liibeck in 1638. 
 Hooper, Lex. Med. 
 
 MELAMPODIUM. Black hellibore ; from Melampus, 
 the shepherd who first used it {Forsyth). But qy. from Gr. 
 fj.eXa.iJ.iroSiov, blackfoot. 
 
 MELEAGRIS. The guinea-fowl, a genus of birds of the 
 or. Gallince ; so called f>om Meleager, whose sisters were 
 
 turned into this bird. A bulbous plant, a species of fritil- 
 
 laria or crown imperial; so called because its flowers are spotted 
 like a guinea-fowl. 
 
 MEMBRANA RUYSCHIANA. " Ruysch discovered 
 that the choroid membrane of the eye was composed 
 of two laminae. He gave the name of Membrana RuyscMana 
 to the internal lamina, leaving the old name of choroides to 
 the external." — Forsyth. 
 
 MEMPHIAN. Pertaining to Memphis; very dark; a 
 sense borrowed from the darkness of Egypt in the time of 
 Moses ; from Memphis, the ancient metropolis of Egypt. 
 " Qy. from some oracle, or covered labyrinth at Memphis " 
 {S. F. C). 
 
 MENACHANITE. One of the ores of titanium, a metal, 
 colour deep blue, discovered by Gregor in 1791 in the bed of a 
 rivulet which flows into the valley of Menacan, in Cornwall. 
 Other ores of this metal are called Iserine, from the river 
 Iser, in Silesia ; Nigrine, from its black colour ; Spene, 
 Rutile, and Octahedrite. 
 
 MENDIPITE. A mineral ; yellowish-white, straw-yellow, 
 pale red, pale blue ; found with ores of lead, calcite, 
 and earthy black manganese, at Churchill, in the Mendip Hills, 
 in Somersetshire, and at Brilon, in Westphalia. 
 
 MENEGHINITE. A mineral in compact fibrous forms ; 
 from Bottino, in Tuscany, where it was obtained, along with 
 Boulangerite and Jamesonite, by Professor Meneghini. 
 
 MENILITE. A brown impure opal, occurring in flattened 
 nodular concretions at Menil Montant, near Paris. — Dana.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 185 
 
 MENTOR. A wise and faithful counsellor or monitor ; so 
 called from Mentor, counsellor of Telemachus. 
 
 MENTZELIA. A genus of annual plants, natives of South 
 America ; named by Plumier in honour of Dr. Christian 
 Mentzel, a German botanical writer, and councillor and phy- 
 sician to the Elector of Brandenburg. 
 
 MEMNON. A celebrated statue (of which there is a copy 
 in the British Museum) which stood near Thebes in Egypt, 
 and which was said to have the property of emitting a sound 
 like the snapping asunder of a musical string, as the first 
 beams of sunrise fell upon it ; named, as Mannert thinks, after 
 Memnon, a celebrated architect of Syene ; but according to 
 Champollion, after Memnon, whom he identifies with Ameno- 
 phis II. Champollion, indeed, makes the inscription on the 
 base of the statue equivalent to Amenoph (A[ji.svcu^). But see 
 Lempriere. 
 
 MEMNONIDES or MEMNONIANS. Certain birds which 
 are said to have arisen from the ashes of Memnon (a king of 
 Ethiopia, son of Tithonus and Aurora), who was killed at the 
 siege of Troy, and which birds came every year to visit his 
 tomb upon the banks of the Hellespont. But see Lempriere, 
 under " Memnon." 
 
 MENZIESIA. A genus of plants, shrubs, mostly natives 
 of North America ; named in honour of Archibald Menzies, 
 F.L.S., who made a voyage round the world with Vancouver, 
 and collected many rare plants in New Holland and North 
 America. 
 
 MEPHISTOPHELIAN. Diabolical, sardonic, like to 
 Mephistopheles, one of the principal characters in Goethe's 
 Faust, the subject of which was suggested by the tale of Dr. 
 Faustus, where, however, the name under which the devil 
 appears is Mephostopheles, supposed to be for Neplwstopheles, 
 from v£'i;>og a cloud, (pjAea; to love. 
 
 MERCATOR'S CHART. A chart constructed on the 
 principle projected by Mercator, a Flemish geographer. In 
 this chart the degrees upon the meridian increase towards the 
 poles in tlie same pro[)ortion as the parallel circles decrease 
 towards them.
 
 186 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 MERCURIAL. Formed under the influence of the god 
 Mercury ; active, sprightly, full of fire or vigour ; as, a mer- 
 curial youth, a mercurial nation. Pertaining to Mercury, as 
 
 god of trade; hence money-making, crafty. Pertaining to or 
 
 containing quicksilver, or consisting of mercury ; as, mercurial 
 preparations or medicines. 
 
 MERCURIALIS. A genus of plants, nat. or. Euphorbiacece ; 
 called after Mercury, its fabled discoverer. 
 
 MERCURIALIST. One under the influence of the god 
 Mercury, or one resembling him in variety of character. 
 
 MERCURY. The smallest of the inferior planets ; named 
 
 after Mercury, messenger and interpreter of the gods. 
 
 Quicksilver, a metal used in barometers. 
 
 " Sol gold is, and Luna silver we thi-epe ; 
 Mars iren, Mercurie qTiicksilver we clepe." — Chaucer. 
 
 Heat of constitutional temperament, spirit, sprightly 
 
 qualities. The name of a newspaper or periodical publica- 
 tion. A messenger, a news-carrier ; " from the ofl&ce of 
 
 the god Mercury" {Webster'). In heraldry, the tincture pwr- 
 
 pure in blazoning. 
 
 MEROVINGIAN. A term applied to the written character 
 of certain MSS. still extant in the French libraries ; so called 
 from Merovee, first king of France of a race which reigned 
 333 years, viz., from Pharamond to Charles Martel. 
 
 MERRY-ANDREW. A buffoon, a zany, one whose busi- 
 ness is to make sport for others ; particularly one who attends 
 a mountebank or quack doctor. " He would be a statesman, be- 
 cause he is a buffoon ; as if there went no more to the making 
 of a counsellor than the faculties of a Merry- Andreio or tumbler " 
 (L'Estrange). " The first who made the experiment was a 
 Merry -Andreiv" (Spectator). '"This term is said to have origi- 
 nated from one Andrew Borde, a physician in the time of 
 Henry VIIL, who attracted attention and gained patients by 
 facetious speeches to the multitude " (Smart). " 'Twas from the 
 doctor's method of using such speeches at markets and fairs 
 that in after-times those that imitated the like humorous jocose
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 187 
 
 language were styled Merry-Andrews, a term much in vogue 
 on our stages " (Wharton, English Poetry). 
 
 MESMERISM. Animal magnetism ; the art of communi- 
 cating a sort of sleep which is supposed to affect the body 
 while the mind, i.e. the brain, is active and intelligent ; first 
 introduced in 1778 by Frederic Anton Mesmer, a physician, 
 born at Mersburg, in Swabia, about 1734. Now-a-days phreno- 
 logy and spirit-rapping are more in vogue. 
 
 METONIC. The cycle of the moon, or period of nineteen 
 years, in which the lunations of the moon return to the same 
 days of the month ; so called from its discoverer Meton, the 
 Athenian. See Aelian, Var. Hist. x. 7; Censorinus, c. 18; 
 Diodorus, xii. 36 ; Ptol. Synt. iii. 2 ; and Dr. W. Smith's 
 Diet., under " Meton." 
 
 MEXICANUM. A name of the balsam of Peru ; so called 
 from Mexico, whence it is brought. 
 
 MIASCITE. A columnar variety of bitterspar, intermixed 
 with asbestos ; from Miaska, in Siberia. 
 
 MICHAEL ITE. A sub-variety of siliceous sinter, found 
 in the isle of St. Michael. — /. W. Webste?-. 
 
 MICHAELMAS. The feast of St. Michael, a festival of 
 
 the Roman Catholic church celebrated September 29th. In 
 
 colloquial language, autumn. 
 
 MIDAS. The generic name of a small monkey of which 
 there are seven species, among which are Midas rosalia and 
 Marikina or Silhy Tamarin ; probably called Midas from the 
 large size and breadth of its ears, like to those of Midas, 
 which were changed by Apollo into ass's ears. 
 
 MIDDLETONITE. A resin found in small rounded 
 masses, or thin seams between layers of coal, at Middleton, 
 near Leeds, and also at Newcastle. 
 
 MIEMITE. A variety of magnesian limestone, colour 
 light green or greenish-white ; first found at Miemo, in Tus- 
 cany. 
 
 MIKE. To loiter ; or, as a costermonger defined it, to 
 " lazy about." The term probably originated at St. Giles's, 
 which used to be thronged with Irish labourers (Mike being so 
 common a term with them as to become a generic appellation
 
 188 VERBA NOMINALTA. 
 
 for Irishmen with the vulgar), wlio used to loiter about the 
 Pound, and lean against the public-houses in the " Dials " 
 waiting for hire. — J. C. Hotten. 
 
 MILESIAN, A term sometimes applied to the Irish ; so 
 called from Milesius, whose eight sons are said to have made 
 an expedition from Spain, and to have obtained possession of 
 Ireland. The term Milesian fables is given to certain tales or 
 novels composed by Aristides of Miletus (the Boccaccio of his 
 time), much praised for the grace and naivete of the style and 
 the gaiety of the narration. They were translated into Latin 
 by the historian Sisenna, friend of Atticus, and had a great 
 success at Rome. Plutarch, in his life of Crassus, tells us that 
 after the defeat of Carhes (Carrhje ?) some Milesiacs were 
 found in the baggage of the Roman prisoners. The Greek text 
 and the translation have been long lost. The only fable of this 
 sort that we have left is that of Psyche, which Apuleius calls 
 Milesius sermo, a work which gives a very good idea of the 
 Milesian fables, and which makes one much regret their loss. 
 
 MILLEA. A genus of Mexican plants ; named after Julian 
 Milla, chief gardener of Royal Botanical Gardens at Madrid. 
 
 MILLER. A word frequently called out when a person 
 relates a stale joke ; for Joe Miller. — J. C. H. 
 
 MILLERIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Compositce ; called 
 after Mr. Miller, author of the Gardener's Dictionary. — Crabb. 
 
 MILLINER. A woman who makes and sells headdresses, 
 bonnets, &c., for females. 
 
 " He hath songs for man or woman, of all sizes ; no milliner can so fit 
 his customers with gloues." — Shaks. 
 
 Richardson says, " one who deals in a mixed vavietj of articles." 
 Bailey renders milliner a seller of ribbons, gloves, &c., of L. 
 mille, a thousand (i.e., one who sells a thousand sorts of 
 things). Richardson says, " so called from Milaner, one from 
 Milan; or Malineer, from Maline {Malines); or millenarius, 
 because he deals in a thousand articles. It is perhaps mistlener, 
 from mistleyi or mestlin, a medley or mixture." 
 
 MILTONIA. A genus of Orchidaceous plants, said to 
 have been named in honour of the poet Milton.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 189 
 
 MINERVALIA. Festivals at Rome in houour of Minerva. 
 During these solemnities scholars obtained some relaxation 
 from their studies, and it was customary for them to offer to 
 their masters a present called minerval, in allusion to the god- 
 dess being the patroness of literature. 
 
 MINIE. A celebrated rifle invented by Captain (now 
 Colonel) Minie, a Frenchman. 
 
 MINOTAUR (L. minotaurus). A monster invented by the 
 poets, half nnan and half bull, kept in D^edalus's labyrinth. 
 
 " Thou may'st not wander in that labyrinth, 
 There minotaurs and ugly treasons lurk." — Shahs. 
 
 " Here I, enclosed fi'om all the world asunder, 
 The minotaur of shame, kept for disgrace ; 
 The monster of fortune, and the world's wonder, 
 Liv'd cloist'red in so desolate a cave." 
 
 Daniel. The Complaint of Rosamond. 
 
 " And by his banner borne in his penon 
 Of gold full riche, in which ther was ybete 
 The minotaure which that he slew in Crete." 
 
 Chaucer. The Knightes Tale, v. 981 . 
 
 The word is derived from Minois taurus, bull of Minos. 
 
 MIQUELETS. A species of partisan troops raised in the 
 north of Spain {T. Wright). They were found principally in 
 the Pyrenees, upon the borders of Catalonia and Arragon, and 
 received their name from their leader Miguel. Napoleon in 
 1808 created a corps called Miquelets Fran^ais, to oppose the 
 Spanish guerillas. Louis XIV. had previously formed a corps 
 in 1689, Louis XV. another in 1744, and the Republic had 
 done the same in 1789. 
 
 MIRBELIA. A genus of Australian subshrubs ; named in 
 honour of M. Mirbel, a French botanist, formerly superinten- 
 dent of the botanic garden at Malmaison, author of several 
 excellent works on the anatomy and physiology of vegetables. 
 
 MITCHELLS. Among builders, Purbeck stones, from 
 fifteen inches square to two feet, squared and hewn ready for 
 building; probably from a surname. 
 
 MITHRIDATE, An antidote against poison, or a compo- 
 sition in form of an electuary, supposed to serve either as a
 
 190 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 remedy or a preservative against poison. " Were it not strange 
 a physician should decline exhibiting of mithridate, because it 
 was a known medicine, and famous for its cures many ages 
 since ?" (Boyle, Works, vol. ii., p. 288.) 
 
 *' But as in mithridate, or just perfumes, 
 Where all good things being met, no one presumes 
 To govern, or to triumph on the rest." 
 
 Donne. Progi-ess of the Soul. 
 
 It is said to take its name from Mithridates, king of Pontus, 
 its supposed inventor. " Cratevas hath ascribed the invention 
 of one hearbe to King Mithridates himselfe, called after his 
 name Mithridation " (Holland, Plinie, b. xxv. c. 6). " Mith- 
 ridates experiencing the virtues of the simples separately, 
 afterwards combined them; but then this composition consisted 
 of but few ingredients, viz., twenty leaves of rue, two walnuts, 
 two figs, and a little salt: of this he took a dose every morning, 
 to guard himself against the effects of poison, &c." {Forsyth). 
 
 MOAB. An university term applied to the turban-shaped 
 hat fashionable among ladies, and ladylike swells of the other 
 sex, in 1858-9; from the Scripture phrase, " Moab is my 
 washpot" (Ps. Ix. 8), which article the hat in question is 
 supposed to resemble. — J. C. Hotten. 
 
 MOCHA. A celebrated coffee which still maintains its 
 superiority over the coffee produced in the European colonies. 
 It is brought from Mocha, in Arabia ; or rather, it is grown at 
 
 Bulgosa, near Bait-al-Fakih, and exported from Mocha. A 
 
 term applied to a cat of a black colour, intermixed with brown ; 
 from the Mocha pebble. (Prov.) — Hallkvell. 
 
 MOCHA STONE. A mineral, in the interior of which 
 appear brown, reddish-brown, blackish, or green delineations of 
 shrubs destitute of leaves ; from Mocha, in Arabia. 
 
 MOCO. A monkey so called, as coming from Moco, in the 
 Persian Gulf. See Buffon. 
 
 MODENA. A crimson-like colour ; from Modena, in Italy. 
 
 MOEHRINGIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. CaryophyllecB ; 
 named after P. H. G. Moehring, a German physician, author 
 of Hortus Proprius, and other works. 
 
 MOliNCHIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Ca7'yophyllece ;
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 191 
 
 named after Conrad Moench, professor of botany at Marburg, 
 author of Enumeratio Plautarum Indigenaruni Hassige, prae- 
 sertim inferioris, and a work on the cultivation of North 
 American forest trees in Germany, &c. 
 
 MOGADORE. A bees'-wax from Mogador, a seaport of 
 Morocco. 
 
 MOHAMMEDANISM. The religion or doctrines and pre- 
 cepts of Mohammad or Mahomet, as contained in the Koran. 
 
 MOHAWK or MOHOCK. The appellation given to cer- 
 tain ruffians who infested the streets of London early in the 
 eighteenth century; so called from Mohawk or Mohock, native 
 name of one of the Iroquois tribes of Indians. Cf. Amer. 
 Jouru. Sciences, conducted by Prof. Silliman, vol. 41, p. 28. 
 
 M0LIN-.3EA. A genus of plants (by some treated as a 
 species of Cupania) ; named by Commerson in honour of 
 Johannes Molinaeus (Jean des Moulins), to whose assistance 
 Dalecliamp had recourse in the composition of his work. 
 
 MOLINISM. The doctrines of the Molinists or followers 
 of the opinions of Molina, a Spanish Jesuit, which doctrines 
 somewhat resemble the tenets of the Arminians. 
 
 MOLL. A girl ; nickname for Mary. — /. C. H. 
 
 MOLMUTIN LAWS. The laws of Dunwallo Molmutius, 
 sixteenth king of the Britains. They were famous here till 
 the time of William the Conquei'or, — Bailey. 
 
 MOLUCCELLA (Molucca balm). A genus of plants, 
 nat. or. Labiatce ; said to be natives of the Moluccas. — Crabb. 
 
 MONARDA. A genus of North American herbaceous 
 perennial plants ; named after Nicholas Monardes, a Spanish 
 physician and botanist, who lived at Seville about the end of 
 the sixteenth century ; author of the Materia Medica of the 
 New World, and other works. 
 
 MONETIA. A genus of plants ; named by M. L'Heritier 
 in honour of J. B. de Monet, Chevalier de Lamarck, a cele- 
 brated French botanical writer. 
 
 MONEY. A stamped piece of metal ; from L. moneta, the 
 Roman name for money or coins ; so called, it is said, because 
 the Romans kept their silver money in the Temple of Juno 
 Moneta, mother of the Muses, on which account the latter is
 
 192 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 commonly represented on medals ns a female with a pair of 
 scales, and is symbolical of justice, liberality, &c. See Liv. 
 vi. 20; Cic. Phil. vii. 1 ; Cic. Att. viii. 7; Suet.; Cfes. 76. 
 
 MONMOUTH CAP. A kind of flat cap formerly worn 
 by the common people. — Halliwell. 
 
 MONONGAHELA. Rye whiskey ; so called in America 
 because large quantities of it were produced in the neighbour- 
 hood of the Monongahela, a river of Pennsylvania {Bartlett). 
 
 American whiskey in general, as distinguished from 
 
 usquebaugh and innishowen, the Scotch and Irish sorts. 
 
 MONRADITE. A mineral, a hydrous silicate, from 
 Eei-gen, in Norway ; named after M. Monrad. 
 
 MONROLITE. A mineral consisting of silica, alumina, 
 magnesia, and water ; found at Monroe, Orange Co., New 
 York. 
 
 MONS MENELAUS. A modern northern constellation 
 of eleven stars ; named after Menelaus, husband of Helen. 
 
 MONTANISM. See Montanize. 
 
 MONTANIZE. To think as Montanus thought ; to adopt, 
 to follow, the doctrine of Montanus {Ency. Met.) " TertuUian, 
 together with such as were his followers, beganne to montanize, 
 and pretending to perfect the seueritie of Christian discipline, 
 brought in sundrie unaccustomed dayes of fasting, continued 
 their fasts a great deale longer, and made them more rigorous 
 than the vse of the church had been " (Hooker, Eccles. Pol. b, 
 V. s. 72, fol. 392). " Whereupon TertuUian, proclaiming euen 
 open warre to the church, maintained Montanisme, wrote a 
 booke in defence of the new fast, intituled the same, a Treatise 
 of Fasting, against the opinion of the carnall sort " {Id. ih.) 
 
 MONTEFIASCO. A rich wine made at Montefiascone, in 
 Italy. 
 
 MONTEPULCIANO. A celebrated wine made at Monte- 
 pulciano^ a town of Tuscany, prov. Florence. 
 
 MONTETH. A vessel in which glasses are washed ; 
 named after the inventor. 
 
 " New things produce new words, and thus Monteth 
 Has by one vessel sav'd his name from death." — King. 
 
 MONTGOLFIER (Fr. montgolfiere). A name given to
 
 VERBA NOMINAT.TA. 193 
 
 balloons which receive their buoyancy from the burning of 
 combustible materials ; so called from their originator, Jacques 
 Etienne Montgolfier, celebrated for his inventions. 
 
 MONTMARTRITE. A mineral, colour yellowish ; found 
 at Montmartre, Paris. 
 
 MONTMORILLONITE. A mineral, a hydrous silicate, 
 colour rose-red ; from Montmorillon, in France ; also found at 
 Confolens (Charente), and near St. Jean de Colle (Dordogne). 
 
 MOORCROFTIA. A genus of East Indian plants ; named 
 in honour of William Moorcroft. 
 
 MORAVIAISISM. The religious system of the Moravians, 
 a congregation of Christians who sprung up in Moravia and 
 Bohemia at the dawn of the Reformation, and are otherwise 
 called United Brethren, and on the Continent Herrn Hiiters. 
 They generally adhere to the Augsburg Confession, and are 
 distinguished by their Christian virtues and great simplicity 
 of dress and manners. They have settlements in Germany, 
 Switzerland, England, and America, and are noted for the 
 energy they display in directing missions for the conversion of 
 what are termed " the heathen " to the remotest parts of the 
 globe. 
 
 MOREA. A genus of plants whose species are bulbs, na- 
 tives of the Cape ; named by Miller after Robert More, of 
 Shrewsbury, a celebrated botanist and naturalist. 
 
 MORESQUE or MORESCO (It. morcsco). A kind of 
 painting or carving done after the Moorish manner, consisting 
 of grotesque pieces and compartments promiscuously intei'- 
 spersed ; arabesque. 
 
 MORETTIA. A genus of cruciferous plants ; named in 
 honour of J. L. Moretti, an Italian botanist. 
 
 MORGANIA. A genus of herbaceous plants, natives of 
 the tropical parts of Australia ; named by Mr. R. Brown in 
 honour of Hugh Morgan, an English horticulturist, who 
 flourished temp. Queen Elizabeth, and whose garden is often 
 mentioned by Lobel and Gerarde. 
 
 MORION (found morrion, morian, and murrion ; Fr. morion, 
 It. morione, Sp. morrion). A kind of open helmet, without 
 visor or beaver, somewhat resembling a hat. 
 
 o
 
 194 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 " Fhilopoemen reformed all this, perswadlng them to use the pike and 
 shield instead of the little target, spear, or bore-staff, and to put good 
 morians or burganets on their heads." — Sir Thomas North, Plutarch, 
 fol. 309. 
 
 " Their beef they often in their murrions stewed." 
 
 King. Art of Cookery. 
 
 " Then to herselfe she gives her ^gide shield, 
 
 And steel-hed speare, and morion on lier hedd, 
 Such as she oft is seene in warlike field." 
 
 Spenser. Muiopotmos. 
 
 Somo derive the word from L. motnts, dark -coloured, black ; 
 and Menaae tells us that the Low Latin writers call a cuirass 
 bninia, on account of its brown colour. According to others, 
 it was so called because introduced into Europe by the Moors. 
 Bochart says "from Maurus, & Maurorum usu (because used by 
 the Moors) : ut Moresque, saltationis genus," " C'^tait autrefois 
 la coiffure sp^ciale des arquebusiers et des mousquetaires. 
 C'6tait aussi le nom d'une sorte de chatiment militaire qui 
 consistait a frapper sur le derriere le soldat coupable avec la 
 hampe d'une hallebarde ou la crosse d'un mousquet " (Bouillet, 
 Diet, des Sciences). 
 
 MORISCO or MORISK. A term variously applied by 
 old writers to the work called moresque ; to the J/oon'sA lan- 
 guage ; and also to a dance, or a dancer of morris or Moorish 
 dances. — Webster. 
 
 MORMONISM. The doctrines of the Mormonites, follow- 
 ers of the factitious prophet Mormon, usually called Mormons. 
 
 MORNA. A genus of composite plants ; so named after a 
 heroine of Northern romance. — T. Wright, M.A. 
 
 MOROCCO (found marroquin, Fr. maroquin). A fine kind 
 of leather, prepared commonly from goatskin (though an infe- 
 rior kind is made of sheepskin), and tanned with sumach ; 
 from Morocco, or rather Marocco, where first manufactured. 
 
 A strong ale brewed with beef or some other sort of meat 
 
 at Levens Hall, in Cumberland. " Morocco is the name of 
 the drink ; it is brewed at Levens, near jMilnthorp, from a re- 
 cipe found wrapped up in lead near an evergreen in the old 
 garden. Flesh is certainly introduced, as I believe it to be in
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 195 
 
 the Durham University strong beer. The exact recipe for 
 brewing morocco is kept strictly secret. There is a legend 
 that the secret was brouglit by a Crusader, Howard, and during 
 the Civil Wars buried where it was found, as above, some years 
 ago. Helpless, truly, is the state of that man Avho stoops to 
 drink inferior liquor after imbibing the mighty morocco. It 
 is almost dark, pours like oil, and tastes mild as milk in its 
 treachery." See N. & Q. 3rd S. vii. 74. 
 
 MORPHIA, MORPHINA, or MORPHINE. A vege- 
 table alkaloid extracted from opium, of which it constitutes 
 one of the narcotic principles ; so called fi^om Morpheus, god 
 of sleep. 
 
 MORRIS or MORRICE (Fr. moresque). A Moorish dance ; 
 a dance in the Middle Ages, in imitation of the Moors, as 
 saral>ands, chacons, &c., usually performed with castanets, 
 tambours, &c., by young men in their shirts, with bells at their 
 feet, and ribbons of various colours tied round their arms and 
 flung across their shoulders. It was common in Spain. The 
 Spanish fandango, danced to the present day, is the old Moor- 
 ish or morris dance. A kind of game sometimes played in 
 
 the field with nine holes in the ground, and called nine-men's 
 morris ; sometimes played on a board (Skak. Torhy). The 
 morris or morrice (found moriske) is said to have been inti'o- 
 duced into England by John of Gaunt, who supposed the 
 Galician Spanish dance to be of Moorish origin. 
 
 MOSAIC, MOSAICAL. Pertaining to Moses; as the 
 Mosaic law, rites, or institutions. 
 
 MOSAIC (Fr. mosaique; It. mosaico ; Sp. mosayco ; L. 
 musivus, musivum opus). An assemblage of little pieces of 
 glass, marble, precious stones, &c., of various colours, cut 
 square, and cemented on a ground of stucco, in such a manner 
 as to imitate the colours and granulations of painting ; from 
 ^ovcrsiov, relating to the Muses, on account of its elegance. 
 Hence mosaic gold {cturum niusiviini), the alchemical name of 
 the bi-sulphuret of tin, produced in fine flakes of a beautiful 
 gold colour, and used as a pigment. See also Museum. 
 
 MOSASAURUS. A saurian reptile, related to the crocodile, 
 whose remains are found in beds of clay near Maestricht, in 
 
 o 2
 
 196 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 Holland; from Mosa, Latin name of the Meuse, and Gr. 
 ffav^o;, a lizard. [N.B. — Maestricht was called Pons Mosce. 
 S. F. C] 
 
 MOSELLE. A sparkling wine made, or supposed to be 
 made, on the banks of the Moselle, which falls into the Rhine, 
 at Coblenz. The Moselle wines, however, like the Rhine 
 wines, are usually denominated from the particular locality 
 where they are made. 
 
 MOUCHARD. " In the vocabulary of iha secret police 
 the terms mouchard and mouton are the two which are most 
 familiar to those who are uninitiated in its mysteries. The 
 word mouchard is not of modern origin. A certain Antoine 
 de Mouchy, otherwise Democharis, a Doctor of the Sorbonne 
 and Canon of Xoyon, in 1574 acquired an unenviable notoriety 
 among his contemporaries by his zeal against the Reformers, 
 and was appointed ' Inquisitor of the Faith.' The Reformers 
 who were persecuted by, and wlio naturally hated him, gave 
 the name of mouchards to those whom he employed as spies to 
 hunt out dissenters. In his History of the Parliament of 
 Paris, Voltaire says, ' The famous Mouchy was in reality an 
 informer, a spy of the Cardinal de Lorraine, and it was for him 
 that the nickname of mouchard was invented, and which de- 
 signated all spies. The term has become an insult.' Other 
 authorities will have it that it comes from mouche, a fly, be- 
 cause the mouchard, like the fly, is ever buzzing about the ears 
 of people. ' Mouton ' is applied to an agent who, a prisoner 
 himself, is employed to lead the conversation of his fellows in 
 plots and conspiracies, and to gradually tempt them to disclose 
 their plots with the same apparent frankness that he reveals 
 his own. They follow him as a flock of sheep follow their 
 leader. Agents of this kind are employed in most political 
 conspiracies, and when all is ready they either disappear, or 
 may be included among the arrested as a matter of form, and 
 when brought to trial inform against their accomplices or 
 those who confide their secrets to them." — Times, 26 Feb., 
 1864. 
 
 MUHLENBERGIA. A genus of American grasses ; named 
 by Schrceber in honour of Henry Muhlenberg, D.D., of Lan-
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 197 
 
 caster, in Peiiusylvanin, who discovered this genus, and wrote 
 iseveral valutible botanical treatises. 
 
 MULLERIZE. To cut down a hat, after the manner of 
 the late Franz Miiller ; a term now used by some hatters. 
 
 MULLINGAR HEIFER. A girl with thick ankles (/m/j). 
 *' The story goes that a traveller passing through IMullingar 
 was so struck with this local peculiarity in the women that he 
 determined to accost the first he next met. ' May I ask,' said 
 he, ' if you wear hay in your shoes ?' ' Faith ! an' I do,' said 
 the girl, ' and Avhat then ?' ' Because,' says the traveller, 
 ' that accounts for the calves of your legs coming down to feed 
 on it.' " — J. C. Rotten. 
 
 MUM (G. mumme, D. momme). A laalt liquor, made of 
 malt of wheat, oatmeal, and ground beans, brewed with water, 
 much used in Germany, and called sometimes Brunswick mum; 
 sometimes Hamburg mum. 
 
 " See how the Belgae, sedulous and stout. 
 
 With bowls of fattening mum or blissful cups 
 Of kernel-relisli'd fluids, the fair star 
 
 Of early phosphorus salute." — J. PhU'qJs. Cider, b. ii. 
 
 *' The clamorous crowd is husli'd with mugs of 71111 m, 
 'Jill all, tun'd equal, send a general hum." 
 
 Pope. The Dunciad, b. ii. 
 
 *' Skinner," says Richardson, " calls the G. mumme a strong 
 kind of beer introduced by us from Brunswick, and derived 
 either from G. mummeln, to mumble, or from mnm (silentii in- 
 dex), i.e. either drink that will (ut nos dicimus) make a cat 
 speak, or drink that will take away the power of speech." 
 The German word is with more probability derived from 
 Christiern Mumme, a brewer of Braunschweig (Brunswick) 
 Wolfenbiittel, who first made it in 1492, and who, in 1498, lived 
 in the house No. 846, which is still standing, -with his sign, 
 viz., the backbone of a fish (Cf. Itiu. d'Allemagne, Richard). 
 For a Catch in Praise of Mum, see Playford's Second Book of 
 the Musical Companion, W. Pearson, 1715. Cf. also Notes 
 and Queries, 3rd S. vi. 434, 503; and vii. 41. 
 
 MUMMERS. Performers at a travelling theatre {cine.)
 
 198 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 Rustic performers at Christmas in the West of England 
 (/. C. Hotten). See Mummery. 
 
 MUMMERY (Fr. momerie; 0. Fr. mommerie ; Sp. momeria). 
 Masking, sport, diversion, frolicking in masks, low contempti- 
 ble amusement, buffoonery, farcical show, hypocritical disguise 
 and parade to delude vulgar minds. 
 
 " Curse not (this mad-man sayd), but sweare 
 That women be vntrew, 
 Their loue is but a muinmerie, 
 
 t)r as an April's dew." — Warner. Albion's England. 
 
 " This same truth is a naked and open day-light, that doth not shew the 
 masques, and tnununerics, and triumphs of the world, half so stately, and 
 daintily, as candle-lights." — Bacon. Ess. of Truth. 
 
 " The temple and its holy rites profan'd, 
 By mum'ries he that dwelt in it disdain'd." 
 
 Cowper. Expostulation. 
 
 Ducange derives this word from Mahomeria, the temple of the 
 Mahometans. Cowel says, " Mahomeria, the temple of Maho- 
 met, so called by Matt. Paris ; and because the gestures, noise, 
 and songs there used were ridiculous to the Christians, there- 
 fore they called antic dancing, and every ridiculous thing a 
 7)ionimerie." Manage derives ?nommerie from Momus, god of 
 ridicule and raillery: thus Momvs, momarms, momaria, mommerie. 
 We have, however, the word mummer, one who masks himself, 
 and makes diversion in disguise ; originally, says Webster 
 one who made sport by gestures, without speaking ; and 
 Webster gives also the word mumm, to mask, to sport or make 
 diversion in a mask or disguise, Dan. mumme, a mask ; D. 
 mommen, to mask ; G. mumme a mask or muffle, mummehi to 
 mask, to mumble ; Sw. Jormumma, to personate ; which he 
 thinks may be allied to the god Momus. (Mco^ao;, the make- 
 game even of his brother gods, transmitting his name and 
 characteristics to all the modern European languages, says 
 Richardson). Others, again, derive the word from Gr. [ji^opfiu, 
 terriculum. (what Ave call a bugbear). 
 
 MUNTZ'S METAL. A brass composed of forty parts of 
 zinc to sixty of copper. The proportions may be somewhat
 
 VERBA NOMINAl.lA. 199 
 
 varied, but the above arc commonly regarded as the most 
 favourable for rolling into sheets ; manufactured by Mr. 
 Muntz. 
 
 MURCHISONITE. A variety^ of felspar ; named after 
 Sir Roderick Murchison, the geologist. 
 
 MURPHY. A vulgar name for a potato ; probably so 
 called from the common Irish surname. 
 
 JMURRAYA. A genus of plants, riat. or. AurantiacecB, 
 w^hose species are natives of the East Indies ; called after Mr. 
 Murray, professor of botany at Gottingen. 
 
 MUSA. A genus of plants of three species, natives of the 
 East Indies, and other parts of the Asiatic continent, the 
 Molucca Islands, and probably of Africa. The Egyptian 
 name was Mauz, which was changed into Musa by Plumier, in 
 memory of Antonius Musa, freedman of Augustus. 
 
 MUSEIA. Grecian festivals in honour of the Muses. 
 
 MUSEUM. A repository of natural, scientific, and literary 
 curiosities, or of works of art; from MovTsiov, originally the 
 name of places in Alexandria and Athens ; so called as being 
 destined and set apart to the Muses and the sciences. 
 
 MUSLIN (found mxisselin ; Fr. monsseline ; It. mussoUna, 
 mussoUno, mussolo ; Sp. museUna). A sort of cotton cloth. 
 Some derive the Fr. word from mousse, moss, because all the 
 cloths of fine cotton brought from the Indies have a down 
 which they compare to mousse. Webster says, " If this is a 
 compound word, it is formed from mousse, moss, or its root, on 
 account of its soft nap, and liii, flax." The most reason- 
 able etymology is that from Moussoul (Musul), a town of 
 Asiatic Turkey (Mesopotamia), whence this cloth was first 
 brought. According to others, however, it was imjjorted from 
 the East Indies circa 1670; and if so, the name may be derived 
 from Masulipatam, cap. district same name, pres. Madras. A 
 sort of Indian calico is called by the French masulipatan. 
 Bailey says muslin is a fine sort of cotton linen cloth brought 
 from India, &c. The towns of Alenpon, Tarare, and St. 
 Quentin, in France, now produce very first-i'ate muslins ; in- 
 deed, with the exception of Switzerland, they may be said to 
 have the monopoly of this industry.
 
 200 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 MUSLINET. A sort of coarse cotton cloth ; diminutive of 
 muslin, q,v. 
 
 MUSSCHIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. CampanulacecB ; 
 named in honour of J. M. llussche. 
 
 MUSSITE. A variety of pyroxene of a greenish-white 
 colour ; otherw^ise called diopside ; from Mussa, a valley in 
 Piedmont. 
 
 MUSTARD VILLARS. Formerly a colour so named. 
 " Of olden times," says Stow, " I read that the officers of this 
 city wore gowns of party- colours, as the right side of one colour 
 and the left side of another. As for example, I read in books 
 of accounts in Guildhall that in the nineteenth year of King 
 Henry VI. there was bought for an officer's gown two yards of 
 cloth coloured mustard villars, a colour now out of use, and two 
 yards of cloth coloured blew, price two shillings the yard, in 
 all eight shillings more, paid to John Pope, draper, for two 
 gown-cloths, eight yards, of two colours, eux ombo deux de rouge 
 or red medley, brune and porre (or purple) colour. Price the 
 yard two shillings. These gowns were for Piers Rider and 
 John Buckle, clerks of the chamber." " Mustard villars has 
 been said to be a corruption of moitie velours, and consequently 
 to signify the species of stuff, and not the colour ; but Stow 
 speaks of it here as a colour distinctly. A town called Mous- 
 tiers de Villiers, near Harfleur, is mentioned by the historians 
 of the preceding reign in their accounts of Henry's expedition, 
 and most probably gave its name to the dye or the stuff there 
 manufactured " {Planche), 
 
 MUTISIA. A climbing plaut, like clematis, of only one 
 species ; named in memory of Joseph Coelestine Mutis, an 
 American botanist, who designed a History of American Plants, 
 especially of palms, and communicated many new plants to the 
 younger Linnseus and others. Joseph de Jussieu had before 
 given this genus the Peruvian name Cruariruma. 
 
 MUTSCHEN DIAMONDS. A kind of crystals found 
 near Mutschen, in Saxony. 
 
 MYATT'S PINE. A celebrated strawberry; named after 
 its cultivator. 
 
 MYGINDA. A genus of plants, shrubs, natives of the
 
 VERBA XOMINALTA. 201 
 
 West Indies; named by Jacquiu in honour of Francis von 
 Mjgind, a German nobleman, who largely patronised the 
 botanic garden at Vienna, and was himself a practical scientific 
 botanist. 
 
 MYRMIDON. A soldier of a rough character, a desperate 
 soldier or ruffian under some daring leader : hence the " myr- 
 midons of the law," &c. 
 
 " The mass of the people will not endure to be governed by Clodius and 
 Curio, at the head of their myrmidons, though these be ever so numerous, 
 and composed of their own representatives." — Swift. 
 
 So called from the Myrmidons, a people on the borders of 
 Thessaly, who accompanied Achilles to the war against Troy. 
 The Myrmidons were probably named either from their num- 
 bers or their industry ; from Gr. [MupiJiyjSuiy, an ant-hill. 
 
 MYSORIN or MYSORINE. A mineral of a blackish- 
 brown colour when pure ; usually green or red, from mixture 
 with malachite and red oxide of iron ; found at Mysore, in 
 Hindustan. 
 
 N. 
 
 NABONASSAR. A computation of time from the reign 
 of Nabonassar, on that account called the Era of Nabonassar, 
 which was the era followed by Ptolemy the astronomer. 
 
 NABOTH'S GLANDS {Ovula Nabothi). Small semi- 
 transparent vesicles situated within and around the cervix 
 uteri ; mistaken by Naboth for ovula. 
 
 NAJAS. A water plant of only one species, native of the 
 sea-coast of Europe ; in the canal between Pisa and Leghorn, 
 and in the Rhine near Bale ; named after Najas or Naias, 
 nymph of the springs. 
 
 NAMBY-PAMBY. Particular; over-nice; effeminate. "A 
 term applied to that which is contemptible for affected pretti- 
 ness" (Smart), Sir John Stoddart, in his article "Grammar" 
 (Encyc. Met., vol. 1, p. 118), remarks that the word nambij- 
 paiiiby seems to be of modern fabrication, and is particularly
 
 202 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 intended to describe tliat style of poetry whicli affects the in- 
 fantine simplicity of the nursery, and that it would perhaps be 
 difficult to trace any part of it to a significant origin. It is 
 asserted that Henry Carey, author of " Chrononhotonthologos," 
 and of " The Dragoness of Wantley," wrote a work called 
 Nambij-Pamhy, in burlesque of Ambrose Phillips's style of 
 poetry, and the title of it was probably intended to trifle with 
 that poet's name. Macaulay, in his essay on Addison and his 
 Writings, speaks of Ambrose Phillips, who was a great adula- 
 tor of Addison, as " a middling poet, whose verses introduced a 
 species of composition which has been called after his name, 
 narnhj-pamhij ." Johnson, in his life of Ambrose Phillips, says, 
 " The pieces that please best are those for which Pope and 
 Pope's adherents procured him the name of Namhy-Pamhy, the 
 poems of short lines, by which he paid his court to all ages and 
 characters — from Walpole, ' the steerer of the realm,' to Miss 
 Pulteney in the nursery. The numbers are smooth and 
 sprightly, and the diction is seldom faulty. They are not 
 loaded with much thought; yet if they had been written by 
 Addison they would have had admirers. Little things are not 
 valued but when they are done by those who can do greater." 
 Another writer says, ^^Namby-pamby belongs to a tolerable 
 numerous class of words in our language, all formed on the 
 same rhyming principle. They are all familiar, and some of 
 them childish, which last circumstance probably suggested to 
 Pope the Invention of namby-iKimby, to designate the infantine 
 style which Ambrose Phillips had introduced. Many of them, 
 however, are used by old and approved writers, and the prin- 
 ciple upon which they are formed must be of great antiquity 
 in our language " (Cf. N. h Q., 1st Series). Pamby is doubt- 
 less an iiliteration of Namby, for Amby, a nickname for Am- 
 brose. Among many other words of the namby-pamby school 
 have been given the following : bow-woAV, chit-chat, fiddle- 
 faddle, flim-flam, hab or nab, handy-dandy, harum-scarum, 
 helter-skelter, &c. See also Hotten's Slang Dictionary. 
 
 NANCEIC ACID. An acid procured from sour rice and 
 other acescent vegetable substances; named by Braconuot in 
 honour of his native town, Nancv, in France.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 2t 3 
 
 NANKEEN, A species of cloth made of cotton, naturally 
 of a kind of permanent yellow colour ; first manufactured at 
 Nankin, in China. It is now also made in Georgia, United 
 States, and is imitated by the manufacturers of Great Britain, 
 though with far less permanency of colour than the Chinese 
 
 fabric. A dye made by boiling anatto and carbonate of 
 
 potash in water. 
 
 NAPIER'S BONES. A set of rods made of bone, ivory, 
 horn, or the like, contrived by Lord Napier for facilitating the 
 arithmetical operations of multiplication and division. They 
 have, however, been completely superseded by the use of 
 logarithms, which were also invented by the same eminent 
 mathematician. 
 
 NAPLES YELLOW. A fine yellow pigment used in oil 
 painting, also for porcelain and enamel ; long prepared in Italy 
 by a secret process. Its proper name is gialloUno, a diminutive 
 of It. giallo, yellow. 
 
 NAPOLEON. A gold coin of France ; a piece of twenty 
 francs bearing the effigy of the Emperor Napoleon. The word 
 is also applied to twenty-franc pieces with the efiigy of the 
 kings who have succeeded Napoleon. There were formerly 
 napoleons of the value of forty francs, and the name is also 
 applied to certain French cupper pieces of the value of ten 
 
 centimes, marked with the letter N. A fine plant from 
 
 Africa. In the United States, a sort of cannon. 
 
 NAPOLEONISM. The ism of Napoleon III. ; sphinx- 
 ism. 
 
 NAPOLITE. A blue mineral from Vesuvius ; doubtless 
 derived from Napoli, i.e. Naples. 
 
 NATRON or NATRUM (anc. called Nitrum). Native 
 carbonate of soda ; so called from being found crystallised in 
 great abundance in Lake Natron, in Judea. It is, however, 
 also found in other hot countries, in sands surrounding lakes 
 
 of salt water. Name formerly given by the College ef 
 
 Physicians to the alkali now called soda. An impure sub- 
 carbonate of soda, obtained by burning various marine plants. 
 
 NAUMANNITE. A mineral consisting of silver, lead, 
 and selenium ; found at Tilkerode, in the Harz ; probably
 
 204 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 named after Dr. Carl Friedrich Naumaim, prof, of the Uni- 
 versity of Leipzig, author of Lehrbuch der Geognosie. 
 
 NAUPACTUS. A genus of insects found abundantly 
 upon the leaves of vegetables, of which there are 140 species, 
 natives of America ; so called from Naupactus, a town of 
 Etolia. The genus was formed by Megerle, and adopted by 
 Dejean and Schoenherr, 
 
 NAZARITISM. The vow and practice of the Nazarites, 
 Jews who bound themselves to extraordinary purity of life 
 and devotion ; lit. inhabitants of Nazareth. 
 
 NEAPOLITANUS MORBUS. The venereal disease; so 
 called because it was said to have been first discovered at 
 Naples (Neapolis), when in possession of the French. — Forsyth. 
 
 NECKERA. A genus of cryptogamic plants ; named in 
 honour of Dr. Natalis Joseph de Necker, a German botanist to 
 the Elector Palatine ; born 1730, died 1793. 
 
 NEDDY. A life preserver ; contraction of Kennedy, name 
 of the first man, it is said, in St. Giles's, who had his head 
 broken by a poker. Vide Mornings at Bow Street. — J. C. H. 
 
 NEEDHAMIA. A genus of Australian plants; named in 
 honour of John Tuberville Needham, who, in his work, " An 
 Account of Some New Microscopical Discoveries," gave the 
 earliest account of the structure and economy of the pollen in 
 plants. 
 
 NEGRO (Sp. and It. id.) A native or descendant of the 
 black race of men in Africa. The word is never applied to 
 the tawny or olive-coloured inhabitants of the northern coast 
 of Africa, but to the more southern race of men, who are quite 
 black ; doubtless so called from dwelling in the country 
 watered by the Niger. Hence Nigritia (Soudan), and perhaps 
 the Latin word niger, black. Pliny calls the Negros Nigritce ; 
 and their chief city, Guber or Cano, is called by Ptolemy 
 Nifiira. 
 
 NEGUS. A liquor made of wine, water, sugar, nutmeg, 
 and lemon-juice ; said to have been named after its first maker. 
 Colonel Negus. Mr. Pulley n says, " Wine and water fii'st 
 received this name from Francis Negus, Esq., in the reign of 
 George I. Party spirit ran high at that period between Avhigs
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 205 
 
 and tories, and wine-bibblng was resorted to as an excitement. 
 On one occasion some leading whigs and tories having, par 
 accident, got over their cups together, and Mr. Negus being 
 present, and high words ensuing, he recommended them in 
 future to dilute their wine as he did, which suggestion fortu- 
 nately directed their attention from an argument which pro- 
 bably would have ended seriously, to one on the merits of wine 
 and water, which concluded by their nicknaming it ' Negus.' " 
 
 NEILLIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Homaliacew ; named 
 after Patrick Neill, a Scotch botanist, secretary to the Wer- 
 nerian and Caledonian Horticultural Societies of Edinburgh. 
 
 NEMESIA. In antiquity, a religious solemnity in memory 
 of deceased persons ; so called from the goddess Nemesis, who 
 was supposed to defend the I'elics and the memory of the 
 
 dead from all insult. A genus of herbaceous plants, nat. 
 
 or. Scrophulariacece. 
 
 NEPTUNE. A large planet beyond Uranus, discovered in 
 consequence of the computations of Le Verrier, of Paris, by 
 Galle, of Berlin, Sep. 23, 1846 ; named after Neptune, god of 
 the ocean. "Discovered theoretically in 1845 by Mr. Adams, 
 of St. John's College, Cambridge " (;S'. F. C.) 
 
 NEPTUNIAN. Pertaining to the ocean or aqueous solu- 
 tion ; as Neptunian rocks, Neptunian theory ; the theory of 
 Werner, which refers the formation of all rocks and strata 
 to the agency of water ; opjwsed to the Plutonic theory ; 
 
 so called from Neptune, god of the ocean. One who adopts 
 
 the theory that the substances of the globe were formed from 
 aqueous solution. — Pinkerton. 
 
 NEUFCMATEL. A celebrated cream cheese, not, as the 
 Times once asserted, made at Neufchatel in Switzerland, but 
 Neufchatel-en-Bray in France, dep. Seine-Inferieure, also 
 noted for its excellent butter. 
 
 NEWMARKET. In the sporting world, the ordinary 
 methods of tossing are styled " two and three," and " five and 
 nine," i.e. best out of three, best out of nine. Newmarket is 
 first call, equivalent to " sudden death." Mr. J. C. Hotten 
 makes it best two out of three, but I am told there never were 
 any heats at Newmarket.
 
 206 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 NEWTONIAN. A follower of or pertaining to Sir Isaac 
 Newton, or formed or discovered by him, as the Newtonian 
 
 philosophy or system. A reflecting telescope of the form 
 
 invented by Newton, in which, by means of a plane mirror, 
 the image is reflected to the eye through one side of the tube, 
 where it is viewed by the eyeglass. 
 
 NICARAGUA WOOD. The wood of a tree growing in 
 Nicaragua, in Central America, used in dyeing red. 
 
 NICENE CREED. A summary of Christian faith, drawn 
 up by the Council of Nice against Arianism, a.d. 325, altered 
 and confirmed by the Council of Constantinople, a.d. 381. 
 This was the first and most important general council ever 
 held by the Christian Church. From Nice (now called by the 
 Turks Isnik), a town of Asia Minor. 
 
 NICKEL (Niccoluin). A metal, colour white or reddish- 
 white, of great hai'dness, difficult to bo purified, always mag- 
 netic, and, when perfectly pure, malleable and ductile. It 
 doubtless had its name from its discoverer, a German. Nickel 
 is found as a German surname, and in composition of local 
 names, as Nickelhajen, Nickelsdorf (Prussia), Nickelstadt 
 (Silesia). 
 
 NICOTIAN. Pertaining to or denoting tobacco; and, as a 
 noun, tobacco. See Nicotin. 
 
 NICOTIANA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Solanacece ; 
 called after M. Nicot, ambassador from the King of France to 
 Portugal, who first introduced it into France in 1560. 
 
 NICOTIANINA or NICOTIANINE. A concrete or 
 solid oil obtained from tobacco, and one of its active principles. 
 See Nicotin. 
 
 NICOTIN. An alkaloid obtained from tobacco, and one of 
 its active principles. See Nicotianina. 
 
 NIERSTEINER. A good second-class wine, produced in 
 the vineyards surrounding Nierstein, near Mayence, on the 
 Rhine. 
 
 NILOMETER. A graduated column for measuring the 
 increase and decrease of the Nile (Gr. [ji^etpov, a measure). 
 
 NIOBIUM. A metal recently discovered in tanlatite in 
 Bavaria ; so named from Niobe, daughter of Tantalus.
 
 VEUBA NOMINALIA. 207 
 
 NISSOLIA. A genus of Soutli American plants ; named 
 byJacquin and Linnaeus in memory of William NissoUe, M.D., 
 of Montpellier, author of several botanical essays, and men- 
 tioned as an excellent naturalist by Tournefort, who dedicated 
 a supposed genus to him. 
 
 NIVERNOIS. A hat much worn in 1770. " It was ex- 
 ceedingly small, and the flaps fastened up to the shallow 
 crown, which was seen above them, by hooks and eyes. The 
 corner worn in front was of the old spout or shovel shape, and 
 stiffened out by a wire " (Planche), Doubtless so called from 
 Le Nivernois or Nivernais, an old province of France, now 
 composing dep. Nievre; or from Nievre, or its capital, Nevers, 
 where they were tirst worn. 
 
 NIZZARD. A native of Nizza or Nice, in France ; for- 
 merly a division of the continental portion of Sardinia. 
 
 NOACHIAN. Pertaining to Noah, or to his time, as the 
 Noachian flood. 
 
 NOBILFS FIGURES. The name given to an electro- 
 chemical phenomenon discovered by Nobili. 
 
 NONTRONITE. A mineral consisting of silica, peroxide 
 of iron, alumina, magnesia, clay, and water, occurring in an 
 ore of manganese, in the arrondissement of Nontron, Fi-ance, 
 dep. Dordogne. 
 
 NOOTH'S APPARATUS. A series of three glass vessels, 
 placed vertically, for the purpose of impregnating water with 
 carbonic acid gas {Brande) ; invented by Nooth. 
 
 NORFOLK CRAG (better known as Norwich Crag). 
 In geology, an English tertiary formation, consisting of irre- 
 gular, ferruginous, sandy clay, mixed with marine shells. 
 
 NORMAN. In seaman's language, a sliort wooden bar, to 
 be thrust into a hole of the windlass, on which to fasten the 
 cable ; probably named from the inventor. 
 
 NORTHAMPTON TABLES. Life assurance tables based 
 upon the calculation of the average mortality in North- 
 ampton. 
 
 NORWICHER. More than one's share ; said of a i)erson 
 who leaves less than half the contents of a tankard for his 
 companion. In what the term originated, or why Norwich
 
 208 VERBA NOMINALTA. 
 
 was selected, before any other city, I have not been able to 
 discover. — J. C. H. 
 
 NORY. Mathematical tables comprising logarithms, num- 
 bers, sines, tangents, quo-sines, and quo-tangents, with minor 
 tables of lunar phases and equations of time, calculated and 
 published by the late Mr. Nory. 
 
 NUITS {vin de Nuits). A fine Burgundy wine ; named 
 from Nuits, dep. Cote-d'Or, situated in a fine wine country. 
 
 NUREMBERG EGGS. The name given to watches, or 
 pocket clocks, originally of an oval form, and generally be- 
 lieved to have been first invented at Nuremberg. Cf. Proc. 
 Soc. Antiq. Lond. May, 1848, p. 267, and Beckman, Orig. 
 Invent. 
 
 NUSSIERITE. A mineral containing phosphoric acid, 
 arsenic acid, oxide of lead, lime, protoxide of iron, chloride 
 of lead, and silica ; found at La Nussiei'e, near Beaujeu, dep. 
 Rhone, France. 
 
 NUTTALLITE. A mineral occurring in prismatic crys- 
 tals at Boston, in Massachusetts ; by some considered as 
 identical with seapolite ; the wernerite of Haiiy ; named after 
 Px'ofessor Nuttall. 
 
 O. 
 
 OAKS. See Derby. 
 
 OBRINE (KNIGHTS OF). A military order, instituted 
 in the thirteenth century by Conrad, Duke of Mazovia and 
 Cujavia, whom some authors call also Duke of Poland. Con- 
 rad I. styled it the Order of Jesus Christ ; but he having put 
 the knights in possession of Fort Obrine, in the county of 
 Cedeliz, in Cujavia, they hence took the name of Knights of 
 Obrine. The principal object of the order was to oppose the 
 incursions of the Prussians in Poland, but the Prussians 
 blocking up the fort, so that none of the knights could get out, 
 the order became useless, and was soon suppressed by Conrad, 
 who called to his assistance the Teutonic Knights. — 
 T. Wright, M.A.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 201) 
 
 OBSIDIANUM (Vitrwa ohsidianum, Plin.) A species of 
 glass which resembled the obsidian stone (the obsidianiis 
 lapis of Pliny, in Isid. ohsins lapis). Another name for the 
 Chian marble. Some derive the word from o^ig, seeing, 
 being called by Greek writers ovJ/<avo^, and not o^l/iSiavoi ; 
 others from one Obsidius, Avho discovered it in Ethiopia. The 
 stone was quite black and transparent, and therefore used for 
 mirrors (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 26); also images and various 
 other things were made from it: hence, Ohsidiana imago; 
 
 Ohsidianos elei^hautos, Plin. ib. A sort of colour with which 
 
 vessels were glazed {Plin.) Glass of antimony (Labavius). 
 
 The terms obsidioual crown, obsidional coins, are from a diffe- 
 rent root. 
 
 OBSIDIAN. Glossy lava, a mineral of two kinds, trans- 
 lucent and transparent, consisting chiefly of silica and alumina, 
 with slight admixtures of potash, lime, soda, and the oxide of 
 iron and manganese ; from obsidianum, q.v. 
 
 CEDERA. A genus of plants, nat. or. CoJiipositce ; called 
 after Q3der, a Danish botanist. — Crabb. 
 
 OGYGIAN. Of great and dark antiquity {Lempriere) ; 
 lit. pertaining to Ogyges, the most ancient monarch in Greece, 
 and to a great deluge in Attica in his days. His death is 
 fixed in Blair's Chronological Tables at B.C. 1764. 
 
 OHM'S LAW. An nnportant law which refers to all the 
 causes that tend to impede the action of the voltaic battery. 
 It is, that " the intensity of an electric current, when a battery 
 is in action, is directly as the whole electromotive force in 
 operation, and inversely as the sum of all the impediments to 
 conduction ;" named after Ohm, avIio discovered it. 
 
 OIDIUiAI TUCKERI. The term oidium (iVom Gr. wov an 
 egg, £(Jov form), for the vine disease, was given it from the 
 circumstance of the abuornal condition of the vine being at- 
 tributed to a fungus propagated by sporules excessively minute, 
 which are contained in an oval or egg-shapetl seed-pod. 
 Edward Tucker, a gardener in jNIargate, was the first to 
 observe and notice it in England (in 1845) ; and hence it is 
 to this day known under the name of Oidium Tucheri. 
 
 OISANITE or OYSANITE. A pyramidical ore of ti-
 
 210 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 tanium, occurring abundantly near Oysans, in Dauphine. It 
 is the same with anatase and octahedrite, which are found in 
 France, Norway, Spain, and some parts of South America. 
 
 OLBERS. A name given to the planet Pallas, after Dr. 
 Olbers, by whom it was discovered in 1802. 
 
 OLDBUCK. An antiquary ; from the name of a character 
 in Sir W. Scott's Antiquary. — J. C. H. 
 
 OLD NICK. The evil one ; from Nick, in the Northern 
 mythology, an evil spirit of the waters. Knicker was one of 
 the names of Odin, as the destroying or evil sj)irit. According 
 to others, the term was derived from Nicolo Macchiavelli, the 
 celebrated political writer. " Out of his surname they have 
 coined an epithet for a knave, and out of his Christian name a 
 synonyme for the devil" {^Ed. Rev., March, 1827). 
 
 " Nick Machiavel had ne'er a trick, 
 Tho' he gave his name to our old Nick." 
 
 Hudibras, Fart iii., Canto 1. 
 
 OLfiEON LAWS. The laws, constituencies, or judgments 
 of Oleron are a capitulary of ancient maritime customs, 
 written in old French, and bearing the name of Oleron for 
 several centuries, because tradition points to the island so 
 called, in the French department of Charente-Inferieure, as the 
 place of their original promulgation. It has been commonly held 
 that these laws were made by Richard I. of England, at 
 Oleron, on his return from the Ploly Land, but there is no 
 ground for the statement, and there are strong reasons for 
 assigning them to an earlier date than that of Richard I. 
 
 OLIVER. A dogcart, or wheel cai'riage, on the American 
 plan, lately built by Mr. Mulliner, of Northampton, of im- 
 ported hickory ; named after Captain Oliver, of Sholebooke 
 
 Lodge, Towcester, for whom it was first made. The moon. 
 
 " Oliver don't whiddle," i.e.. The moon does not shine (Bul- 
 wer's P. Clifford). 
 
 OLYMPIAD. A period of four years, reckoned from one 
 celebration of the Olympic games to another, and constituting 
 an important epoch in history and chronology. The first 
 Olympiad commenced 776 years b.c, and 23 years before the
 
 VERBA MOMINALIA. 211 
 
 foundation of Rome. The computation by Olympiads ceased 
 at the 364th Olympiad, in the year 440 of the Christian era. 
 See next. 
 
 OLYMPIC GAMES, or OLYMriCS. Solemn games 
 among the ancient Greeks, dedicated to Olympian Jupiter, 
 celebrated once in four years at Olympia. 
 
 ONANISM. The crime of the Scripture Onan. 
 
 ONOFRITE. A mineral composed of mercury, sulphur, 
 and selenium ; occurring at San Onofre, in Mexico ; also 
 near Clausthal, in the Harz. 
 
 OPUNTIA. The same with Cactus Opuntia ; " ab opunte, 
 from the city Opus, near which it flourished " {Forsyth). A 
 name given by botanists to those cactaceous plants which 
 gardeners call Indian figs. On one of them, Opuntia co- 
 chenillifera, the cochineal insect is fed, and others yield a 
 pleasant subacid fruit, which is eaten in hot countries, 
 
 OllENBURGH GUM {Gummi Orenburg ense). A gum 
 which issues from the pinus larix, Avhence the larch forests in 
 Russia take fire ; so called from Orenburg, an extensive 
 government of the Russian empire, where it is found. 
 
 ORGEIS. A fish, called also organ-ling ; supposed to be 
 from the Orkneys, on whose coast it is taken. — Johnson. 
 
 ORICIA. A species of fir or turpentine tree ; from Oricus, 
 a city of Epirus, near which it grows. — Forsyth. 
 
 ORIGENISM, The doctrines or tenets of Origen of 
 Alexandria, one of the earliest and most learned of the Greek 
 Fathers, who flourished in the third century. He united 
 Platonism with Christianity ; supposed that human souls 
 existed before their union with bodies ; that they were origi- 
 nally holy, but became sinful in the pre-existent state ; that all 
 men probably will at last be saved, and that Christ is again to 
 die for the salvation of devils. — Murdoch, 
 
 ORLEANS. A cloth made of worsted and cotton, used for 
 
 dresses, &c. ; from Orleans, in France. Orleans (vulg. 
 
 arline) plum, a large and common variety of plum. 
 
 ORONOCO or ORONOKO. One of the principal kinds 
 of tobacco imported into England from Orinoco, one of the 
 gi-eat divisions of the republic of Venezuela, South America. 
 
 T3 »>
 
 212 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 ORONTIACE^. A genus of herbaceous plants ; named 
 from Orontum, the principal genus, of which there are only 
 two species — Aquatic 0., native of rivers and pools in North 
 America, and Japan 0., both perennials, and cultivated at Kew. 
 The genus is said to have been so called from growing on the 
 banks of the Orontes, in Syria. 
 
 ORPHEAN or ORPHIC. Pertaining to Orpheus, a poet who 
 had the power of moving inanimate bodies by the music of his 
 lyre ; as, Orphic hymns. 
 
 ORPHIC A. Certain works falsely ascribed to Orpheus, 
 which embodied the opinions of a class of persons described 
 by Miiller. Fabricius's Bibliotheca Graeca contains a list of 
 the writings ascribed to Orpheus. But see Tiedemann's 
 Initia Philos. Grgec, p. 1-100 ; Fabric, Bib. Grasc. I., p. 140 ; 
 Clinton's Fasti ; Funke's Real. SehuUexicon ; P. Cyc, 
 " Orphica." 
 
 ORRERY. An astronomical machine for exhibiting the 
 several motions of the heavenly bodies. It was invented by 
 George Graham, but Rowley, a workman, borrowed one from 
 him, and made a copy for the Earl of Orrery, after whom it 
 was named by Sir Richard Steele. Similar machines are 
 called also planetariums (Barloiv). The origin of the term 
 " orrery " is thus given by Mr. Desaguliers, in his Course of 
 Experimental Philosophy, 4to, London, 1734, I. p. 431. 
 After stating his belief that Mr. George Graham, about 1700, 
 first invented a movement for exhibiting the motion of the 
 earth about the sun at the same time that the moon revolved 
 round the earth, he remarks, " This machine being in the 
 hands of an instrument maker, to be sent with some of his 
 own instruments to Prince Eugene, he copied it, and made the 
 first for the late Earl of Orrery, and then several others, with 
 additions of his own. Sir Richard Steele, who knew nothing 
 of Mr. Graham's machine, in one of his lucubrations, thinking 
 to do justice to the first encourager, as well as to the inventor, 
 of such a curious instrument, called it an orrery, and gave Mr. 
 J. Rowley the praise due to Mr. Graham " (P. C?/c.) 
 
 ORVIETAN (Fr. orvietan). An antidote or counter 
 poison ; also a charlatan, an empiric ; It. orvietano ; so called
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 213 
 
 from a cluulatan of Orvieto, who first made it. " From a 
 mountebank of Orvieta (Orvieto ?), in Italy, who first made 
 himself famous by taking such things upon the stage, after 
 doses of pretended poisons. Though some say its inventor 
 was one H. F. Orvietanus, and that it is named after him " 
 {Forsyth). Menage (writing in 1694) says the charlatan in 
 question was not long since living in Paris. 
 
 OSBECKIA. A plant of two species, the one, native of 
 the East Indies and China, called by the Chinese komm-hyong- 
 loaa, " feather of gold roses;" the other, native of Ceylon, where 
 it was found by Kcenig ; named by Linnaeus in honour of 
 Peter Osbeck, rector of Hasloef and Woxtorp, in Sweden ; 
 member of the Academy of Stockholm, &c. ; author of a 
 Voyage to China and the East Indies in 1751. 
 
 OSMANLI. The language of the Osman or Ottoman 
 Turks, who form the ruling portion of the Turkish empire. 
 *' It is spoken by persons of rank and education, and by all 
 government authorities in Syria, in Egypt, at Tunis, and at 
 Tripoli. In the southern provinces of Asiatic Russia, along 
 the borders of the Caspian, and through the whole of Turkes- 
 tan it is the language of the people. It is heard even at the 
 Court of Teheran, and is understood by official personages in 
 Persia" {Max Midler). The Avord originated in Othman or 
 Osman, a sultan who assumed the government about 1300, and 
 whose descendants were called Osmanli or Ottomans. 
 
 OSMUND. A plant of the genus Osmunda, whose most 
 remarkable species is the Osmund royal, or flowering fern, 
 which is used in stiffening liuen. "According to Gerarde 
 (herbal), it is a type or memorial of one Osmund, a waterman, 
 whose history had not come down even to that old writer, but 
 whose heart, he says, was commemorated in the core of the 
 root." " Osmunda, from Osmund, who first used it " {Forsyth). 
 OSNABURGr. A species of coarse linen, of which there 
 are two kinds, the one white, the other brown ; imported from 
 Osnaburg (Osnabriick), Hanover. 
 
 OTAHEITE SALEP. Another name for Tacca starch, or 
 Tahiti arrowroot ; from Tahiti, or Otaheite, the principal of 
 the Society Islands.
 
 214 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 OTTOA. A genus of umbelliferous plants ; named in 
 honoui' of Frederick Otta, a Prussian botanist. 
 
 OTTOMAN. A sort of thick-stuffed mat used by the 
 Turks or Ottomans. In England, a stool with a stuffed seat. 
 
 OTTRELITE. A mineral, colour blackish-grey, greenish- 
 grey, black ; found in clay slate at Ottrez, near Stavelot, on 
 the frontier of Luxemburg. 
 
 OUT-HEROD. To overact the character of Herod, whicli 
 in the old plays was always a violent one. — Smart. 
 
 " It out-herod's Herod." — Hamlet. 
 
 OXFORD CLAY. Clunch clay; a great argillaceous bed 
 interposed between the lower and the middle oolite. In its 
 lower part are beds of limestone called Kelloway rock. 
 
 OZARKITE. A mineral occurring with elceolite at the 
 Ozark Mountains, Arkansas. 
 
 P. 
 
 PACCHIONIAN GLANDS. The small round whitish 
 granulations found in the superior longitudinal sinus of the 
 membranes of the brain, whicli Pacchioni incorrectly described 
 as conglobate glands. 
 
 PACTOLIAN. Pertaining to Pactoius, a river of Lydia, 
 famous for its golden sands. — Webster. 
 
 PACTOLUS. A genus of brachyurous Crustacea, of only 
 one species, locality unknown {Encyc. Met.') ; named from the 
 River Pactoius. 
 
 PADDY, PAT, or PADDY WHACK. An Irishman. 
 
 " I'm Paddy Whack, from Ballyhack, 
 Not long ago turn'd soldier ; 
 In storm and sack, in front attack, 
 
 None other can be boulder," — Irish Song. 
 
 From Paddy, nickname for Patricius. " The meanest subjects 
 of the Roman empire assumed the illustrious name of Patricius, 
 which, by the conversion of Ireland, has been communicated 
 to a whole nation " (Gibbon, vol, 6, c. xxxvi.)
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 215 
 
 PADRA. A kind of black ten of superior quality; perhaps 
 from Padra. a town of Guzerat. 
 
 PADUAN COINS. A modern coin, closely imitating the 
 antique ; or a new medal struck with all the marks and cha- 
 racters of antiquity. The name is derived from Paduan or 
 Paduanus, who succeeded so well in this kind of forgery that 
 the best judges are at a loss to distinguish his medals from 
 genuine ones. Paduan, who flourished in the seventeenth 
 century, was called, from his birthplace, Padua ; his proper 
 name was Giovanni Cavino (others say Lewis Lee). Gotlieb 
 Rink says he had an associate in his forgery named Alexander 
 Bassianus. His son Octavian, though born at Rome, was also 
 called the Paduan. Properly, those medals only are called 
 Paduan that are struck on the matrices of the elder Paduan, 
 which are still preserved. The term, however, is commonly 
 applied to medals generally that closely imitate the ancient, and 
 are of masterly execution. Joubert observes that there have 
 been a Paduan and a Parmesan in Italy, and a Carteron in 
 Holland, who had the knack of imitating the antique in per- 
 fection. The Parmesan was Laurentius Parmesanus. We 
 may also add another Italian who excelled in this way, viz., 
 Valerius Bellus Vicentinus. 
 
 PADUASOY. A kind of silk stuff from Padua (Fr. soie, 
 silk). "By tailors called Paddaway, a mispronunciation of 
 Padua" (.S'. F. C.) 
 
 P-^AN or PEAN (Gr. Ttaiav). Among the ancients, a 
 song of rejoicing in honour of Ilaioov, Apollo: hence a loud 
 and joyous song; a song of triumph. 
 
 P^ON (Gr. iraiujv ; written also, though less correctly, 
 pgean). In ancient poetry, a foot of four syllables, of which 
 there were four kinds ; so called from Hatoov, Apollo. 
 
 P^ONY (ircciouvia). A plant and flower of the genus 
 Pceonia, nat. or. Ranunculacece ; so called from Hoacvv, Apollo, 
 who is said to have first applied it to medicinal purposes. 
 
 PAISBERGITE. A mineral allied to Rhodonite; from 
 Paisberg's iron mine, in Phillipstadt, Sweden. 
 
 PAISLEY. A shawl made at Paisley, co. Renfrew 
 (Scotland) ; celebrated also for its manufactures of silk
 
 216 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 and other shawls, muslin, cotton thread, and ornamental 
 fancy goods. 
 
 PAIXHAN. A howitzer of great weight and strength, 
 used by the Americans for throwing shells of a very large size, 
 first adopted in France about 1824 ; named after the inventor, 
 Henri Joseph Paixhaus, general of artillery in the French 
 army, author of many military works; born in 1783 at Metz, 
 in France. 
 
 PALACE. A magnificent house in which an emperor, 
 king, or other distinguished person resides ; from the Fr. 
 palais, L. jialatium ; so named from the first imjDerial residence 
 on the Palatium or Palatine Hill, one of the seven hills of 
 Rome, the first that was built upon. The emperor Augustus 
 dwelt on this hill, and many fine palaces were consequently 
 built there. 
 
 PALADIN (anc. palatin, i.e. man of the palace, of the 
 court). A knight-errant. In the old romances the name was 
 given to certain knights whose whole occupation was to seek 
 adventures, and to find out occasions to exercise their valour 
 and to prove their gallantry. At the close of their adventures 
 they retired in the palaces of the princes, where they were 
 received with courtesy, and notably in the palace of King 
 Arthur, at whose court, it is said, commenced the mania of 
 knight-eiTuutry. See Palace. 
 
 PALAGONITE. A mineral found as an ingredient of the 
 volcanic tufa near Palagonia, in the Val di Noto, in Sicily, and 
 also in Iceland. 
 
 PALAMPO. A quilt or bed-cover ; probably from Palan- 
 pore, a town of India, renowned for its manufacture of chintz 
 counterpanes. — J. C. Hotten. 
 
 PALAVIA. A genus of South American plants, of two 
 species ; named by Linna3us in honour of Dr. Antonio Palau 
 y Verdera, professor of botany in the royal garden at 
 Madrid. 
 
 PALEMPUREZ. A kind of carpet brought from the East 
 Indies. " Palemporez, a species of Indian dimity, of elegant 
 patterns, used for bed coverlets. They are sometimes flowered 
 with gold, made of silk, and worked in shawl and other
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 217 
 
 patterns of coloured woven cotton " (Sitnmonds) ; doubtless 
 from Prtlilunporo, pres. Bombay ; or Pahlunpore in Guzerat. 
 
 PALLADIUM (Gr. iraWccStov). Something that affords 
 effectual defence, protection, and safety ; as when we say the 
 trial by jury is the palladium of our civil rights ; primarily, a 
 statue of Pallas, which represented her as sitting with a pike 
 in her right hand, and in her left a distaff and spindle. On 
 the preservation of this statue depended the safety of Troy. 
 " The Romans, imagining that ^neas brought the true Palla- 
 dium to Rome, preserved the image with the utmost care as 
 
 their safeguard" (Crabb). A metal drawn from crude 
 
 platina, discovered by "Wollaston in 1803. 
 
 PALLAS. A new planet discovered by Dr. Olbers, of 
 Bremen, in 1802; named after Pallas, goddess of wisdom. 
 
 PALLASIA. A genus of North American plants, nat. or. 
 Corymbiferce ; named by Linnaeus in honour of Dr. Peter 
 Simon Pallas, the celebrated Prussian naturalist. 
 
 PALMERSTONISM. The ism of Lord Palmerston; old- 
 soldierism ; soft-soap; lip-salve for the million; rhodomoutade. 
 
 PANDEAN PIPES. An ancient wind instrument made 
 of reeds ; named after Pan, god of shepherds, &c., who in- 
 vented the flute with seven reeds, which he called Syrinx, in 
 honour of a beautiful nymph of the same name. 
 
 PANDER, prop. PANDAR. A pimp, a procurer. 
 
 " To whom you should have been a pandar." 
 
 M. W. of Windsor. 
 
 " Troilus the first employer of pandars." 
 
 M. Ado about Nothing. 
 
 " Camillo was his help in this, his pandar." — W.'s Tale. 
 
 " Let all pitiful goers-between be call'd to the world's end after my name ; 
 call them all pandars." — Troilus and Cress. 
 
 Pandarus is the name of one of the characters in Shakespeare's 
 Troilus and Cressida. " From Pandarus (says Skinner), who 
 procured the love and good graces of Chryseis ; which impu- 
 tation, it may be added, depends upon no better authority than 
 the fabulous histories of Dictys Cretensis and Dares Phrygius."
 
 218 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 PANIC (Sp. and It. panico ; Fr. jxmique ; Gr. Tfa.vmoa-'). 
 Sudden fright ; particularly a sudden fright without real cause, 
 or terror inspired by a trifling cause or misapprehension of 
 danger; as, panic fear, i.e. extreme or sudden fear; the troops 
 were seized with a panic ; they fled in a panic ; lit. agitated by 
 Pan, the frightful deity of the woods or shepherds, also god of 
 huntsmen, and all (irav) the people of the country. " Poly- 
 nseus fetches the origin of the phrase (panic fear) from Pan, 
 one of the captains of Bacchus, who, with a few men, put a 
 numerous army to rout, by a noise which his soldiers raised in 
 a rocky valley, favoured with a great number of echoes. This 
 stratagem making their number appear much greater than it 
 really was, the enemy quitted a very commodious encampment 
 and fled. Hence all ill-grounded fears have been called jmnics 
 or 2yanic fears ; and it was this that gave occasion to the fable 
 of the nymph Echo being beloved by the god Pan. Others 
 derive the origin of the expression hence ; that, in the wars of 
 the Titans against the gods. Pan was the first who struck 
 terror into the hearts of the giants. Theon on Aratus says he 
 did it by means of a sea-shell, which served him for a trumpet, 
 whereof he was the inventor" {^Chambers's C>/c.) 
 
 PANSLAVONIC. A term used to express a union of all 
 the Slavonic nations (tfav, all). 
 
 PANTALOON (Fr. pantalon). A garment for males, in 
 which breeches and stockings are in a piece (ohs.); in the 
 
 plural, pantaloons, a sort of close long trowsers. A 
 
 character in the Italian comedy. A character in panto- 
 mimes. 
 
 " And as the French we conquer'd once 
 Now give us laws tor pantaloons, 
 The length of breeches." — Hudib. pt. 1, c. 3. 
 
 "The next age shifts into the lea,ne and slipper'd pantaloone." — As You 
 Like it. 
 
 Webster queries the W. pa?inu, to involve, or panu, to cover, 
 and Fr. talo7i, the heel. Addison says the pantaloon in Italian 
 comedies was so called from his close dress. Meyrick says, 
 " From the circumstance of the standard-hearers of the Vene-
 
 VEKBA NOMINALIA. 219 
 
 tian army wearing tight hose, that kind of dress came to be 
 called pantaloons, a corruption of pianta leone, i.e. ' plant of 
 Leon,' the standard of the Republic being the ' Lion of St. 
 Mark.' " ! ! ! Charpentier (Origines) says the name and 
 the usage of the pantalon was derived from the Venetians, 
 who first introduced this habit, which they called panta- 
 loni, from St. Pantaleon, their patron : that according to 
 others, Pantalon was the name of a buffoon in the Italian 
 theatre, clothed ordinarily in this manner, which gave the 
 name oi pantalon first to those who wore this sort of chaussure, 
 and finally to the chaussure itself. J. B. J. Breton (Voyage 
 en Piemont, 8°' 1803, vol, 1, p. 167, and note 12 at end), 
 alluding to the origin of the characters of harlequin, pantaloon, 
 punch, &c., says each of these masked personages was origi- 
 nally destined to characterise the principal towns of Italy. 
 " Pantaleone etoit un marchaud Venitien; Dottore, un medecin 
 de Bologne ; Spaviento, un tirailleur ou spadassin de Naples ; 
 PuUicinella, un goguenard de la Pouille (Apulia), province du 
 meme royaume de Naples, dont on pretendoit que la plupart 
 des habitans etaient bossus ou contrefaits; Giangvrla et Coviello, 
 des pay sans de la Calabre ; Gelsomino, un petit maitre de 
 Rome; Beltrame, un niais de Milan; Brighella, un intrigant de 
 Ferrara ; et enfin Arlechino, un valet de Bergamo." There is 
 a town in Italy called Pantaleone, and Pantaleone is also a 
 surname. Charpentier says also that pantalon is the appella- 
 tion of a vertical harpsicord, having a body straighter than 
 the ordinary harpsicord, and that it was named after its in- 
 ventor, Pantaleon Hebenstreit, who made it known at the 
 court of Dresden in 1718. 
 
 PAOLO (Paul). A Roman coin. See Paul. 
 
 PAPHIAN. Pertaining to the rights of Venus, who was 
 worshipped at Paphos (hod. Baffa), a city of Cyprus. 
 
 PAPIRIA (LEX). The Jus Papirianum was a collection 
 of ancient Roman laws, containing those made by the kings of 
 Rome, and compiled immediately after their expulsion. It is 
 supposed to have been collected by Sextus or Publius Papirius, 
 and is sometimes called the Lex Papiria. 
 
 PAPIST (Fr. papiste, It. papista). A Roman Catholic ;
 
 220 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 one that adheres to the Church of Rome and the authority of 
 the Papa or Pope. 
 
 PAEACELSIAN. A follower of Pavacelsus, a celebrated 
 Swiss physician, who lived at the close of the fifteenth century. 
 The medical practice of Paracelsus. 
 
 PARADISE. French slang for the gallery of a theatre, 
 " up amongst the gods." — J. C. Hotten. 
 
 PARADISE A. Bird of Paradise, a genus of birds, or. 
 Piece, which chiefly inhabit New Guinea. 
 
 PARADISUS {Granum Paradisi, grain of Paradise). A 
 pungent seed I'esembling cardamom ; named on account of its 
 virtues. 
 
 PARAMATTA. A soft woollen fabric used for dresses, 
 &c. ; named from Paramatta, a town of New South Wales, 
 where it is manufactured. 
 
 PARCHMENT (L. pergamena; Fr. parchemin; Norm. 
 pargam, pargemin, a MS. on parchment; Armor, parich, 
 parichemin ; It. pargameno ; Sp. pargamino ; G-. pergament ; 
 D. parkement). The skin of a sheep or goat prepared and ren- 
 dered fit for writing on. It was invented B.C. 198 by Eume- 
 iies II., king of Pergamos, in Asia, in consequence of the 
 prohibition of the export of papyrus from Egypt by Ptolemy 
 Epiphanes. Pliny says, " Eumenes having established a rival 
 library to that of Ptolemy Epiphanes, the Egyptian monarch, 
 in a fit of jealousy, forbade the exportation of papyrus from his 
 dominions, and that the invention of parchment (C'harta Per- 
 gamena), or perhaps the improvement of this material, was the 
 consequence." 
 
 PARGASITE. A mineral, a variety of hornblende, colour 
 greyish or bluish green ; from Isle Pargas, in Finland. 
 
 PARIAN. A superior kind of white marble; named from 
 
 Paros, an isle in the ^gfean Sea, where it was found. A 
 
 chronicle of the city of Athens, which was engraved on marble 
 in capital letters in the Isle of Paros. It contained a chrono- 
 logical account of events from Cecrops, 1582 B.C., to the 
 archonship of Diognetus, 264 B.C. ; but the chronicle o 
 the last ninety years is lost. This marble was procured from 
 Asia Minor in 1627 by the Earl of Arundel, and, being broken.
 
 VEimA NOMINALIA. 221 
 
 the pieces are called Amndelian marbles. They are now de- 
 posited in the University of Oxford. The antiquity of the 
 inscription has been disputed. — P. Cyc. Edin. Encyc. 
 
 PARIS. A genus of plants, nat. or. MelanthacecB, of two 
 species, natives of most parts of Europe, particularly the 
 northern parts, and also of Japan. The juice of P. quadrifolia, 
 Herb Paris, True-Love, or One-Berry, has been considered 
 useful in inflammations of the eyes. Ambrosinus derives the 
 word a paritate foliomim, from- the uniformity or equality of the 
 four leaves, which make, as it were, two pairs, equally situated; 
 but it was more probably named after Paris, who adjudged the 
 golden apple to Venus. 
 
 PARKINSONIA. A plant, a small tree, called in Jamaica 
 Jerusalem thorn ; named by Plumier in memory of John Par- 
 kinson, apothecary of London, author of Paradisus Terrestris, 
 1629, and Theatrum Botanicum, 1640. 
 
 PARMESAN. A. delicate kind of cheese made at Parma, 
 in Italy. 
 
 PARNASSIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. SaxifragacecB ; 
 said to be called from Mount Parnassus, on which, according 
 to Dioscorides, a plant called gramen Parnassi grew. The 
 name was altered by Tournefort to Pariiassia. 
 
 PARNASSIAN. Pertaining to Parnassus, a celebrated 
 mountain in Greece, sacred to Apollo and the Muses. 
 
 PARNEL. A wanton immodest girl ; a slut ; doubtless 
 named from a character in one of the old plays ; probably 
 corrupted from Petronilla, a feminine diminutive of Peter. 
 
 PARSEEISM. The religion of the Parsees or fire-wor- 
 shippers of India ; substantially the religion of the ancient 
 Persians. In Persia they are called by the Mohammedans, 
 Guebers, infidels, and their sacred book is the Zend-Avesta. 
 The Parsees, who reside near Surat and Bombay, are an 
 honest thrifty people, and number about 700,000. 
 
 PARTSCHIN. A mineral found in sand from Olahpian, 
 in Hungary, with rutil, ilmenite, zircon, and kyanite ; named 
 after P. Partsch, of the Vienna Museum. 
 
 PASCALIN. A mathematical instrument invented by the 
 celebrated French mathematician Pascal.
 
 222 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 PASQUINADE (found pasquin and pasquil). A lampoon, 
 a satirical writing. 
 
 " He never valued any pasquils that were dropped up and down, to think 
 them worthy of his revenge." — Howel. 
 
 " The pasquils, lampoons, and libels we meet with now-a-days are a sort 
 of playing with the four and twenty letters, without sense, truth, or wit." — 
 Tatler. 
 
 Pasquino was the name of a Roman cobbler who was remark- 
 able for his sneers and gibes. Near his shop, in a corner of 
 the palace of the Orsini, was dug up a mutilated statue, which 
 Avas called Pasquin. From it having been customary, in later 
 times, to paste satiric papers upon this statue, is said to have 
 originated the word pasquinade. " Pasquin, the name given 
 to a mutilated ancient statue which stood at the corner of the 
 Palace Santobuono, in a small open place in the city of Rome, 
 near the Piazza Navona. It represents a warrior in the attitude 
 of defence. The subject of the statue is not known. Pasquino 
 was the name of a tailor who lived in that neighbourhood ' many 
 years since,' says Parisio in his Antiquities of Rome, published 
 A.D. 1600. The shop of Pasquino was a sort of place of 
 meeting for the people of the district, who came there to tell 
 or hear the news of the day, as is still the custom in the 
 apothecaries' shops in the provincial towns of Italy. The 
 tailor was a facetious man, and his witty sayings were styled 
 ' Pasquinate,' which afterwards became a common appellation 
 for humourous epigrams and sarcastic lampoons, a kind of 
 composition for which the modern Romans are noted. These 
 lampoons, which often attacked people in high stations, and the 
 government itself, were fixed in the night on or near the statue 
 already mentioned ; and thus the statue itself came to be called 
 Pasquino, as being the representative of the witty tailor of 
 that name. Collections of these epigrams have been made, and 
 some of them are very witty, though often scurrilous and 
 coarse" (P. Ci/c.) The writer in the Encyc. des Gens du 
 Monde concludes : " Le muet Pasquin recevait sur son piedestal 
 les satires et les epigrammes adressees a la cour du souverain 
 pontife, et il entretenait a cet egard un echange incessant de
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 223 
 
 bons mots avec un confrere du iiom de Marforio. Cet usage 
 durait encore a I'entreo des troupes fran^aises dans les £tats 
 pontificaux. Par extension, on a nomme pasquinade toute 
 I'aillerio satirique lanc^e contre le public ou contre les gens en 
 place. Mais en g(§n6ral, une ixisquinade est un bon mot de bas 
 ^tage." For a full account of Pasquino, see Menage, quoting 
 Castelvetto, in his work entitled Eagioni d'alcune cose segnaie 
 nella Canzone di Messer' Annibal Caro. 
 
 PATAGONULA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Cordiacece ; 
 natives of Patagonia, in South America, 
 
 PATAVINITY. The use of local words, or the peculiar 
 style or diction of Livy, the Roman historian ; so called from 
 Patavium (Padua), in Italy, where he was born. 
 
 PAUL (It. Paolo). A silver coin of Tuscany and the 
 States of the Church, with its double, half, and quarter. In 
 the former foi'ty-six, and in the latter forty-five pauls are equal 
 to an English sovereign ; named after one of the Popes of 
 Rome. 
 
 PAUL PRY. An inquisitive person ; so named from a 
 character in the well-known play of the same name, in which 
 
 the late Mr. Listen gained much celebrity. " An infamous 
 
 newspaper so called, now extinct " {S. F. C.) 
 
 PAULLINIA. A climbing shrub, some species of which 
 are natives of the East Indies, and others of the West Indies, 
 Jamaica, Mexico, the Caribees, Curasao, vSouth America, &c.; 
 named by Linngeus after Simon Paulli, professor of botany at 
 Copenhagen, author of Botanicum Quadripartitum, 1640, and 
 Flora Danica, 1648. 
 
 PAUSANIA. A Spartan festival in honour of Pausanias, 
 under whose conduct the Greeks defeated Mardonius at Platjeae. 
 At this feast there were public games, in which free-born 
 Spartans only were allowed to contend. An oration was 
 always spoken in praise of Pausanias. 
 
 PA VAN or PAVIN (Fr. j^civane, It. and Sp. pavana). A 
 grave dance among the Spaniards. 
 
 " Your Spanish pavin [is] the best dance." 
 
 13, Jonson. The Alcliymist, Act iv. sc. 2.
 
 224 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 "And with that turning up of his mustachoes, and marching as if he 
 would begin a paven, he went toward Zelmane." — Sidney. Arcadia, b. iii. 
 
 "Then he's a rogue, and a passy-measure pavln ; I hate a drunken 
 rogue." — Shahs. Tw. N. 
 
 "Spanish pavan—The'Engelscheindraeyende Dans Londesteyn' 
 (the turning dance of London) in Friesche Lust-Hof, 1634, is 
 another version of this tune. The two first bars are identical. 
 / love my love for love again, in the Skene MS., is the same 
 after the first eight bars. ' Pavan. Instrumental players 
 play the pavan faster,' says Thoinot Arbeau, 'and call it the 
 passamezzo ' — Anglice, the passing measures' pavan. Putten- 
 ham says, ' Songs, for secret recreation and pastime in cham- 
 bers, with company or alone, were the ordinary musickes 
 amorous ; such as miglit be sung with voice, or to the lute, 
 cithern, or harpe ; or daunced by measures — as the Italian 
 pavan and gulliard are at these daies in princes' courts, and 
 other places of honourable or civil assembly'" (Art of Poesie, 
 p. 37, reprint). See also Chappell's Popular Music, 157, 242; 
 772, 776. " In this dance the performers make a kind of 
 wheel before each other, the gentlemen dancing with cap and 
 sword, princes with long robes, and the ladies with long trails, 
 the motions resembling the stately steps of the peacock (jjavo) " 
 {Enci/c. ; Sp. Diet.) Hawkins likewise derives the word from 
 pavo, a peacock ; but according to the Italian writers, pavan is 
 derived from Paduana, i.e. a Paduan dance, a dance from 
 Padua. 
 
 PAVIN. See Pavan. 
 
 PEA (A. S. pisa, Fr. pois, It. ^?2seZfo, Jj. pisuvi, Gr. Tficrov). 
 A plant of the genus Pisum, q.v. 
 
 PEACH (It. pesca, Fr. jjeche, G. pfirsiclie, Arab, fiisic). A 
 tree, and its fruit of many varieties. The Avord is derived 
 from jjessicum, for Persicum malum, a peach ; persica, a peach- 
 tree ; literally a tree and fruit from Persia. 
 
 PECKSNIFF. A hypocritical rascal ; from a character in 
 Dickens's Martin Chuzziewit {J. C. Hotten); a character said 
 to be founded on that of a late shifty minister, whose memory
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 225 
 
 is still much revered by the present age of hypocrisy and 
 humbug. 
 
 PEDRO XIMENES. A sweet Spanish wine of the sherry 
 grape ; named after the grower. 
 
 PEELER. A vulgar appellation given to a policeman ; so 
 called after the late Sir Robert Peel, who brought in the Police 
 Act. " Properly applied to the Irish constabulary rather than 
 the City police, the former force having been established by 
 Sir Robert Peel " (/. C. Hotten). 
 
 PEEPING TOM. A nickname for a curious prying fellow, 
 derived from an old legendary tale told of a tailor of Coventry, 
 who, when Godiva, Countess of Chester, rode at noon quite 
 naked through that town, in order to procure certain immuni- 
 ties for the inhabitants (notwithstanding the rest of the people 
 shut up their houses), slily peeped out of a hole in his house, for 
 which he was miraculously struck blind. His figure, peeping 
 out of a window, is still kept up in remembrance of the trans- 
 action, and an annual procession is still held at Coventry, in 
 which the feat of Lady Godiva is attempted to be represented 
 without violating the principles of public decency. See 
 Halliwell. 
 
 PEGASUS. One of the forty-eight old northern constel- 
 lations, figured in the form of a winged horse ; so called from 
 Pegasus, rLr^ya.a-rjg, a winged horse, generated from the blood of 
 
 Medusa, when Perseus cut off her head. A genus of fishes 
 
 with large pectoral fins, by means of which they take short 
 flights or leaps through the air. 
 
 PELAGIANISM. The doctrines of Pelagius, a monk of 
 Bangor, in Wales, who lived in the fourth century. He denied 
 original sin, and asserted the doctrine of free will and the 
 merit of good works. 
 
 PEN-^A. A genus of plants, natives of the Cape; named 
 by Linnasus in honour of Peter Pena, a learned Frenchman, 
 who afiforded great assistance to Lobel in the composition of 
 his Adversaria Botanica, published in 1570. 
 
 PENTELIC. The appellation of a marble resembling the 
 Parian, but somewhat denser and finer grained, with occasional 
 greenish zones, produced by greenish talc, whence it is called
 
 226 VERBA NOMTNALIA. 
 
 by the Italians cipilino statuario. The Parthenon, Propyleum, 
 the Hippodrome, and other monuments at Athens were made 
 of this marble, of which fine specimens may be seen among the 
 Elgin collection in the British Museum. It was named from 
 Mount Penteles, near Athens, where it was found. 
 
 PENTZIA. A genus of plants, natives of the Cape; named 
 by Thunberg after his puj^il J. C. Pentz. 
 
 PEPYSIAN. A valuable collection of MSS. of naval 
 memoirs, prints, ancient English poetry, &c., bequeathed to 
 Magdalen College, Cambridge, by Samuel Pepys, secretary to 
 the Admiralty, temp, Charles II, and James IL, is called the 
 Pepysian Library, in honour of the donor. 
 
 PERALTIA. A genus of leguminous plants, subor. 
 Coesalpinice, subshrubs, natives of Mexico ; named in honour 
 of Joseph Peralt, a Spanish botanist, who assisted Hum- 
 boldt in collecting several botanical specimens in South 
 America. 
 
 PERCYLITE. A mineral, colour sky-blue, found in minute 
 crystals, accompanied by gold, in a matrix of quartz and red 
 oxide of iron ; said to have come from La Sonora, in Mexico ; 
 analysed by Dr. Percy. 
 
 PERESKIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Cactacece, shrubs 
 and trees ; named by Plumier in honour of Nicholas Fabricius 
 Peiresk, a senator of Aix, in Provence, celebrated for his 
 botanical learning. 
 
 PERKINISM. A mode of treatment introduced by Per- 
 kins, of America, consisting in the application, to diseased 
 parts, of the extremities of two needles made of different 
 metals, called by him metallic tractors. 
 
 PERKINS. Beer ; dandy or affected shortening of the 
 more widely-known slang phrase, " Barclay and Perkins." — 
 J. C. Hotten. 
 
 PERMIAN. A geological term applied to magnesian lime- 
 stone by Sir R. Murchison ; from Perm, a province of Russia, 
 where this is a prominent characteristic. — S. F. Creswell. 
 
 PEROWSKITE. A mineral, consisting of titanic acid, 
 lime, magnesia, and protoxide of iron ; found at Vogsburg, on 
 the Kaiserstuhl, and at Achmatowsk, near Slatoust, in the
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 227 
 
 Ural ; named in honour of Von Perowski, of St. Petersburg. 
 The mineral tetraphyline is called perowskine. 
 
 PERROQUET or PARRAKEET (Fr. perroquet). A 
 small sj^ecies of parrot. Some derive the French word from 
 Perrot, diminutive of Pierre (Peter), the man's name given to 
 the bird. Menage says, " Nous avons donne des noms d'homme 
 aux animaux. C'est ainsi que nous avons appele un merle, 
 Sansonnet ; un pie, Ilargot ; un corbeau, Colas ; uu geay, Ri- 
 chard; un asne, Ifartin ; un singe, Pobert ; un ecureuil, Fouquet; 
 une chevre, G-uionne; et en Basse Normandie, Janne." Accord- 
 ing to others, perroquet is a diminutive of parrot; from L. 
 parra, a bird whose cry was esteemed an ill omen, perhaps a 
 jay; but 2^<^f'>'ot itself may have even been corrupted from 
 perroquet. " Probably parrot is a contracted form of some 
 Spanish or Portuguese word derived from parra " {S. F. C.) 
 
 PERRYAN. A celebrated steel pen invented by the late 
 Mr. James Perry, of London. 
 
 PERSEPOLITAN. Pertaining to Persepolis, or its archi- 
 tecture ; in ancient geography, the cap. of Persis Proper and 
 of the Persian Empire. 
 
 PERSEUS. A northern constellation of fifty-nine stars, 
 the principal of which is Algenib ; named after Perseus, son 
 of Jupiter by Danae. 
 
 PERSIAN FIRE {Persicus ignis). A term applied by 
 Avicenna to a carbuncle attended with pustules and vesica- 
 tions. 
 
 PERSIAN WHEEL. A contrivance for raising water to 
 some height above the level of a stream, by means of a wheel 
 with buckets on its rim. — Brande. 
 
 PERSICA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Rosacece, the fruit 
 of which is known by the English name of peach and necta- 
 rine; so called from Persia, of which it is a native. 
 
 PERSICARIA, POLYGONUM PERSICARIA. A plant; 
 so called because its blossoms are like those of the p)ersica or 
 peach. 
 
 PESTALOZZIAN. Pertaining to the system of education 
 founded by Pestalozzi, a philosopher and philanthropist, who 
 was born at Zurich in 1745, and died in 1827. Pestalozzi's 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 method turns on the idea of communicating all instruction by- 
 immediate address to the sensations or conceptions, and effect- 
 ing the education of the child by constantly calling all his 
 powers into exercise. He composed some works illustrative 
 of his plans, and, among other productions of a moral tendency, 
 wrote the romance of " Leinhard and Gertrude." 
 
 PETAGNA. A genus of herbs, natives of Sicily ; named 
 in honour of Vincent Petagna, a Neapolitan botanist, author 
 of Institutiones Botanic£e, 1787. 
 
 PETER. A very common oath or imprecation in the early 
 English writers; "by St. Peter." Cowslips. Arch. xxx. 411. 
 
 A portmanteau or cloak bag (a bundle or valise, Bulwer's 
 
 Paul Clifford). A cash-box. Formerly a familiar epithet 
 
 applied to the watermen, fishermen, and mariners of the 
 
 Thames (Giff.) A wine, one of the richest and most delicate 
 
 of the Malaga wines, generally termed Peter-see-me, q. v. 
 
 PETER-BOAT. A fishing-boat ; a small boat formed alike 
 at stem and stern, and which may be rowed with either fore- 
 most at pleasure ; or, as Fosbrooke has described it, " precisely 
 the Roman amphiprora." See Peter-Man. 
 
 PETER-MAN. "A familiar term for a fisherman; from 
 the occupation of St. Peter " (T. Wright, M.A.) " Peterer or 
 Peterman, one who follows hackney and stage coaches, and 
 cuts off the portmanteaus and trunks from behind. Nearly 
 obsolete. Ancient term for a fisherman, still used at Graves- 
 end " {J. C. Hotten). Cowel, however, renders Peter-men, 
 " those who used unlawful arts or engines for catching fish on 
 the River Thames." See also Stow's Survey of London, p. 19. 
 May not the word, therefore, have been originally peder-men, 
 i.e. men who unlawfully used baskets or ^^ec/s to catch fish 
 with ? The word Peterman seems also to have had another 
 meaning. John Aubrey, in one of his MSS., says of Kington 
 Langley, near Chippenham, " Here was a chapel dedicated to 
 St. Peter. The Revel is still kept (1670) the Sunday after St. 
 Peters Day: it is one of the eminentest feastes in these partes. 
 Old John Wastefield told me that he had been Peterman in the 
 beginning of Her Majesty's reign." A correspondent of N. & 
 Q., referring to the above, asks, "Is it probable that the Peter-
 
 VERBA NOMINA LI A. 229 
 
 man was a sort of master of the ceremonies at the revel ?" 
 See N. & Q., vol. vi., No. 149, Sep. 4, 1852, p. 223. 
 
 PETER-PENCE. An annual tax or tribute formerly paid 
 by the English to the Pope ; being a penny for every house, 
 payable at Lammas Day ; so called from St. Peter. It was 
 called also Romescot. — Hall. 
 
 PETER -SEE -ME, PETER- SA-MEENE, PETER - 
 SEMINE, or PETER. A rich Malaga wine. 
 
 " Peter-see-me shall wash thy nowl, 
 And Malligo glasses fox thee." 
 
 Middl. Span. Gipsy, iii. 7. 
 
 Said to be corrupted from Pedro Ximenes (q.v.), name of a 
 Spanish wine. 
 
 PETER'S FISH. The haddock. It has spots on either 
 side, which are said to be marks of St. Peter's fingers, when 
 he caught that fish for the tribute. — T. Wright, M.A. 
 PETERER. See Peter-Man. 
 
 PETERSHAM. Formerly, a great-coat made of a sort of 
 rough cloth ; named after Lord Petersham, who probably set 
 
 the fashion. " A large hat with curly brims, now worn by 
 
 old dandies " {S. F. C.) 
 
 PETER WORT or SAINT PETER'S WORT. A plant 
 of the genus Ascyrum, another of the genus Hypericum. 
 
 PETIVERIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Petiveriacece, 
 whose species are called in English heniveed ; named in 
 honour of James Petiver, F.R.S., an eminent English botanist 
 in the beginning of the eighteenth century, author of several 
 works on history, but principally celebrated for his extensive 
 collection of rare and various plants, animals, and insects, 
 for which, after his death. Sir Hans Sloane gave ^4000, 
 and which now form part of the collection in the British 
 Museum. 
 
 PETREA. A genus of South American plants, or. Angio- 
 spermia ; named in honour of Lord Petre, a patron of botany. 
 PETUNTSE. See Kaolin. 
 
 PET WORTH MARBLE ^Sussex marble). A variously- 
 coloured limestone, occurring in the Weald clay, composed of
 
 230 VEEBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 the remains of fresh-water shells j named from the town of 
 Petworth. 
 
 PEUTINGERIAN TABLE. An epithet applied to a 
 rude chart drawn on parchment by an unknoAvn hand during 
 the reign of Theodosius the Great, and marking the Roman 
 military roads throughout the greatest part of the Western 
 empire. It was found in the fifteenth century, in the library 
 of a monastery at Speyer, by Conrad Celtes, who presented it 
 to Conrad Peutinger, a learned German writer, born at Augs- 
 burg in 1465. He intended to publish it, but it did not appear 
 for several years after his death. At length fragments of it 
 were found and published at Venice in 1591, under the title 
 of Fragmenta Tabulae Antiquae ex Peutingerarum Bibliotheca. 
 The original map remained at Augsburg in the possession of 
 Peutinger's descendants till 1714, when it was purchased by 
 Prince Eugene, who gave it to the imperial library of Vienna. 
 An exact copy of it was made by F. C. von Sclieyb at Vienna 
 in 1753, with notes and dissertations, and dedicated to the 
 Empress Maria Theresa. See T. Wright. 
 
 PETER'S GLANDS {Plexus intestinales). The small 
 glands under the villous coat of the intestines ; first discovered 
 by Peyer, of Schaifhausen, who described them in a work 
 entitled Exercitatio Anatomico-Medica de Glandulis Intestino- 
 rum, published in 1677. Von Brun compared them collec- 
 tively to a second pancreas, and after him they have been also 
 named Brunner's Glands. 
 
 PH-^BE. "A dance mentioned in an old nursery rhyme. 
 A correspondent gives me the following lines of a very old 
 song, the only ones he can recollect : — 
 
 ' Cannot you dance the Phwbe ? 
 Don't you see what pains I take ? 
 Don't you see how my shoulders shake ? 
 Cannot you dance the Phcebef' " — Halliwell. 
 
 Probably so called from Phcehe, a name of Diana, or the moon. 
 PHAETON. An open carriage like a chaise, on four 
 wheels, and drawn by two horses ; so called from Phaeton (son 
 of Phoebus), driver of the chariot of the sun. Phaeton, to 
 prove his paternity, begged of Phoebus to permit him to guide
 
 VEKliA NOiMlNALIA. 231 
 
 his chariot of the suu, in doing which he manifested want of 
 skill, and, being struck with a thunderbolt by Jupiter, was 
 hurled headlong into the River Po. 
 
 " Such a waggoner as Phaeton would whip you to the West." — Rom, & J . 
 
 " Down, down I come, like glistering Phaeton, wanting the manage of 
 unruly jades." — Rich. II. 
 
 " Now Phaeton hath tumbled from his car, and made an evening at the 
 noon- tide pride." — 3 Hen VI. 
 
 -Tropic-bird, a genus of birds, or. Anseres. 
 
 PHALECIAN. A term applied to verses of eleven syl- 
 lables ; so called from Phalecus {Bailey). Phaloecus was an 
 old Grecian poet mentioned by Ausonius. His verse was 
 called Carmen Phaloecium, Phaloecum, or Phaleucium. Cf. 
 Scheller's Grammar ; Auson. E. iv., 85 ; and Scheller's Lex. 
 
 PHANARIOTS. A portion of the Greek people, who in 
 the days of bondage peopled the famous quarter of Constan- 
 tinople called the Phanar. 
 
 PHARAON, PHARO, or FARO. Name of a game of 
 chance; Fr. pJiaraon, a game at cards; probably from Pharaon 
 (the Fr. form of Pharaoh), but why is doubtful. 
 
 PHARICUM. A violent kind of poison ; from Pharos, the 
 island whence it was brought. — Forsyth. 
 
 PHARISAIC, PHARISAICAL. Addicted to external 
 forms and ceremonies ; making show of religion without the 
 spirit of it ; as pharisaic holiness ; lit. pertaining to or resem- 
 bling the Pharisees, a Jewish sect distinguished by their zeal 
 for the traditions of the elders, and by their exact observance 
 of these traditions and the ritual law, and whose pretended 
 holiness led them to separate themselves as a sect, considering 
 themselves more righteous than other Jews. 
 
 PHARISAISM. The notions, doctrines, and conduct of 
 the Pharisees, as a sect; rigid observance of external forms of 
 religion without genuine piety ; hypocrisy in religion. 
 
 PHAROAH. A strong ale. " Old Pharoh " is mentioned 
 in the Praise of Yorkshire Ale, 1697, p. 3 {Halliwell). 
 
 PHAROS (Fr. phare, It. faro). Any lighthouse for the
 
 232 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 direction of seamen ; a watch-tower ; a beacon ; eo called from 
 Pharos, a lighthouse or tower erected by Ptolemy Philadelphus 
 on a small isle of the same name near one of the mouths of the 
 Nile. It consisted of seven stories and galleries, with a 
 lantern on the top, which was kept burning at night as a guide 
 to seamen, the coasts being full of sands and shelves. It was 
 considered by the ancients as one of the seven wonders of the 
 world. There are still several faros, as Faro di Messina, &c. 
 
 PHASIANUS. A genus of birds, or. GalUnce. See 
 Pheasant. 
 
 PHEASANT (Fr. faisan, Sp. faysan, It. fagiano, D. 
 faizant, G. fasan, Russ. phazan, L. pliasianus, gallus pJiasi- 
 anus, Gr. ^oc(Tia.vo.g). A name common to several species of 
 gallinaceous birds, all the known species of which are natives 
 of Asia. This bird is said to have been called ^afficcvog from 
 having been originally brought from the banks of the Phasis^ 
 a river of Colchis, flowing into the Black Sea. It is the 
 Rhion of modern geography, a river of Asiatic Russia, Trans- 
 caucasia. It is said, indeed, that the bird still frequents an 
 island at the mouth of this river. The word phasid in Syi*iac 
 signifies a river. 
 
 PHELYPOiA. A genus of plants of three species, natives 
 of the Levant, the district of Mount Caucasus, Portugal, Bar- 
 bary, Arabia, Algiers, &c. ; named in honour of the family of 
 Phelipeaux, two of whom are mentioned by Tournefort as the 
 MaBcenates of his time. 
 
 PHEREPHATTIA. A festival kept at Cyricum in honour 
 of Proserpine, who was also called Pherephatta. The sacrifice 
 was a black heifer. 
 
 PHIGALIAN. An epithet applied to certain marbles 
 discovered near the site of the ancient Phigalia, a town of 
 Arcadia, in Greece, and which have been brought to England, 
 and deposited in the British Museum among the collection 
 known by the name of the Elgin marbles. The Phigalian 
 marbles form a series of sculpture in alto-relievo. — T. Wright. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA LAWYER. This Transatlantic limb 
 of the law is considered to be the very acme of acuteness. 
 Sailors relate many stories of his artful abilities. — /. C. Hotten.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 233 
 
 PHILADELPHIAN. Pertaining to Ptolemy Philadelphus. 
 
 PHILADELPHUS. The common or white syringa or 
 mock orange, a shrub, mentioned by Athenaeus, that sends up a 
 great number of slender stalks from the root, seven or eight 
 feet in height ; probably a native of the south of Europe. It 
 is the 4>;AaJ£Acj)0e of Aristotle ; and Linnaeus supposes it w^as 
 designed to commemorate Ptolemy Philadelphus, King of 
 Egypt ; but, says Rees, it is much more probable that the 
 plant of Athenceus was of the twining or clasping kind, some- 
 thing like Periploca Grceca, and that the word, by a poetical 
 fancy, was intended to express its brotherly love for those near 
 it {^iXoq-ahX^oo) . 
 
 PHILANDERING. Making love ; from Philander, name 
 of a character in one of the old ballads, garlands, or operas. 
 Under the head "Philander" and "Philandering" I find the fol- 
 lowing in the Library of the British Museum: — L A Strange 
 Apparition; or, the Second Meeting of Two Self-Murthering 
 Lovers, Phillis and Phillander; Lond. fo. 1680 ? (a very curious 
 old ballad). 2. Philander's Garland, composed of five delight- 
 ful new songs, Newc. \2'^< 1780. 3. Philandering; or the 
 Rose Queen. A comic opera in three acts, performed at the 
 New Theatre Royal Drury Lane on Tuesday, January 13, 1824. 
 The music by Mr. C. E. Horn. [By S. Beazley]. Lond. 8°' 
 1824 (in prose). 4. Songs, duets, and concerted pieces in the 
 comic opera of Philander ; or the Rose Queen, 8fc. Lond. 8°' 
 1824. No. 1 is headed — 
 
 " Mistaken Phillis kill'd herself, thinking Philander slain; 
 Philander quickly followed her, and now they are met again." 
 
 To the tune of " Oh, Cruel Bloody Fate." 
 
 In No. 2 the first song is entitled " Philander's Complaint to 
 his Beautiful Phillis;" the second, "Beautiful Phillis' Answer 
 to Philander's Complaint." No. 3 commences with an essay 
 on the Art of Philandering. The chorus to the finale runs — 
 
 " All Philanders must expect 
 
 To give their lovers pain, sir, 
 
 Nor should they certainly object 
 
 rr f men should ) xi- i. • m 
 If < . , > flirt aaam." 
 
 ( maidens ) "
 
 234 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 The title page has the following : — 
 
 " To be paddling palms, and pinching fingers, 
 And making practis'd smiles, as in a looking-glass ; 
 And then to sigh, as 'twere the mort of the deer ; 
 that is Philandering ! 
 
 Is whispering nothing? 
 Is leaning cheek — stopping the career 
 Of laughter with a sigh — wishing clock more swift — 
 Hours minutes — minutes hours — noon midniglit — 
 
 Is this nothing ? 'Tis Philandering 
 
 This weak impress of love is as a figure 
 Trench 'd in ice, which, with an hour's heat, 
 Dissolves to v/ater, and doth lose its form." 
 
 Shakspeare (mutilated). 
 
 PHILIP. A Macedouiau coin, value unknown ; named 
 after Philip the Great. 
 
 PHILIPPEI or PHILIPPI. Pieces coined in the reign 
 of Philip of Macedon, and with his image. Horat. Ep. 2, 1, 
 284 ; Liv. 34, 52 ; 37, 59 ; 39, 5, 7 ; and Lempriere. 
 
 PHILIPPIC. Discourse or declamation full of acrimonious 
 invective ; so called from an oration of Demosthenes against 
 Philip of Macedon, in which the orator aroused the Athenians 
 from their indolence. The fourteen orations of Cicero against 
 Mark Antony are also called Philippics. 
 
 PHILIPPIZE. To write or utter invective ; to declaim 
 against (Burke). To side with Philip ; to support or advocate 
 Philip (Sivift). See Philippic. 
 
 PHILIPSIA. A genus of trilobites found in the mountain 
 limestone of England and Ireland ; doubtless named from the 
 discoverer, Philips. 
 
 PHILISTINE. A cant term applied to bailiffs, sheriffs' 
 oflficers, and drunkards {Halliwell). "A policeman. The 
 German students call all townspeople not o^ih-Qirhodij Philister, 
 as ours say cads. The departing student says, mournfully, 
 in one of the Burschenlieder, ' Muss selber nun Philister seyn !' 
 ' I must now myself PAzYzs^me be !' ". (Slang. J.C. Hotten). 
 
 PHILISTINISM. Manners of the Philistines.— Car/^Ze. 
 
 PHILLIP SITE. A mineral consisting chiefly of silica 
 andaluminia; allied to harmotone, i.e. cross-stone or staurolite; 
 named after W. Phillips.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 235 
 
 PHILLYREA. Mock-privet. A genus of plauts, or. De- 
 candria ; name of the daughter of Chiron, who first applied it 
 medicinally. — Forsyth. 
 
 PHILOMEL or PHILOMELA. The nightingale; said 
 to be so called from Philomela, daughter of Pandion, king of 
 Athens, who was changed into a nightingale. 
 
 " For worse than Philomel you us'd my daughter." — Tit. Andron. 
 
 " Wer't thou thus surpris'd, sweet girl, ravish'd and wrong'd as Philomela 
 was." — Ibid. 
 
 PHILONIUM. A warm opiate ; from Philo, its inventor. 
 — Forsyth. 
 
 PHRYGIAN. An epithet applied to a sprightly, animated 
 kind of music ; so called from the Phrygians, in Asia Minor. 
 A warlike kind of music, fit for trumpets, hautboys, &c. 
 
 PHRYGIAN STONE. A stone described by the ancients, 
 used in dyeing ; a light spongy stone, resembling a pumice, 
 said to be drying and astringent ; so called from Phrygia. 
 
 PIAST. As history goes, the Poles^ in 700, gave the 
 command, under the title of Duke, to Cracus, founder of 
 Cracow. His posterity failing, a peasant, in the year 830, 
 named Piastus, was elected. He lived to the age of 120, and 
 from the length and prosperity of his reign every native Pole 
 who was subsequently elected king was called Piast. The 
 Polish dictionary says the term Piast was used to denote a 
 Polish nobleman, who stood candidate for the crown elective 
 of Poland, in competition with a foreign prince. Jedni cheieli 
 Piasta drudzy cudzoziemca ; some have wished to have a Pole, 
 others a foreigner, for a king. 
 
 PIAUZITE. An earthy resin, colour brownish-black ; 
 found in a bed of brown coal in the vicinity of Piauze, near 
 Neustadt, in Carniola. 
 
 PICCADEL or PICCADILLY. Formerly a game so 
 
 called. 
 
 " And their lands to coyn they distil ye, 
 And then with the money 
 You see how they run ye 
 To loose it at piccadilly." — Flecknoe. Epigrams. 
 
 Doubtless so called from Piccadilly, London,where it was played.
 
 236 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 PICKERINGITE. A mineral found in white fibrous 
 masses ; from Iquique, in South America ; found also in some 
 parts of Africa and Europe; named after Pickering. 
 
 PICKLE (D. pekel, G. iwkel, 0. G. hotel). Brine ; a 
 solution of salt and water or of vinegar, sometimes impregnated 
 with spices, in which flesh, fish, or other substance is pre- 
 served: hence, a vegetable or fruit preserved in pickle. 
 Several derivations have been suggested ; but the general 
 opinion seems to be that the O. G. hokel is derived from 
 Beukelzoon (who was born and died at Biervliet, a small town 
 on an island in the West Scheldt), who invented the art of 
 salting and barrelling herrings. Authors differ as to the date 
 of the invention, some making it in 1337, others 1347, 1397, and 
 1414 ; and the name of the inventor is found written Bockel, 
 Biickel, Beukels, Bokel, Bokelszoon, Beukelzoon. See N. & 
 
 Q. 2nd S. vii., No. 4, p. 78 ; also Zedler "Bieruliet." "A 
 
 pickle, a young pickle, a boy who cannot be kept in order 
 without repeated punishment. So called from the birch-rod, 
 
 which used to lie in brine till wanted" {S. F. Ci^eswell). 
 
 A state or condition of difiiculty or disorder ; a ivord used in 
 ridicule or contempt. You are in a fine pickle. Pickle is also a 
 local name in England for a parcel of land enclosed with a 
 hedge ; but is derived from a different root. 
 
 PIGMEAN, Anything little ; dwai'fish ; pertaining to a 
 pigmy or dwarf; so called from the Pigmcei, among the 
 ancients, a race of beings not exceeding a cubit in height, 
 who inhabited Thrace, and who waged war with the cranes 
 and were destroyed. 
 
 PINCHBECK. An alloy of copper and zinc, resembling 
 gold in its appearance, said to have been first brought into 
 notice by a person of the same name. Pinchbeck is also the 
 appellation of a parish, co. Lincoln. " It was very fashionable 
 in the last century, and derived its name from a Mr. Pinchbeck, 
 a well-known London tradesman, who manufactured watches, 
 buckles, and other articles out of it. Pinchbeck first obtained 
 his notoriety by the invention of an ingenious candle-snufiers, 
 which the author of The Heroic Epistle to Sir William Cham- 
 bers made the vehicle of a facetious ode that went through
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 2M 
 
 eight editions. The title of this jeu (Tesprit ran thus, Ode 
 to Mr. Pinchbeck, upon his newly-invented Candle-Snuffers, 
 by Malcolm M'Gregor, Esq., 1776:— 
 
 ' Illustrious Pinchbeck! condescend, 
 Thou well-beloved, and best king's friend. 
 These lyric lines to view ; 
 
 Oh, may tliey jiromjjt tliee, ere too late. 
 
 To snuff the candle of the State, 
 That burns a little blue !' 
 
 Pinchbeck published a poetical reply, and the two pamphlets 
 
 were for a long time the talk of town " (/. C. Hotten). 
 
 Inferior, deteriorated. 
 
 " Where, in these Pinchbeck days, can we hope to find the old agricul- 
 tural virtue in all its purity?" — Framley Parsonage. 
 
 PINDARIC. An ode in imitation of Pindar, prince of the 
 lyric poets, a contemporary with ^schylus ; an irregular ode 
 {Addison). " There is nothing more frequent among us than 
 a sort of poems entitled Pindaric odes, pretending to be written 
 in imitation of the manner and style of Pindar, and yet I do 
 not know that there is to this day extant, in our language, one 
 ode contrived after this model" (Congreve). 
 
 PINDAPvIC HEIGHTS. Studying the odes of Pindar. 
 —Oxford (J. C. Hotten). 
 
 PINITE. A mineral found in prismatic crystals, of a 
 greenish-white colour, brown, or deep red, and occurring also 
 massive ; from Pini, a mine in Saxony. 
 
 PIRAKOFF OPERATION. The operation of partially 
 removing the foot ; named after Dr. Pirakoff, one of the most 
 celebrated operating surgeons in Russia, who first made this 
 sort of amputation. 
 
 PISONIA. A plant of five species, natives of Jamaica, 
 Domingo, Antigua, Hispaniola, &c. ; named by Plumier in 
 honour of William Piso, physician at Amsterdam, author of 
 the Natural History of Brazil, 1648. 
 
 PISTOL (Fr. pistole, pistolet; It. and Sp. pistola), A small 
 firearm, held and fired by one hand. The word is said to be 
 derived from Pistoia (anc. Pistori), in Italy, where this 
 weapon was first made. Stephens says, ^^ Pistole and pistolet
 
 238 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 are from Pistoia, a little town near Florence, where they made 
 little poinards, which being newly imported into France were 
 called first j«"sio?/e?'S, then jnstolie7's, and finally pistolets ; that 
 shortly after harquebuses were invented, to which were given 
 the name of these little poinards, and that this poor little word, 
 having for such a length of time travelled from place to place, 
 was at last imported into Spain and Italy for the purpose of 
 signifying crown pieces, &c.' 
 
 PISTOLE (Fr.) A gold coin of Spain, but current in the 
 neighbouring countries ; equal to about 8s. 6d. sterling 
 
 {Ogilvie). A coin of different values in Germany, Italy, and 
 
 Switzerland. See Pistol. 
 
 PISTOLET. A little pistol. 
 
 " Those unlickt bear-whelps, unfill'd pistolets, 
 That, more than cannon-shot, avails or lets." — Donne. 
 
 A diminutive of pistol, q.v. The French use the word 
 pistolet not only to denote a pistol, but also a small kind of 
 bread made somewhat in the form of a crescent. 
 
 PISUM (Gr. 7r;crov). The pea, a plant now classed as a 
 genus of plants, nat. or. Leguminosce ; so called, it is said, from 
 Pisa, in Italy, where it abounded. — Crahh. 
 
 PITAYA BARK. " One of the false barks obtained from 
 the mountain of Pitaya " (qu. where ?). 
 
 PLASTER OF PARIS. A composition of several species 
 of gypsum, dug at Montmartre, Paris ; used in building and in 
 casting busts and statues. In popular language, this name is 
 applied improperly to plaster-stone, or to any species of 
 gypsum. 
 
 PLATONIC. Pertaining to Plato, or to his philosophy, 
 his school, or his opinions. The Platonic bodies are the five 
 regular geometrical solids — viz., the tetrahedron, hexahedron or 
 cube, octahedron, dodecahedron, and icosahedron. The Platonic 
 year is a period of time determined by the revolution of the 
 equinoxes. Platonic love is a pure spiritual affection subsist- 
 ing between the sexes, unmixed with carnal desires, and re- 
 garding the mind only and its excellencies ; a species of love 
 for which Plato was a warm advocate.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 239 
 
 PLATONISM. The doctrines of Plato and his followers. 
 " The cupid of the Hotel de Rambouillet affected strict 
 Platonism."— For. Quar. ii. 313. 
 
 PLATONIST, PLATONIZER. One who professes to be 
 a follower of Plato, and to philosophize as he did. 
 
 PLUTONIC. Designating the system of the Plutonists or 
 Plutonians, who adopt the theory of the formation of the world 
 from igneous fusion ; from Pluto, god of the infernal regions. 
 The Plutonian theory of the formation of rocks and mountains 
 is opposed to the Neptunian. Plutonic rocks are granite, por- 
 phyry, and other igneous rocks, supposed to have consolidated 
 from a melted state at a great depth from the surface ; Plutonic 
 action is the influence of volcanic heat and other subterranean 
 causes under pressure. 
 
 POGRAM. A dissenter, a fanatic, formalist, or humbug ; 
 so called from a well-known dissenting minister of this name. 
 — /. C. Hotten (slang). 
 
 POINT D'ESPAGNE. Gold or silver Spanish lace so 
 called. 
 
 POITEVIN (formerly Poictevine). An ancient French 
 coin struck at Poitiers. The annotator of Rabelais thinks 
 the appellation " Red Poitevins," by which the people of Poitou 
 were for a long time known, was given them from this coin, 
 which, consisting of a small quantity of silver, mixed with a 
 great deal of red copper, its colour was apparent upon being 
 ever so little handled. 
 
 POIVREA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Combretacece ; 
 named after Poivre, the celebrated French naturalist, Intendant 
 of the Mauritius in 1766. 
 
 POLACCA (Fr. polaque). Another name for the dance 
 air called polonaise ; probably the same word as polka, q.v. 
 
 POLECAT. Poi^ular name of a small European quadruped 
 nearly allied to the weasel. Some derive the word from Fr. 
 poule, a hen, chat, a cat, a hen cat, because it feeds on poultry, 
 eggs, &c. Bailey says, q.d., ^^ Polonian cat, because Poland 
 abounds with them." 
 
 POLED AVY. A sort of coarse cloth (Ainsivorth) . Pole- 
 davies, a coarse canvas (Bailey). Pouldavis, a sort of sail-
 
 240 VERBA NOMINAL! A. 
 
 cloth ; obs. (Webste?-). It was probably first made at Poldavid 
 (formerly Pouldavy), a town of Bretagne, on the Douarnenez 
 water. This seems to be confirmed by Anderson (Hist. Com- 
 merce, vol. 2, p. 174) : " We have the best authority for fixing 
 the date of the first manufacturing of sail-cloth in England to 
 this year (1590), being the preamble to an Act of Parliament, 
 1 James I. c. 23, reciting that whereas the cloths called mil- 
 dernix and powl-davies, whereof sails and other furniture for 
 the shipping and navy are made, were heretofore altogether 
 brought out of France and other parts beyond sea, and the skill 
 and art of making and weaving of the said cloths was never 
 known or used in England until about the thirty-second year 
 of the reign of Queen Elizabeth — that is, in the year 1590 — 
 about which time, and not before, the perfect art or skill of 
 making and weaving the said cloths was attained to, and since 
 practised and continued in this realm, to the great benefit and 
 commodity thereof, &c." 
 
 POLKA, A fashionable dance said to have been brought 
 from Hungary. The word is probably derived from the Polish 
 word Polka, a female Pole. " A species of dance of Polish 
 origin ; also the air played to the dance " (^Ogilvie). 
 
 POLONAISE or POLONESE. A long robe or dress 
 edged with fur, adopted from the fashion of the Poles ; some- 
 times worn by ladies. 
 
 POLONOISE. In music, a name given to an air in which 
 the movement is slow or moderate ; used in Poland both for 
 songs and dances ; in instrumental music, the name of certain 
 pieces with an animated movement. 
 
 POLONY. A sausage ; corruption of Bologna sausage. 
 
 POMARD. A fine wine made from grapes grown near 
 Pomard, a village of France, dep. Cote-d'Or. 
 
 POMPADOUR, Now called cuire, a brownish-yellow 
 colour ; so named as forming the colours of Madame de Pom- 
 padour, mistress of Louis XV. The Buffs are called Pompa- 
 dours, from the colour of their facings {S. F. Creswell). Pom- 
 padour and the saucy Pompeys (short for Pompadours), a name 
 for the fifty-sixth regiment of foot, from their purple facings^ 
 the favourite colour of Madame Pompadour. A name given
 
 VERBA NOMINALTA. 241 
 
 by the French to the peculiar style of arcliitecture, &c., which 
 prevailed throughout nearly the whole of Europe about the 
 middle of the eighteenth century ; so called from Madame de 
 Pompadour. It is also called by the French, Rococo and 
 Chicoree, and by the English, Sti/le of Louis Quatorze and Loins 
 Qainze. Hope, in his Historical Essays on Architecture, pp. 
 555, 559, very ably exposes this style, and says its proper 
 name should be " The Inane or Frippery Style." It was not 
 confined to architecture, being found in sculpture, painting, 
 poetry, bronze, porcelaiu, &c. "Boromini in Archittetura, 
 Bernini in Scultura, Petro da Cortona in Pittura, II Cavalier 
 Marini in Poesia, sono peste del Gusto, peste ch'ha appestato 
 un gran munero di Artisti " (Miliz. Diz. delle Belle Arti, voc. 
 Boromini, p. 122). The late king George lY., who had the 
 most frivolous, meretricious, gawdy taste, adopted this rococo, 
 iwmpadour, chicoree style in the ornaments of the great ball 
 room at Windsor, and as late as 1837 it was quite the fashion 
 in France, especially in bronze work, ormolu, and porcelain, 
 
 POMUM ADAMI (Adam's apple). A protuberance in 
 the anterior part of the neck, formed by the forepart of the 
 thyroid cartilage ; so called from a whimsical supposition that 
 a part of the forbidden apple which Adam ate stuck in his 
 throat, and thus occasioned the protuberance. 
 
 PONS VAROLII. An eminence of the medulla oblou^ata, 
 first described by Varolius. 
 
 PONTAC. A sort of clai-et, used in England in the manu- 
 fixcture of what is called by wine merchants, and believed by 
 the public to be, port ivine ; named from Pontac, dep. Basses- 
 Pyrenees, where it is made. 
 
 POONAHLITE. A mineral, according to C. Gmelin, con- 
 sisting of silica, alumina, lime, soda with a trace of potash, 
 and water ; found with apopyllite at Poonah, in Hindustan. 
 
 POPE JULIUS. An old game, possibly similar to the 
 modern game of pope-joan (HaUiweU). A game of cards 
 greatly in vogue at the court of Henry VIII., and which was 
 probably the origin of the vulgar round game called in modern 
 times pope-joan. The various points in that game, such as 
 matrimony, intrigue, pope, and the stops, appear to have borne 
 
 B
 
 242 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 significant allusion to the relative situations in the royal drama 
 of the divorce and the interference of the Pope and his agents 
 in preventing the king's marriage with his beautiful favourite, 
 Anne Boleyn. It is supposed to have been named in mockery 
 of Julius II. (elected Pope 1 Nov., 1503, died 21 Feb., 1513), 
 the copy of whose breve of dispensation had been lately pro- 
 duced by Catharine of Arragon as an important document in 
 favour of the legality of her marriage with Henry VIII. See 
 Life of Anne Boleyn, by Agnes Strickland, pp. 227, 228. It 
 might have even been named after Clement VII. (elected Pope 
 10 Nov., 1523, died 26 Sep., 1534), Avhose name was Julius de 
 Medicis, who refused to grant the divorce between Henry and 
 Catharine. He was natural son of Julian de Medicis, cousin 
 of Leo X. 
 
 POPERY. The religion of the Roman Catholic Church, 
 comprehending doctrines and practices ; so called from the 
 Pope, in L. Papa. 
 
 POPE'S NOSE. The extremity of the rump of a roast 
 fowl, devilled as a dainty for epicures. 
 
 POPLIN. A stuff made of the finest wool and silk, first 
 introduced into Ireland by a French emigrant family named 
 Latouche (who founded there a manufactory of Papelines or 
 Popelines) upon publication of the Edict of Nantes by Louis 
 XIV. (22 Oct., 1685). It was first made at Avignon, in 
 France, which was formerly part of the Papal territories, and 
 was on that account called Papeline, from Pape; Med. L. Papa, 
 the Pope. For further information see Diet, des Sciences, 
 new Ed. 1847, 4o, pp. 328, 419. 
 
 PORT. A dark purple astringent wine made in Portugal, 
 and drank there ; so called from Porto or Oporto, whence it 
 
 was formerly shipped. A wine made in Portugal for British 
 
 consumption, and shipped from Oporto. A wine made in 
 
 England from cider, logwood, and common British brandy, 
 drunk by the middle classes. Ford says benicarlo (a Spanish 
 wine), familiarly called " black strap," is much used to concoct 
 what the trade call curwiis old port. 
 
 PORTEGUE. A gold coin equal to 31. lOs. {Bailey); 
 doubtless coined in Portugal.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 243 
 
 PORTITE. A mineral, a hydrous silicate, from the gabbro 
 rosso in Tuscany ; named after M. Porte, of Tuscany. 
 
 PORTLAND STONE. A yellowish-white calcareous 
 freestone, much used in building ; from the Isle of Portland 
 in England. 
 
 PORTO RICO. A tobacco much smoked in Germany ; 
 brought from Porto Rico, one of the Spanish West India 
 islands. 
 
 PORTUGAL. A light and elegant carriage ; so named 
 from having been sent to the King of Portugal. 
 
 POUPART'S LIGAMENT {Fallopian ligament). In 
 anatomy, the tendinous attachment of the external oblique 
 muscle of the abdomen to the su]3erior and anterior spinous 
 process of the os ilium and os pubis ; named after Fi-ancis 
 Poupart, a celebrated French physician and anatomist, who 
 Avas born at Mans in 1660, and died in 1709; author of 
 Chirurgie Complete, and of several papers in the memoirs of 
 the Academy of Sciences. 
 
 POURRETIA. A genus of plants, trees, natives of South 
 America ; named by Wildenow in honour of the Abbe Pourret, 
 a French botanist, who wrote on Spanish plants in the memoirs 
 of the Academy of Toulouse. 
 
 POYNINGS' LAW. An act passed in the reign of Henry 
 VII., by which all legislation in Ireland was confined to what 
 had previously been approved by king and council in England; 
 so called from Sir Edward Poynings, then Lieutenant of Ire- 
 land. 
 
 POZZUOLANA, POZZOLANA, or PUZZOLANA. 
 Volcanic ashes, used in the manufacture of mortal", which 
 hardens under water ; from Pozzuoli, in Italy. 
 
 PRADO (VERDE DI). A green marble occurring near 
 the little town of Prado, in Tuscany. 
 
 PRE-AD AMITE. An inhabitant of the earth before the 
 time of Adam. 
 
 PREDAZZITE. A mineral consisting of carbonic acid, 
 lime, magnesia, water, alumina, red oxide of iron, and silica ; 
 found at Predazzo, in the Tyrol. 
 
 PREHNITE. A pale green mineral, consisting of silica, 
 
 R 2
 
 244 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 alumina, and lime, Avith some water ; named by Werner after 
 Colonel Prehn, who first found it at the Cape, and brought it 
 to Europe. 
 
 PRE-RAPHAELITISM. A system of painting said to be 
 founded on truthfulness to nature only, as opposed to the 
 teaching and practice of schools founded on laws derived from 
 the works of great painters ; truthfulness to nature irrespective 
 of any conventional rules of painting. It was founded by 
 Rossetti about 1849-50, and was first introduced into England 
 by Millais, Holman Hunt,' &c. Pre-Raphael simply means 
 "before Raphael;" because, before his time, painters had no 
 other guide but that afforded by the study of nature. 
 
 PREvSTONIA. A genus of plants, the only known species 
 of which is P. tomentosa, a twining downy shrub, found near 
 the banks of the Rio de Janeiro, in the Brazils ; named by Mr. 
 R. Brown in memory of Dr. Charles Preston, a correspondent 
 of Ray. 
 
 PRESTON SALTS. Salts prepared by adding a few 
 drops of liquor ammoniae fortior and some volatile oils to 
 coarsely-powdered sesqui-carbonate of ammonia ; originally 
 from Preston Pans, in Scotland. The monks of Newbottle, 
 Avho obtained a grant of Preston before 1189, from Robert de 
 Quincey, and who discovered coal within their lands, esta- 
 blished a salt work here, which gave rise to the name of 
 Preston Pans, and at the beginning of the last century it Avas 
 commonly called Salt Preston. 
 
 PRINCE'S METAL. A mixture of copper and zinc, in 
 imitation of gold ; also called Prince Rupert's metal, because 
 it is said to have been invented by him. 
 
 PROCRUSTEAN. Resembling Procrustes, or his mode 
 of torture. " Procrustes, called by Pausanias Polyphaemon, 
 was, in Grecian mythology, a robber, who placed on an iron 
 bed travellers who fell into his hands, which their stature Avas 
 made to fit by cutting off the projecting limbs, or by stretching 
 them to suit its dimensions: hence the metaphorical expression, 
 ' the bed of Procrustes.' " " He is obliged, Procntstes-Yike, to 
 cut off' some letter from the beginning, middle, or end ; or, by 
 the touch of his magical wand, to make the letters of the
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 245 
 
 radical change place, or start above their fellows, before they 
 will suit his purpose " (Ed. Rev. iii. 317). 
 
 PROMETHEAN. Having the life-giving quality of the 
 fire which Prometheus stole from heaven. 
 
 " Whence doth spring the true Promethean fire." — Love's Lab. Lost. 
 
 " I know not where is that Promethean heat that can thy light relume." 
 —Othello. 
 
 A glass tube containing sulphuric acid, and surrounded 
 
 by an inflammable mixture, which it ignites on being pressed. 
 
 PROSERPINACA. A genus of North American aquatic 
 plants. LinniBus derives the name a p7-oserpendo, from its 
 creeping habit. According to others, it is an ancient name in 
 Apuleius, and is the Proserpina of Pliny, and is so called after 
 Proserpine, queen of the infernal regions, because it grows in 
 low places infested with frogs and newts. Cf. Gronovius and 
 Miller's Diet. ' 
 
 PROTEA. A genus of plants, shrubs, chiefly natives of 
 the Cape ; named by Linnaeus after Proteus, in allusion to the 
 great diversity of habit in the different species. See Proteus. 
 
 PROTEAN. Readily assuming different shaj)es ; lit. per- 
 taining to or resembling Proteus, q.v. 
 
 " Change shapes with Proteus for advantages." — 3 Hen. VI. 
 
 " I am not, however, very sanguine as to the result of the 
 experiment in Turin, knoAving how strangely Protean are the 
 forms of prejudice, and how curiously and unexpectedly they 
 manifest themselves in different countries." 
 
 PROTEAN STONE. A material invented by Mr. Che- 
 verton ; manufactured from gypsum, which, by various modes 
 of treating it, is made to resemble ivory, granite, or different 
 kinds of marble. See Proteus. 
 
 PROTEUS. One who easily changes his form or principles; 
 so called from Proteus, son of Oceanus and Tethys, whose 
 distinguishing characteristic was the faculty of assuming diffe- 
 rent shapes. A genus of batrachian reptiles, allied to the 
 
 sirens, salamanders, and frogs. A genus of homogeneous in- 
 fusoria.
 
 246 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 PRUSSIAN BLUE. A bisalt of a beautiful deep blue, 
 much used as a pigment ; from Prussia. 
 
 PRUSSIATE. A name first applied to Prussian blue, but 
 subsequently to numerous salts in which the protocjanide of 
 iron is the acid. See Prussian Blue. 
 
 PRUSSIC ACID. An acid, a deadly poison, obtained from 
 Prussian blue {q.v.), in which it forms the colouring matter. 
 
 PTOLEMAIC. A system maintained by Ptolemy, who 
 supposed the earth to be fixed in the centre of the universe, 
 and the sun and stars to revolve around it. This theory was 
 received for ages, but has been rejected for the Copernican 
 system. 
 
 PUNCH AND JUDY. Supposed to be a corruption of 
 Pontius Pilatus aim Judceis, represented in some miracle-play 
 {S. F. Cresivell). Theobald, in a note to Shakespeare, says, 
 " There was hardly an old play till the period of the Refor- 
 mation which had not in it a devil, and a droll character, who 
 was to play upon and work the devil." " Perhaps," says a 
 correspondent of N. & Q., " Judas was often introduced as a 
 fit representative, and so in our street exhibitions we generally 
 see both characters (Judas corrupted in Judy), and Punch 
 victorious over botli. Galiani, in his vocabulary of the Nea- 
 politan dialect, has bestowed a great deal of learning upon the 
 subject. lie fixes on Pucchio d' A niello, at Acerra, near 
 Naples, as the original Punch, and says that after his death a 
 Polecenella, or young Puccio, succeeded him." Another corre- 
 spondent of N. & Q. says, " The name of Punch in Italy is 
 Poncinello, a very easy corruption of Pontiello or Pontianello; 
 Judy is certainly very like Giudei (the Jews) or Giuda (Judas). 
 There are certainly two places in Europe where traditions 
 respecting Pontius Pilate still survive — Avignon, where some 
 say that he died, and Mount Pilatus, near Lucerne. The 
 story at the latter place is, that he threw himself into a lake 
 on the top of the mountain. It would appear from this that 
 traditions respecting him were afloat during the Middle Ages, 
 and nothing is more likely than their embodiment in a mystery 
 play." Again, another writer derives the name from itoXu 
 Kiviuj, to move much, " which seems to me at least plausible.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 247 
 
 considering that the founders of Neapolis were a Greek 
 colony, and that their descendants still retain very many 
 features of their original country." The most probable deri- 
 vation is that from Punchinello, from Pulicinella, a character in 
 the Neapolitan drama ; so called from pullicinus, a little 
 chicken, because his nose resembles the disproportioned beak 
 of a young pullet. The name Jiuhj is exclusively English. 
 But see Notes and Queries, 1st S., v. 610; vi. 43, 184; 2nd 
 S., ii. 430, 495-6 ; Rev. des Deux Mondes, vol. 20, p. 823, 
 1 June, 1840 ; and voc. Pantaloon in this Dictionary. 
 
 PUNIC. Faithless, treacherous, deceitful; lit. pertaining 
 
 to the Pceni, Phoeni {i.e. the Carthaginians), Carthage having 
 
 been settled by Phoenicians. The Latins used tlie term Punica 
 
 fides (Punic or Carthaginian faith) to denote unfaithfulness, 
 
 treachery, perfidiousness. The ancient language of the 
 
 Carthaginians, of which Plautus has left a specimen. 
 
 PURBECK STONE. A limestone from the isle of Pur- 
 beck, a peninsular district, co. Dorset ; possessing excellent 
 quarries of stone, slate, and marble. 
 
 PUSEYISM. The principles of Dr. Pusey and others at 
 Oxford, as exhibited in " The Tracts for the Times." They 
 propose to carry back the discipline and doctrine of the Church 
 of England to an imagined period, when there would have 
 been no ground of separation from the then Church of Rome. 
 — Smart. 
 
 PUSEYITE. One who holds the principles of Pusey ism. 
 
 PUSSEY-CATS. A corruption of Puseyites, a name con- 
 stantly, but improperly, given to the " Tractarian " party in 
 the Church ; from the Oxford Regius Professor of Hebrew, 
 who by no means approved of the Romanizing tendencies of 
 some of its leaders. — J. C. Hotten. 
 
 PYRRHIC. An ancient military dance, said to have been 
 invented by Pyrrhus. In poetry, the foot so called. 
 
 PYRRHONISM. Scepticism, univei'sal doubt ; from 
 Pyrrho, founder of the Sceptics. " Launched into a dark 
 shoreless sea of Pyrrlionism, what would remain for us but to 
 sail aimless, hopeless; or make merry, Avhile the devouring 
 Death had not yet engulfed us?" {Carlyle).
 
 248 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 PYRRHONIST. A sceptic; one who doubts of every- 
 thing. See Pyrrhonism. 
 
 PYTHAGOREAN. A follower of or belonging to the 
 philosojihy of Pythagoras, founder of the Italic sect of philo- 
 sophers. 
 
 PYTHAGORISM. The doctrines of Pythagoras. 
 
 PY^'THIAN. Delphic ; pertaining to Pythia, priestess of 
 Apollo, who delivered oracles. 
 
 PYTHIAN GAMES. One of the four great national 
 festivals of ancient Greece, celebrated near Delphi (an old 
 name of which was Pytho), in Phocis, in honour of Apollo, 
 conqueror of the dragon Python : hence Apollo himself was 
 called UvQiOQ, UvSouv. 
 
 PY'THONESS. A sort of witch ; any female supposed to 
 have a spirit of divination ; so called from the priestess who 
 gave oracular answers at Delphi. See Ptthian. 
 
 PYTHONIST. A conjurer.— TFeJs^er. See Pythoness. 
 
 Q. 
 
 QUARRINGTON. A Devonshire apple so named, but 
 whether from the cultivator or from locality is doubtful. 
 There are places called Quarrington in cos. Durham and 
 Lincoln. 
 
 QUASSIA. A genus of plants, at present comprising but 
 one species, viz., Quassia amara (Liunteus). It was once 
 much employed as a bitter tonic medicine, but, the supply not 
 equalling the demand, the Picra^na excelsa (Lindley) was gra- 
 dually substituted, under the same name, and is the article now 
 incorrectly called Quassia in the shops. The former is a 
 native of Surinam, Guiana, Colombia, and Panama ; and the 
 latter of Jamaica. The wood and bark, both of the root and 
 top, of both of these articles are the parts employed in medi- 
 cine. The Quassia amara had its name from a negro named 
 Quassi or Quash, who used it with remarkable success in curing 
 a malignant fever which prevailed at Surinam.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 249 
 
 QUASSINE or QUASSITE. The name given by 
 Wiggers to the bitter principle of Picr^ena excelsa ; from 
 quassia, q.v. 
 
 QUEEN BESS. The- queen of clubs ; perhaps so called 
 because that queen, history says, was of a swarthy complexion. 
 — North Hants. See Gentleman's Magazine for 1791, p. 141. 
 
 QUIDDANY. Marmalade ; a confection of quinces pre- 
 pared with sugar ; from L. cydonhtm, quiddany ; cijdonites, 
 marmalade; c i/ donia (sc. mala), quinces. Gr. kvScvviov (fj.riXov'), 
 a quince ; from kuSojvsoc or KuScuvia, the quince-tree ; from 
 Ku^ouvia,, Cydonia, a town of Crete; thus xvSujvta, kvSujviov, 
 cydonium, cydonio, cydoni, cydani, quidani, quidany, Quiddany, 
 
 QUINCE (Fr. coin or coing ; Armor, avalcouign ; G. qtiitte, 
 quidden, quittenapfel ; D. kwee, quee, queeper, queepeerboom, the 
 quince-tree). A fruit much used in making pies, tarts, mar- 
 malade, &c. Webster renders the Armoric word, " the cor- 
 nered apple or wedge-apple," and he says one species of the 
 quince is of an oblong shape, from which, jirobably, it has its 
 French name. Again, Bescherelle derives coiiig from Celt. 
 coin, fruit. But all forms of the word are more probably 
 corrupted from L. cydonia (mala), • quinces (Gr. KvSujyia, the 
 quince-ti'ee), from Ku'Scajvioc, Cydonia, a town of Crete, famous 
 for abounding with this fruit. 
 
 QUINCEITE. A hydrated silicate of magnesia tinged red 
 by oxide of iron ; found near Quincey, in France. 
 
 QUININA, QUINIA, QUININE. An alkaloid obtained 
 from various species of cinchona, and one of the active prin- 
 ciples of these trees ; a very important article of medicine, 
 much used in the treatment of fevers, agues, certain sorts of 
 mortifications, &c.; properly cinchonina, cinchonia, cinchonine, 
 or cinchona. According to some, it had its name from the 
 Countess de Chinchon, wife of the viceroy of Peru, who was 
 cured of a fever in 1638 by this medicine. The Cond^sa del 
 Cincon or Chincon (perhaps from Chinca, in Peru), wife of the 
 viceroy of Peru, brought some of this powder with her to 
 Europe in 1639. Soon afterwards Cardinal de Lugo, a 
 Jesuit, brought it to Rome, where it was called Jesuits' bark, 
 otherwise Jesuits' powder, Pulvis Cardinalis de Lugo, Pnlvi.s
 
 250 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 Patrum, and Pulvis Comitissa3 (countess's powder). It was 
 subsequently employed in France by Sir Robert Talbor, whence 
 it was called Talbor's powder, or the English remedy. 
 
 QUIXOTISM. Romantic and absurd notions ; schemes or 
 actions like those of Don Quixote, the hero of Cervantes. 
 
 R. 
 
 RABEL WATER (^Eau cle Rabel, Aqua Rabelliana). A 
 water consisting of one part of sulphuric acid and three of 
 rectified spirit of wine, constituting a sort of sulphuric ether ; 
 named from its inventor, the empiric Rabel. 
 
 RABBI WATER (Eabbi loasser'). A chalybeate water 
 from the baths of Rabbi, Val di Rabbi, Tyrol ; much frequented 
 by the Trentines and Tyrolese. 
 
 RABBINIC, RABBINICAL. Pertaining to the Rabbins, 
 or to their opinions, learning, and language. 
 
 RABBINISM. A rabbinic expression or phraseology ; a 
 peculiarity of the language of the Rabbis. 
 
 RAFE or RALPH. A pawnbrokei*'s duplicate {Norwich ; 
 J. C. Hotteu); doubtless from the name of a pawnbroker. 
 
 RAGUSINA. A silver coin of Tuscany, Ragusa, and 
 Venice; so named from Ragusa, where it was the highest 
 silver coin, worth 3s. Ifd. sterling. It was also called talaro 
 (dollar) and vislino. 
 
 RAJANIA. A genus of climbing plants, nat. or. Diosco- 
 riacecB ; called after Ray, the celebrated naturalist. — Crabb. 
 
 RAMILIE. A cocked hat, worn temp. George I. ; named 
 
 in commemoration of the famous battle of Ramilies. A wig 
 
 worn as late as the reign of George III, A long gradually- 
 diminishing plait to the wig, with a great bow at the top, and 
 a smaller one at the bottom. See Planche. 
 
 RAMIST or RAMEAN. A follower of Pierre Ramee 
 (Peter Ramus), professor of rhetoric and philosophy in Paris 
 temp. Henry II., who perished in the massacre of St. Bartho- 
 lomew. His system of logic was opposed to that of the, Aris-
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 251 
 
 totoliiiu party, between whom tiud his followers there r.iged a 
 vehement contest during the hitter half'of the sixteenth century. 
 The dispute rendered essential service to science, by exposing 
 the absurdities of the schoolmen. . 
 
 RANDAL'S-MAN. A neckerchief, colour green, with 
 white spots ; named after Jack Randal, the pugilist. — J. C 
 Hotten. 
 
 RAYNES or RENNES. A table cloth supposed by Mr. 
 Douce to have been manufactured at Rennes, in Bretagne ; 
 " A cloth of reines." " Thenne the Kerver shall go into the 
 Cupibord and redresse and ordeyne Wafers into Toweyles of 
 Raynes or fine Napkins," &c. (Notes to a Relation, or rather 
 Ane account of England, an. 1500, &c., translated from the 
 Italian by Miss Charlotte Augusta Sney, published by the 
 Camden Society in 1847). 
 
 REAUMUR. A method of graduation on the thermometer, 
 which is still the only one used in France and many parts of 
 the continent ; invented by Reaumur. vSee Reaumuria. 
 
 REAUMURIA. A plant, so called in honour of the great 
 French naturalist, the Sieur de Rene Antoine Ferchault 
 Reaumur (born at Rochelle, 1683), principally known as a 
 botanist by his examination of the fructification of Fuci, but 
 chiefly celebrated as a philosophical inquirer into the history 
 of insects, and their transformations, &c. Linnaeus mentions 
 
 Hasselquist as the author of the name Reaumuria, of which no 
 traces are found in his book. 
 
 REDOWA. A fashionable dance, doubtless brought from 
 
 Poland, The ofiicial gazette of Poland is called the Gazeta 
 
 Bedorva. Both names are probably derived from Radow, in 
 
 Poland ; or perhaps from a surname. 
 
 REINSCH'S TEST. A test for the detection of arsenic 
 
 in mixed solutions, consisting in boiling slips of metallic 
 
 copper in a portion of the filtered liquor ; invented by 
 
 Reinsch. 
 
 REMOLINITE. A mineral consisting of hydrochloric acid, 
 
 chlorine, copper, water, and silica ; found at Los Remolinos, in 
 
 Chili ; also in Peru ; in Saxony; and on the lavas of Vesuvius 
 
 and ^tna.
 
 252 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 REUSSINE (also 7-eussin and renssite), A salt of sulphate 
 of soda and magnesia, found in the form of a mealy efflorescence ; 
 discovered in the neighbourhood of Sedlitz, in Bohemia. Ac- 
 cording to some, it was named in honour of M. Reuss, the 
 German mineralogist, who first analysed it and made it known. 
 Others derive the name from the principality of Reuss, in 
 Germany, where they say it was found. 
 
 REYNOLDS'S SPECIFIC. A nostrum for gout and 
 rheumatism, consisting of the fresh bulb of colchicum and 
 sherry wine ; invented by Reynolds, who is said to have killed 
 himself by taking an over-dose of it. 
 
 RHABARBARUM. Rhubarb. Forsyth derives this word 
 " from Hha and hai^harus, wild; so called because brought from 
 the banks of the Rha, now the Volga, in Russia." See also 
 Isidorus, and Littleton's Lat. Diet. 
 
 RHAPONTICUM. Systematic name of the rhapontic 
 rhubarb. Forsyth renders it the " Rha Pontus, i.e. Rha, in 
 Russia, on whose banks it grew." Pliny calls it Rhacoma ; 
 Celsus, Radix Pontica. 
 
 RHEUM. A genus of plants, mostly perennials, including 
 the different species which yield the stalks and root called 
 rhubarb ; supposed by some to derive its generic name from 
 Rha (the Volga), a river of Russia, on whose banks some 
 species of the genus abound. It is the Pijov of Dioscorides, 
 which some, however, derive from psuj, to flow. 
 
 RHINE-GRAVE (G. Rhein-graf). The Count Palatine 
 of the Rhine. 
 
 RHUBARB. See Rhabarbarum. 
 
 RIBSTON or RIB STONE PIPPIN. An apple brought 
 from Italy by the late Sir Harry Goodricke. It received its 
 present appellation from having been first grown in this coun- 
 try at Sir Harry's residence, Ribstone Hall, in Yorkshire, 
 where the original tree was still growing a few years since. 
 
 RICCIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. HejyaticcB ; named in 
 honour of P. F. Ricci, a noble Florentine, and a great patron 
 of botany. 
 
 RICE (Fr. riz or ris, It. riso, Sp. and Port, arvoz, G. reiz or 
 reiss, D. v>jst, Dan. ris, L. oryza, Gr. opu^a, Eth. rez). A plant
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA, 253 
 
 of the genus Oryza, aud its seed, of which there is only one 
 species. 
 
 " Sume hoc ptisanarium oryzce." — Hor. Sat. iii., 155. 
 
 The common rice, Oryza sativa, is a native of Hindustan, 
 where it grows in a wild state in and about the borders of 
 lakes. The rice plant is also a native of Ethiopia. Webster 
 gives the Arab, arazon, from araza, to be contracted, or to be 
 firmly fixed ; and he says the word is common to most of the 
 Asiatics, Persians, Turks, Armenians, and Tatars. Others 
 derive the word from Orissa, in Hindustan. 
 
 RICHARD SONIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Cinchon- 
 acece ; called after Mr. Richardson, an English botanist. 
 
 RICHEBOURG. A fine wine from Richebourg, in Bur- 
 gundy, It is usually called Viu de St. George. 
 
 RIOLITE. A mineral, colour lead-grey, composed of silver 
 and selenium ; found at Tasco, in Mexico ; named after the 
 mineralogist Del Rio. 
 
 RITTERA. A plant, native of the Caribbees ; named by 
 Schreber in honour either of Albertus, or Joannes Jacobus 
 Ritter, physician in Silesia, born at Bern 1714. 
 
 RIVINA. A plant, native of the West Indies; named by 
 Plumier after Augustus Quirinus Rivinus, prof, of physiology 
 and medicine at Leipzig. 
 
 RIVINIAN. A name given to the excretory ducts of the 
 glands situated under the tongue ; so called after their disco- 
 verer, Rivinus. 
 
 ROAM. To wander ; to ramble ; to rove ; to walk or move 
 about from place to place without any certain purpose or di- 
 rection ; lit. to wander to Rome for the sake of religion. 
 
 ROAN (Port. rudo). A sort of linen for handkerchiefs, 
 made at Rouen, found Rouan. 
 
 ROBERD'S-MAN or ROBERT' S-MAN. In the old 
 statutes of England, a bold, stout robber, or night-thief; said 
 to be so called from Robin Hood, a famous robber. — John- 
 son. 
 
 ROBERT or HERB-ROBERT. An annual plant, of the 
 genus Geranium ; probably named after the horticulturist. 
 
 #
 
 254 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 ROBERT SAUCE, A sauce made of onions, mustard, 
 butter, pepper, salt, and vinegar {Bailey) ; probably named 
 after the maker. 
 
 ROBINIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Leguminosce ; named 
 after J. Robin, herbalist to Henry IV. of France. 
 
 ROCHE ALUM {Roch alum). A variety of alum, origi- 
 nally brought from Roccha, formerly called Edesea, in Syria. 
 That now sold under this name is common English alum, arti- 
 ficially coloured. 
 
 ROCHELLE SALT. Tartrate of potassa and soda, used 
 in medicine as a mild aperient ; from Rochelle, in France. It 
 is also called Sel de Seignette. Its classical name is Rupellensis 
 sal ; from Rupella, the L. appellation of Rochelle. " So called 
 from M. Seignette, of Rochelle, by whom it was first prepared " 
 {Crahb-). 
 
 RODOMONTADE (Fr. id.. It. rodomontdta). Vain boast- 
 ing; empty bluster or vaunting ; rant. 
 
 " It is thus that Lord Palmerston brought to a close the too numerous 
 bravadoes of his career, by a declaration which combines rodomontade 
 with reculade in a fashion odiously burlesque." — 31. Forgade. 
 
 The word is derived from Rodomont, a blustering and boasting 
 hero of Boiardo, adopted by Ariosto. 
 
 ROELLA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Campanulacece, na- 
 tives of the Cape and Barbary ; named by Linnseus in honour 
 of William Roelle, prof, of anatomy at Amsterdam, who sent 
 many seeds of plants to Linna3us from both Indies, Africa, and 
 Japan ; amongst others the seeds of this plant from Africa. 
 
 ROHRIA. A genus of plants, of only one species, native 
 of Guiana; named by Schreber after Julius von Rohr, who 
 sent many plants to Europe from South America and the West 
 Indies. 
 
 ROMAIC. A term applied to the modern Greek language; 
 from Rouina, a name by which the Arabs called the Greeks. 
 The Arabic Rum is used to designate alike Rome, Greece, the 
 Turkish empire, Roumelia, and Asia Minor. 
 
 ROMAIKA. A national Greek dance which owes its origin 
 to the classical period of Greek history. See Romaic.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 255 
 
 ROMAN. An epithet for the type now commonly used, in 
 distinction from the Italic. 
 
 ROMANCE, A term denoting the dialect formerly pre- 
 valent in some of the southern districts of France, which 
 
 springs directly from the Roman or Latin language. A 
 
 fabulous relation or story of adventures and incidents designed 
 for the entertainment of readers ; a fiction ; as a verb, to forge 
 and tell fictitious stories; to deal in extravagant stories. "The 
 Latin ceased to be spoken in France about the ninth century, 
 and was succeeded by what was called the Romance tongue, a 
 mixtui'e of the language of the Franks and bad Latin. As the 
 songs of chivalry became the most popular compositions in that 
 language, they were emphatically called romans or romants, 
 though this name was at first given to any piece of poetry." 
 
 ROMANEE. A celebrated red wine grown at Romanee, 
 dep. Cote-d'Or, famed for its vineyards. A common Bur- 
 gundy with a Romanee label, occasionally sold in England. 
 
 ROMANESQUE. A term applied in painting to that which 
 appertains to romance, or rather to fable, as connected with 
 objects of fancy ; in architecture, to the debased styles subse- 
 quent to, and imitative of, the Roman ; in literature, to the 
 common dialect in some of the southern districts of France, 
 the remains of the old Roman language. 
 
 ROMANISM. The tenets of the Church of Rome. 
 
 ROMANIZE. To Latinize; to fill with Latin words or 
 modes of speech ; to convert to the Roman Catholic religion or 
 opinions ; to conform to Roman Catholic opinions, customs, or 
 modes of speech. 
 
 ROMANS!! or ROMANSCH. The dialect of the Grisons 
 in Switzerland ; a corruption of the Latin or Roman lan- 
 guage. 
 
 ROMANTIC. Pertaining to romance, or resembling it; 
 wild, fanciful, extravagant ; as a romantic taste, romantic no- 
 tions, romantic expectations, romantic zeal. Improbable or 
 
 chimerical ; fictitious ; as a romantic tale. Fanciful, wild ; 
 
 full of wild or fantastic scenery ; as a romantic prospect, a 
 romantic situation ; from romance, q.v. 
 
 ROMANTICISM. The state of being romantic or fantastic;
 
 256 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 applied chiefly to the unnatural productions of the modern 
 French school of novelists. See Romance. 
 
 ROMANZOVITE. A variety of garnet, colour brown or 
 brownish -yellow ; named after Count RomanzofF. — Cleaveland. 
 
 ROMEINE. A mineral consisting of antimonious acid and 
 lime, colour hyacinth or honey -yellow ; named after the 
 mineralogist Rome de L'Isle, 
 
 ROMEPENNY or ROMESCOT. A tax of a penny on a 
 house, formerly paid by the people of England to the Church 
 of Rome. 
 
 ROQUELAURE (Fr.) A man's cloak used in the begin- 
 ning of the last century; named after the Due de Roquelaure, 
 renowned for his courage, his military talents, and his genius. 
 
 ROS CALABRINUS. A designation of the officinal 
 manna. " Dew of Calabria," a district of Italy. 
 
 ROSELITE. A very rare mineral occurring in small deep 
 rose-coloured crystals, associated with cobalt bloom, at Schnee- 
 berg, in Saxony ; named in honour of Dr. Gustavus Rose, of 
 Berlin, a learned naturalist. 
 
 ROTA. A red wine from Rota, a seaport. Bay of Cadiz ; 
 sacked by the English in 1 702. 
 
 ROTHIA. A genus of plants, or. CichoracecB, natives of 
 the south of Europe; named by Schreber in honour of Dr. 
 Albert William Roth, a physician of Bremen, author of Flora 
 Germanica, &c. 
 
 ROTTBOELLA or ROTTBOLLIA. An extensive genus 
 of grasses, distributed throughout Asia, and also found in 
 Egypt ; named by Linnajus the younger in honour of Dr. 
 Christian Friis Rottboll, professor of botany and anatomy at 
 the University of Copenhagen, author of several botanical 
 treatises, &c. — Wright.   
 
 ROUENNERIE. Printed cotton manufactured at Rouen, 
 in Normandy, and celebrated all over France. 
 
 ROUNCENVAL. A variety of pea, so called from Ron- 
 cesvalles (Fr. Eoncevaux), a frontier village of Spain, in a 
 gorge of the Pyrenees. 
 
 ROUSSEA. A climbing shi'ub, of only one species, found 
 by Commerson in St. Mauritius ; named by J. E. Smith, M.D.,
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 257 
 
 in memory of Jean Jacques Rousseau, who wrote very elegant 
 letters on botany. Linnasus, who frequently corresponded with 
 him, had in his MSS. consecrated a plant to his name ; but the 
 younger Linna3us having, by mistake, published that under the 
 name of Russelia, Dr. Smith gave this new, beautiful, and very 
 singular genus the name of Roussea. — Miller. 
 
 ROUSSEAU'S DREAM. A celebrated air composed by 
 Jean Jacques Rousseau, and a pantomime tune in his opera 
 Le Devin du Village. See N. & Q,, 2nd S. iii., 13, 135; and 
 3rd S. iii. 260. 
 
 ROUSSILLON. A fine red wine from Roussillon, an old 
 province of France, sepai-ated from Spain by the Pyrenees. 
 
 ROXBURGHIA. Aplant, anative of Coromandel; named 
 in honour of William Roxburgh, M.D., a native of Scotland, 
 who settled in the East Indies, author of a splendid work on 
 the plants of the Coromandel coast. 
 
 ROYAN. A species of sardine caught in autumn, a table 
 delicacy furnished by the Bordeaux markets ; perhaps named 
 from Royan, a seaport at the mouth of the Gironde. 
 
 ROYENA. A genus of plants, natives of the Cape ; named 
 by Linnoeus in honour of Adrian van Royen, prof, of botany at 
 Ley den. 
 
 RUABON. A coal from Rhuabon, North Wales. 
 
 RUBICON. The name of a small river which separated 
 Italy from Cisalpine Gaul, the province allotted to Caesar. 
 When Caesar crossed this river he invaded Italy, with the in- 
 tention of reducing it to his power: hence to pass or cross the. 
 Rubicon signifies to take a desperate step in an enterprise, oi' 
 to adopt a measure from which one cannot recede, or from 
 which one is determined not to recede. Some authors make 
 the RuUcon the modern Fiumecino ; others the Pisatello, 
 which flows into it. 
 
 RiJDESHEIMER. A celebrated red wine made from 
 grapes grown at Riidesheim, opposite Bingen, on the Rhine. 
 The best quality grows upon the terraces overhanging the 
 
 Rhine, close to Ehrenfels. An inferior Rhine wine Avith a 
 
 Rudesheimer label, sold in England. 
 
 RUDOLPHINE. An epithet applied to a set of astro-
 
 258 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 nomical tables computed by Kepler, and founded on the obser- 
 vations of Tycho Brahe ; so named from Rudolph II., King of 
 Bohemia, Emperor of Germany. 
 
 RUFFIAN (formerly mffin and rouffin, Fr. ruffien, a bawd). 
 A boisterous brutal fellow ; a fellow ready for any desperate, 
 crime ; a robber ; a cutthroat ; a murderer. 
 
 " In the meantime a commune and notable rufyan or thefe, whiclie 
 hadde robbed and slayne a manne, was entred into the barne where Gysyp- 
 jius laye," — Sir J. Elyot. The Governovr, b. ii., c. 12. 
 
 " His blood a traitor's sacrifice was made, 
 And smok'd indignant on a ruffian's blade." 
 
 Young. Last Day, b. ii. 
 
 Webster says, " If this word signifies primarily a robber, it is 
 from the root of roh, Sw. rofva, Dan. rover ; in Scottish, ntffie 
 is a worthless fellow; in It., ruffiano is a pimp, Sp. rujian, Port. 
 rujiam, D. i^offiaan, id." Todd says, " Some have thought that 
 our word is from ruff, the bullies and swaggerers of old time 
 wearing enormous ruffs." Ferrari derives ruffiano from L. 
 rufa, scurf of the head ; and he says mfare is to rub tlie head 
 and remove the scurf, &c. Du Cange derives ruffiano from 
 rufus, red, because the hair of courtesans was ordinarily red, 
 whereas that of virtuous women was ordinarily black ; and 
 Menage adds, that the Italian ladies who pretended to gallantry, 
 when they washed their heads, made use of a wash which dyed 
 the hair red, and that on account of its colour they called it 
 la hioncla. He says also, " Euffen signifie aussi parmy nous un 
 homme debauche aux femmes ; et ce mot en cette signification 
 est plus usite qu'en I'autre." Nicot says the Fr. word signifies 
 a maquereau {i.e. a pander or pimp) ; but that at all events 
 both the Fr. and Eng. words are from the It. mffiano, which 
 some derive from Rufus, a celebrated pimp, from rufus, red ; 
 because pimps wore red garments. 
 
 RUIZIA. A genus of shrubs, natives of the Isle of Bour- 
 bon ; named by Cavanilles in honour of Don Hippolito Ruiz, 
 a Spanish botanist, who, in conjunction with Pavon, wrote the 
 splendid Flora Peruviana. — WrigJd, 
 
 RUMBLE. See Rumbolu.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 259 
 
 RUMBOLD. A carriage of the stanhope kind ; either 
 named after the maker, or from one of the Rumbold family : 
 hence, perhaps, rumble, the hind seat of a travelling carriage, 
 
 for servants. A machine used to clean small works of cast 
 
 iron, Avhich soon scrub each other bright by friction. 
 
 RUMFORD. Name of one of the earliest improvements of 
 the common stove, for the purpose of saving fuel ; invented by 
 the celebrated Count Rumford, whose title was conferred on 
 him by the Elector of Bavaria. His real name was Benjamin 
 Thompson, and he was born at Woburn, New England, in 1 752. 
 
 RUSSELIA. A genus of plants, found by Jacquin about 
 Havana, in close woods and coppices ; named by him in honour 
 of Alexander Russel, M.D., F.R.S., a native of Scotland, 
 author of the Natural History of Aleppo, Lend. 1756. 
 
 RUTHERFORDITE. A mineral occurring along with 
 rutile, brookite, zircon, and monazite, at the gold mines of 
 Rutherford & Co., North Carolina. 
 
 S. 
 
 SABAISM or TSABAISM. The name given by Arabic 
 writers to a species of idolatry, which consisted in worshipping 
 the sun, moon, and stars, and which prevailed to a great extent 
 in Arabia and Mesopotomania. Some derive the word from the 
 Sabaei (Sa/3a/o<), a people of Arabia Felix, who inhabited 
 the northern part of the modern Yemen, the Sheba or Seba of 
 Scripture. According to others, Tsabaism was derived from 
 Tsabi, son or brother of Enoch ; but (says the writer in the P. 
 Cyc.) it is more probably derived from their worshipping the 
 Host of Heaven, D^Dtyn-«ny. It is also called Sabianism, and 
 the Sabian, Sabgean, or Sabaian worship or religion; and its 
 followers Sabians, or Sabeans. 
 
 vSABBATIA. A genus of North American plants, nat, or. 
 Gentianacece, of several species, all characterized by a pure 
 bitter principle, on which account they are extensively used in 
 North America in intermittent and remittent fevers ; named 
 after L. Sabbatia, an Italian botanist. 
 
 s-2
 
 260 VERBA NOMINALTA. 
 
 SABBY. A soft biscuit, probably from Savoy, q.v. 
 
 SABELLIANISM. The doctrines or tenets of Sabellius, 
 an Egyptian philosopher of the third century, who advanced 
 the doctrine of unity in the Deity, declaring the Son and the 
 Holy Ghost to be mere qualities. These tenets obtained many 
 proselytes, and met with great success, till the opposition of 
 St. Dionysius caused them to be formally condemned. 
 
 SABINA {Juniperus Sabina). A tree whose leaves form 
 the active ingredient in the ointment used for keeping up a 
 discharge from blistered surfaces ; so called from the Sabines, 
 whose priests used it in their religious ceremonies. — Forsyth. 
 
 SABINEA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Legiiminosce, whose 
 species are Indian shrubs ; named by De Candolle after Joseph 
 Sabine, F.R.S., long time secretary to the Horticultural Society 
 of London. 
 
 SACK. Formerly a dry Spanish wine, supposed by some 
 to be sherry ; still applied to a kind of sweet rubbish. 
 
 " Go fetch me a quart oi sack, put a toast in it." — Merry W. of W. 
 
 " Wherein is he good, but to taste sack and drink it?" — 1 Hen. IV. 
 
 " Let me rejoice in sprightly sack, that can 
 Create a braine even in an empty pan. 
 Canary !" T. Beaumont. The Vertue of Sack. 
 
 Bailey renders "sack (Sax. sec), a wine called canary, broughl 
 from the Canary Islands ; also a wine brought to us from 
 Malaga, in Spain." Richardson says, " Lat. saccare is to strain 
 through a sack or bag ; and in Low Lat. saccare, per saccum 
 colare et exprimere ; and saccadmn, liquor aquaj fceci vini ad- 
 mixtus, sacco expressus (Du Canrje). For the kind of wine so 
 called, see the commentators on Shakesj)eare, Hen. IV. pt. i. 
 {Drake); Shakespeare and his Times, vol. ii., p. 130." Ac- 
 cording to some, it was called from Xeque, a prov. of Spain, 
 whence it was brought ; but the name of this wine is found 
 written shems-sack or sec, i.e. dry sherry : hence, by abbre- 
 viation, sack. See Sherry. 
 
 SADDUCISM. The doctrine or opinion of the Sadducees. 
 
 SAGERETIA. A genus of plants, nat. fam. Rhamnece^
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 261 
 
 Avhose species arc found in both North Jind South America, 
 Java, China, and in India along the foot of the Himalayas ; 
 named after M. Sageret, a French vegetable physiologist. 
 
 SAHLITE, A massive cleavable variety of augite, first 
 obtained at the Sahla mountain, in Westermania. 
 
 ST. ANTHONY'S FIRE. Popular name of the erysipelas; 
 so called because supposed to have been cured by intercession 
 of St. Anthony. 
 
 ST. CRISPIN'S LANCE. An awl, so named from Cris- 
 pin, the famous patron of the shoemakers. — Bailei/. 
 
 ST. EMILION. A celebrated wine made at St. Emilion, 
 France, dep. Gironde. 
 
 ST. IGNATIUS'S BEAN. Seed of the Ignatia amara, 
 having similar properties to those of nux vomica ; named after ' 
 St. Ignatius. 
 
 ST. JOHN'S BREAD. A plant of the genus Cemtonia ; 
 also called the Carob Tree. — P. Cyc. 
 
 ST. JOHN'S WORT. A name common to plants of the 
 genus Hypericum, most of which have yellow flowers. 
 
 ST. JULIEN. A red wine, named from a village near 
 
 Bordeaux. In England, a wine made of acetic acid, cream 
 
 of tartar, and coloured with cochineal or some other substance. 
 In France, a variety of prune. 
 
 ST. MICHAEL. An orange brought from St. Michael 
 (San Miguel), largest of the Azores or Western Islands. 
 
 ST. P£RAY. A fine high-flavoured white Rhone wine 
 ft'om Saint Peray, dep. Ardeche, renowned for its white wines. 
 
 ST. PETER'S WORT. A plant of the genus Asct/nm, 
 and another of the genus Hijpericum. See Samphire. 
 
 ST. STEPHEN'S. Parliament House, Westminster; so 
 called because St. Stephen's Chapel was, till lately, used by 
 the Lower House for its sittings. — S. F. Cresivell. 
 
 ST. VITUS'S DANCE {Dansc de St. Guy). A disease 
 affecting with irregular movements the muscles of voluntary 
 motion, and attended with a great failure of the general phy- 
 sical strength, called by physicians Chorea Sancti Viti. The 
 name is said to have been borrowed from some devotees of St. 
 Vitus, who exercised themselves so long in dancing that their
 
 262 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 intellects became disordered (P. Cyc.) This disease first broke 
 out in the Archbishopric of Treves and Cologne, and other 
 parts of Germany, in 1374. The name was derived from a 
 chapel in Ulm, dedicated to St. Vitus, which was greatly in 
 vogue with those afilicted with the disease, who flocked thither 
 in crowds to entreat the saint's intercession in their behalf. 
 N. & Q. 2nd S. ii. 188 ; Lit. Gazette, July 12, 1856. Horstius 
 says the name was given to it in consequence of the cure of 
 certain women of disordered mind, upon their visiting the 
 chapel of St. Vitus, and there dancing from morning till night. 
 
 SAL MARTIS {Salt of Mars). Green sulphate of iron. 
 
 SALAM-STONE. A kind of blue sapphire brought from 
 Ceylon {Dana) ; probably derived from Selan (Port. Selan), 
 the Malay name for Ceylon. 
 
 SALIAN. " The original dance among the Romans," says 
 M. Blasis, " was the Salian, taught first by Salius, an Arcadian; 
 whence the word stJtatio." Our author is of opinion that the 
 saltatio was very similar to the Italian grotesque, which was 
 nearly the same as our modern tumbling, or the buffoonery of 
 our English clowns (Fosbroke, Encyc. Antiq. Lond. 1840, 
 
 697). 
 
 SALIC (Fr. salique). Appellation of a law of France by 
 which males alone can inherit the throne. " A law in France 
 made by King Pharamond, or, as some say, by Philip the Long, 
 by which females were excluded from the throne" (CraJ6). 
 Echard deduces this word from sala, a house, and the law from 
 the circumstance that a male only could inherit his father's 
 mansion and the court or laud enclosed (Cf. Montesq. b. 18); 
 others derive the word from sale {sailed), because ordained 
 only for the sales {salles ?) and royal palaces ; or from sel, salt, 
 as though a laAV full of salt, i.e. of wisdom, by a metaphor 
 drawn from salt. Indeed, D'avisson derives it from G. saltz 
 and Zj'/j (salt-like). " Hanc legem Salicam barbaro vocabulo 
 nuncupant origine et nomine, a sale deducta. Vox enim Salica, 
 soils Gallis usurpata, sunt duse voces, a vetere Germanico 
 idiomate corruptee. Saltz quippe Latinis sal vocatur. Et vox 
 ipsa lik, similitudinem aut simile aliquid denotans. Undo vo- 
 cabulum illud barbarum Salik. Lex ilia conservatrix, seu sali
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 263 
 
 similis, vulgo Salica dicta." Postel says it had its origin from 
 the Gauls, and that it was called Salique for Gallique, " pour 
 la proximite et voisinage que la lettrc g en viel moule, avait 
 avec la lettre s." According to others, " Salique is a contrac- 
 tion of Salomonique, because Solomon was the first who prac- 
 tised this law in Judea, in the person of his son Rehoboam." 
 The word has also been derived from Salogast, one of the 
 chief counsellors of Pharamond. Indeed, some assert that 
 Pharamond himself was called Saliqtie. " The most reasonable 
 derivation," says Menage, " is from the Saliens (Salii), the name 
 given to the Franks who dwelt on the borders of the Saale 
 (Sala), in Germany." 
 
 SALISBURY. A tree from China ; but why so named is 
 doubtful. " Salisburia, maiden-hair tree, a genus of plants, 
 nat. or. Taxacece''^ {Crabb). 
 
 SALLY LUNN. " The bun so fashionable, called the sally 
 lunn, originated with a young woman of that name at Bath 
 about thirty years ago. She cried them on a basket, with a 
 white cloth over it, morning and evening. Dalmer, a respect- 
 able baker and musician, noticed her, bought her business, and 
 made a song and set it to music in behalf of Sally Lunn. This 
 composition became the street favourite ; barrows wei'e made 
 to distribute the nice cakes ; Dalmer profited thereby and re- 
 tired, and to this day the sally lunn cake claims pre-eminence 
 in all the cities of England " (Hone's Every Day Book, 1826). 
 
 SAM. To " stand Sam." To pay for refreshment or drink; 
 to stand paymaster for anything. An Americanism, originating 
 in the letters U. S. on the knapsacks of the United States 
 soldiers, which letters were jocularly said to be the initials of 
 Uncle Sam (the Government), who pays for all. In use in this 
 country (England) as early as 1827. — J. C. Hotten. 
 
 SAMARITAN. A term denoting the ancient characters 
 and alphabet used by the Hebi'ews before the Babylonish cap- 
 tivity, and retained by the Samaritans ; so called from Samaria, 
 principal city of the ten tribes of Israel, belonging to the tribe 
 of Ephraim, and, after the captivity of those tribes, repeopled 
 
 by Cushites from Assyria or Chaldea. The language of 
 
 Samaria, a dialect of the Chaldean.
 
 264 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 SAMIAN EARTH. A marl of two species, formerly used 
 in medicine as an astringent ; named from the isle of Samos. 
 
 SAMIAN STONE. A sort of polishing stone used by 
 goldsmiths. See Samian Earth. 
 
 SAMIAN WARE. Vessels, bowls, and dishes of a bright 
 red colour, and of various sizes, fragments of Avhich have been 
 discovered in almost every European country. Cf. Gent. Mag. 
 Ap. 1844, p. 369 ; and Jan. 1845, p. 23. See Samian Earth. 
 
 SAMPHIRE or SAMPIRE. A herb of the genus Crith- 
 7num, which grows upon rocky cliffs near the sea-shore, where 
 it is washed by the salt Avater. It is used for pickling. In 
 the United States the term is applied to what in England is 
 called glass-Avort. The name is said to be a corruption of St. 
 Pierre (St. Peter). 
 
 SAMPSON. An Australian drink. See Samson. 
 
 SAMSON. A cant name given to gin by some vendors^ 
 from its strength ; from the Scripture Samson. 
 
 SAMSON'S POST. In ships, a strong post resting on the 
 keelson, and supporting a beam of the deck over the hold ; 
 probably named, from its strength, from the Scripture Samson. 
 
 A temporary or moveable pillar carrying a leading block 
 
 or pulley for various purposes. 
 
 SAND, GEORGES SAND. A variety of chrysanthemum, 
 red, gold centre ; named after the celebrated French writer. 
 
 SANDWICH. Two pieces of bread and butter, with a thin 
 slice of ham or other meat between them ; said to have been a 
 favourite dish of the Earl of Sandwich. " Lord Sandifich 
 brought into fashion the luncheon of seasoned meat between 
 slices of bread and butter, which goes by his name " (N. h Q. 
 2nd S. vii. 418, 447). 
 
 " When Tom Macaulay's Indian sits 
 Where London's ruins stretch afar, 
 Little he'll tliink of England's fame, 
 Of Waterloo and Trafalgar. 
 
 " Yet England's earls e'on then shall live, 
 Remember'd by our tawny censor, 
 \^'hi!st yet he boasts his ' Sandwich ' box. 
 And wraps h'ua in his ' Spencer.' '*
 
 VERBA NOMTNALIA. 265 
 
 " A human advertising medium placed between tAVo hoards 
 
 strapped over his shouKIcr. A load in the hole is the term 
 ajiplied to the same individual when his person is conjQned by 
 a four-sided box " (/. C. Ilotten). See also Spencer. 
 
 SANTORIN. A dry red wine, with a port wine flavour ; 
 from Santorin, lai'gest of a small group of islands in the Grecian 
 Archipelago. This island was also called Thera and Calliste : 
 hence Thera, a white wine, full of body, and Sercial Madeira 
 character ; and Calliste, a very superior stout wine, equivalent 
 to and resembling Bucellas. Coriuthe is also the name of a 
 stout full-bodied wine, of a champagne flavour, from the same 
 island ; but probably named from Corinth. 
 
 SAPPHIC VERSE. The versification used by Sappho, 
 the Grecian poetess. " The Sapphic verse consists of eleven 
 syllables in five feet, of which the first, fourth, and fifth are 
 trochees, the second a spondee, and the third a dactyl. The 
 Sapphic strophe consists of three Sapphic verses followed by an 
 Adonic " {Brande). 
 
 SARACENIC. Denoting the architecture of the Saracens, 
 the modern Gothic. 
 
 SARASIN or SARRASINE (Fr. sarrasin). A plant, a 
 kind of birth-wort {Poh/gomim fagopynmi); so called, says 
 Bouillet, because, originally from Persia, it was bi'ought into 
 
 Spain by the Arabs or Saracens. In fortification, a sort of 
 
 portcullis or herse ; perhaps first invented or copied from the 
 Saracens. The French give the appellation of sarrasin to a 
 sort of wheat (buckwheat), originally from Africa, and said to 
 have been named from the Saracens. 
 
 SARCENET (Fr. id.. Low. L. saracenicmn) . A fine thin 
 woven silk. The name is found written saracennet, and is 
 supposed to be a corruption of Saracenic, i.e. of Saracen or 
 Oriental origin. Bailey gives It. saracinetto, q.d. Saracen's 
 silk. Webster says, " Qu. saracenicum or Saracen silk." Skin- 
 ner gives sericum saracenicum. " Sarcenet or saracennet, from 
 its Saracenic or Oriental origin, was known about this period 
 (Edw. T.) The robe of Largesse or Liberality in the ' Roman 
 de la Rose ' is said to have been —
 
 266 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 ' Bonne et belle, 
 D'une coute toute nouvelle, 
 D'un pourpre Snrrascinesche.' " 
 
 Line 1172. Planche. 
 
 " Thou tender heir apparent to a church-ale, 
 Thou sleight prince of single sarcenet." 
 
 Beaum. §• F. Philaster, act v. sc. i. 
 
 Dufresne gives " Saracenicum, pannus Saracenici operis, Sar- 
 cenet, in Inventario Eccl. Eboracensis ann. 1530 in Monastico 
 Anglic, torn. 3, pag. 177 : Item una capa del Sarcenet, operata 
 cum imaginihus, etc. Saracenicum opus, ibidem non semel pag. 
 321, 326, etc. [Vide Sarantasmum.']" Also ^^ Saracenu7n,\e\axnQ\\ 
 sanctimonialium comput. ann. 1239, ex. Bibl. Reg.: Abhatissa 
 S. Antonii 2yro vi. supertunicalibus emptis apud Pontisaimm, pro 
 Saracenis, camisiis ; hraccis, sotularibus, et caligis, etc. Saracenum 
 dici videtur quod Saracenis mulieribus maxime solitura erat 
 caput velamento operire, ut testatur le Roman de la Rose 
 
 MS. : 
 
 * Mes ne quevre pas le visage, 
 Qu'il ne veut pas tenir I'usage 
 Des Sarrasins, qui d'estamines 
 Cuevrent le vis as Sarrasines 
 Quant il trespassent par la voie 
 Que nus trespassans ne les voie, 
 Tant sont plains de jalouse rage.' 
 
 Nisi mails vocis originem deducere a Saracenicum^ quod ex 
 panno Saracenici o^^QVlS erant ejusmodi velamina (Vide Gloss. 
 Med. Grrecit. v. 2>capav<)tov)." 
 
 SARD, SARDOIN. A variety of chalcedony, colour rich 
 brownish-red; from the same root as sardel, q.v. 
 
 SARDEL, SARDINE (L. sardius, Gr. ara^hov). A pre- 
 cious stone ; from Sardis, now Sart, in Asia Minor. One of 
 the kind was set in Aaron's breastplate (Exod. xxviii). 
 
 SARDINE or SARDEL. A Mediterranean fish, often 
 prepared, like the anchovy, as a delicacy ; so called from being 
 caught near the island of Sardinia. Menage (quoting Isidore, 
 xii. 6) seems to think that the Sardine (It. sardina, sardella) 
 was so named from resembling a fish called the sar, which 
 abounded in the neighbourhood of Tyre, formerly called Sarra 
 from that circumstance.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 267 
 
 SARDINIAN. A graceful vehicle, named after its patron, 
 the King of Sardinia. 
 
 SARDONIA. A kind of smallage; from Sardonia (where ?), 
 its native soil. — Forsyth. 
 
 SARDONIC. An ejiithet applied to that forced, heartless, 
 or bitter laugh or grin which but ill conceals a person's real 
 feelings ; so called from the Sardonic laugh {Sardonicus risns), 
 a spasmodic affection of the muscles of the face, in which the 
 lips are drawn involuntarily apart, giving it a horrible appear- 
 ance of laughter ; frequently met with as one of the symptoms 
 of tetanus or locked jaw, or as an attendant on other convulsive 
 affections. It is said to have been originally caused by eating 
 the Herba Sardonica or Sardoa, a species of ranunculus (ranun- 
 cidus sceleratus of Linnaeus) growing in Sardinia. 
 
 SARDONYX (Gr. a-apSovu^, L. sardonyx, sardonyches). A 
 stone or gem, nearly allied to onyx ; colour reddish-yellow, or 
 nearly orange ; so called from Sardis (hod. Sart), in Asia 
 Minor, and ovu^, a nail, claw, &c. ; "from the resemblance of 
 its colour to the flesh under the nail " (Plin. lib. 37, 6). Bailey 
 says, " Partly of the colour of a man's nail, partly of a cornelian 
 colour." According to others, the sardonyx had its name fi'om 
 Sardo, the Greek name of Sardinia, whence the Carthaginians 
 are said to have exported it. 
 
 SARRACENIA. A genus of handsome plants, nat. or. 
 SarraceniacecB or Sarracenice, of four species, natives of North 
 America ; named by Tournefort in honour of Dr. Sarrazin of 
 Quebec, regius prof, of anatomy and botany, who sent this 
 plant to him from Canada. 
 
 SARSAPARILLA (O. Fr. sarzepareiUe, Sp. sarsaparilla) . 
 A plant, a species of smilax, whose root is valued in medicine 
 for its mucilaginous and farinaceous or demulcent qualities 
 {Encyc.) Much used in medicine to counteract the effects of 
 mercury. Some derive the word from Sp. zarza, a bramble, 
 parilla, diminutive of parra, a vine. Forsyth says it is of 
 Spanish origin, and signifies " red tree." Joseph Scaliger says 
 saza parilla is the true smilax aspei'a, well known at Mont- 
 pellier, and was so named from Sp. qarza (zdrza, a common 
 thorn), and Parillo, a Spanish physician who first made use of
 
 268 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 it as a medicine, aud who introduced it into France ; and that 
 the doctors of Montpellier always make sarsaparilhi from the 
 roots of the smilax. 
 
 SASSOLIN, SASSOLINE. Native boracid acid, found in 
 saline incrustations on the borders of hot springs near Sasso, 
 in Italy. 
 
 SATIRE. A composition strongly seasoned with raillery. 
 By some derived from Satyr; but most probably from Satura 
 Itmx, an olio, a medley. — S. F. Cresivell. 
 
 SATURDAY. The last day of the week; the Jewish 
 Sabbath ; from A. S. Sceternes-dceg, Saturn's day. See Saturn. 
 
 SATUREIA. A genus of plants in the Linnsean system ; 
 so called from the lustful Satijrs, because it makes those who 
 
 eat it lascivious {Blanch). The pharmacopoeial name of the 
 
 summer savory. 
 
 SATURN. One of the planets of the solar system, next in 
 magnitude to Jupiter, but more remote from the sun ; so called 
 from Saturn, one of the oldest and principal deities, son of 
 Coelus and Terra, and father of Jupiier. The Gr. aame was 
 Kpovof, which at a later period was made equivalent to Xpovoe, 
 
 time. Saturnus. In the ancient chemistry, a name given to 
 
 lead. Another name for the sable colour in coats of arms. 
 
 SATURNALIA. Among the Romans, the festival of 
 Saturn, celebrated in December as a period of unrestrained 
 licence and merriment for all classes, extending even to the 
 slaves. See Saturn. 
 
 SATURNALIAN. Loose, dissolute, sportive ; lit. pertain- 
 ing to the Saturnalia, q.v. 
 
 SATURNIAN. Golden, happy, distinguished for purity, 
 integrity, and simplicity. 
 
 " Th' Augustus, born to bring Saturnian times." — Pope. 
 
 Lit. pertaining to Saturn, whose age or reign, from the mildness 
 
 and wisdom of his government, is called the golden age. A 
 
 verse, a kind of iambic used by the Romans, consisting of six 
 feet and a syllable over. 
 
 SATURNINE. Child-devouring; so called from Saturn,
 
 VERBA NOMINALTA. 269 
 
 Avho devoured his sons ns soon :is born, beeuuse he dreaded 
 from them a retaliation of his unkindness to his father. 
 
 " The Revolution, struck to save the Republic, has displayed its old 
 Satuniitu; voracity, for the majority of the newspapers devoured by it were 
 Republican." 
 
 Supposed to be under the influence of Saturn : hence dull, 
 
 heavy, grave, not readily susceptible of excitement, phlegmatic; 
 as a saturnine person or temper. In ancient chemistry, per- 
 taining to lead ; as saturnine compounds. 
 
 SATURNITE. A metallic substance, separated from lead 
 in torrefaction, resembling lead in its colour, weight, &c., l)ut 
 more fusible and brittle {ohs.')', so called from Saturn, an old 
 appellation of lead. 
 
 SATYRIASIS {^atupiagig'). Immoderate venereal appe- 
 tite {Coxe^. " From aaTupo;, a satyr, because they are said to 
 be greatly addicted to venery " (^Forsytli). 
 
 SATYRIUM, SATYRION. A plant, supposed to excite 
 salacity (Pope) ; so called from the satyrs. See Satureia ; 
 also Forsyth's Med. Diet, under " Satyrion." 
 
 SAUSSURITE. A mineral, colour white, greenish, or 
 greyish, consisting of silica, alumina, lime, and oxide of iron ; 
 named after M. Saussure, who discovered it. 
 
 SAUTERNE. One of the best white wines of the Borde- 
 lais, made from grapes growing at Sauternes, dep. Gironde, 
 situate in the midst of vineyards. It may occasionally be had 
 in England. 
 
 SAVITE. A mineral ; a hydrous silicate, occurring in the 
 gabbro rosso of Tuscany ; named after M. Savi. 
 
 SAVOY. Common name of a hardy cabbage, much culti- 
 vated for winter use ; so called from the duchy of Savoy 
 whence it was first brought. 
 
 SAVOYARD. In Paris, a sweep ; lit. a native of Savoy, 
 whence the Paris sweeps chiefly come. 
 
 SAWNEY. Nickname for a Scotchman, from Sawney, a 
 common Christian name in Scotland ; corrupted from Alex- 
 ander. A simpleton ; a gaping awkward lout. 
 
 SAXON BLUE. A deep blue liquid used in dyeing, and
 
 270 VERBA NOMINALTA. 
 
 obtained by dissolving indigo in concentrated sulphuric acid ; 
 so called from Saxony, whence it was first brought. 
 
 SAXONISM. An idiom of the Saxon language. 
 
 SCALLION. A young onion ; so called in the North of 
 England ; from Ascalon (S. F. Creswell). See Gerarde's 
 Herbal, and cf. Shallot. 
 
 SCAMANDER. To wander about without a settled pur- 
 pose ; possibly in allusion to the winding course of the Homeric 
 river of that name. — J. C. Hotten. 
 
 SCARBOROUGH WARNING. A warning too shortly 
 given to be taken advantage of. When a person is driven 
 over, and then told to keep out of the way, he receives Scar- 
 borough ivarning. Fuller says the proverb alludes to an event 
 which happened at that place in 1557, Avhen Thomas Stafford 
 seized upon Scarborough Castle before the townsmen had the 
 least notice of his approach. — J. C. Hotten. 
 
 SCARBROITE. Hydrated silicate of alumina, occurring 
 in beds of sandstone covering the calcareous rock near Scar- 
 borough. 
 
 SCH^FFERA. A small tree or shrub, native of the West 
 Indies, discovered by Jacquin about Carthagena in New Spain ; 
 named by him in honour of Jacob Christian Schjeffer, super- 
 intendent of the church at Ratisbon, author of Studii Botanici 
 Methodus, 1758, &c. 
 
 SCHEELE'S GREEN. A pigment obtained by mixing 
 arseniate of potassa with sulphate of copper ; perhaps first 
 mixed by Scheele. See next. 
 
 SCHEELINE or SCHEELIUM (Fr. scheelite). A name 
 sometimes given to the metal tungsten, in honour of Charles 
 William Scheele, an eminent chemist, who was born in 1742 
 at Stralsund, and who discovered the oxalic, fluoric, malic, and 
 lactic acids. 
 
 SCHEFFLERA. A genus of plants, of only one species, 
 native of New Zealand ; named by Forster in honour of 
 Schefiler, physician and botanist at Dantzic. 
 
 SCHEUCHZERIA. A genus of plants, natives of Lapland, 
 Siberia, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Prussia, and Dauphine; 
 named by Linnceus in memory of the brothers Scheuchzer, the
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 271 
 
 one professor of mathematics at Ziiricli, author of Itinera 
 Alpina, the other professor of physics at Ziirich, author of a 
 celebrated treatise on grasses. 
 
 SCHIEDAM. A name for holhmds gin ; so called from 
 Schiedam, in Holland, which contains upwards of one hundred 
 distilleries, and is the chief seat of the manufacture of Dutch 
 gin. The town has also a large trade in pigs, 30,000 of 
 which are said to be annually fattened on the refuse of the 
 distilleries. 
 
 SCHMIDELIA. A tree resembling Rhus trifoliata, native 
 of the East Indies ; named by Linnaeus in honour of Casimir 
 Christopher Schmidel, author of Icones et Analyses Planta- 
 rum, Gesneri Botanica. 
 
 SCHNEIDERIAN MEMBRANE. The pituitary mem- 
 brane, which secretes the mucus of the nose ; named after 
 Schneider, who first described it. 
 
 SCHNEIDERITE. A mineral found with sloanite in the 
 gabbro rosso of Tuscany; named after Schneider, director of 
 the mine of Mount Catini. 
 
 SCHOEPFIA. A genus of plants of only one species, a 
 small tree, native of Santa Cruz and Montserrat ; named by 
 Schreber in honour of Johann David Schoepf, president of the 
 medical college at Anspach, author of Materia Medica Ameri- 
 cana, &c. 
 
 SCHOTIA. A genus of plants of only one species, native 
 of Senegal and the Cape ; named by Jacquin after Richard 
 Van der Schot, companion in his travels. 
 
 SCHOTTISCHE ("Scottish"). A celebrated dance of 
 German origin. 
 
 SCHRADERA. A genus of plants of two species, the one 
 discovered by Ryan in the island of Montserrat, the other 
 native of Jamaica ; named by Vahl after Hen. A. Schrader, 
 author of Spicilegium Flor^ GermanicaB, Hann. 179'4. 
 
 SCHREBERA. A genus of plants of only one species, a 
 large timber tree, native of the Rajahmundry Circar ; named 
 in honour of Joseph Christian Dan. Schreb, professor of 
 physic, &c., at Erlaug, editor of Linna^us's Genera Plantarum, 
 and author of many works on botany.
 
 272 VERBA NOMINALTA. 
 
 SCHROTTERITE. A mineral found in nodules between 
 granular limestone and clay slate on the Dollinger Mountain, 
 near Freienstein, in Styria ; analysed by Schrotter. 
 
 SCHWALBEA. A genus of plants of only one species, 
 native of North America; named by Linnseus after Schwalbe, 
 a physician, 
 
 SCHWEINFURTH GREEN. A compound of arsenious 
 acid and oxide of copper, resembling Scheele's green ; probably 
 named from Schweinfurt, in Bavaria. 
 
 SCHWENKIA. A biennial plant, native of Guinea ; 
 named by Van Royen after Martin Wilhelm Schwencke, phy- 
 sician and professor of botany at the Hague, died 1785. 
 
 SCOTTICISM. An idiom or peculiar expression of the 
 natives of Scotland. 
 
 SCYTHICUS. A name for the liquorice-root, or any- 
 thing brought from Scythia ; from Scythia, its native soil. — 
 Forsyth. 
 
 SEDAN. A portable chair or covered vehicle for carrying 
 one person, and borne on poles by two men (^Dryden ; Encyc.) 
 Some derive the word from L. sedeo, to sit ; others from the 
 town of Sedan, in France, where this article was first made. 
 " It was in 1634 that Sir Saunders Duncombe first introduced 
 Sedan chairs. Sir Saunders was a great traveller, and had 
 seen these chairs at Sedan, where they were first invented " 
 
 {Pulleyn). A sort of cloth from Sedan. 
 
 SEIDLITZ WATER. A saline mineral water from Seid- 
 litz, in Bohemia, often taken as an agreeable aperient. Seidlitz 
 powders are intended to produce the same effect with Seidlitz 
 water. 
 
 SEIGNETTE'S SALT. A neutral salt consisting of soda, 
 potash, and tartaric acid ; prepared and made known by a 
 Frenchman named Peter Seignette, an apothecary of Rochelle, 
 about the end of the seventeeth century, when it was employed 
 in preference to many other medicines long known, which had 
 been equally serviceable. — Forsyth. 
 
 SELLA TURCICA (^j>/H)?/)mm). A cavity in the sphenoid 
 bone, containing the pituitary gland, suiTounded by the four 
 clinoid processes ; from sella, quasi sedda, from sedere, to sit,
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 273 
 
 and Turcica, from its supposed resemblance to a Turkish saddle. 
 — Forsyth. 
 
 SELTZER WATER (Properly Selter's Water ; G. Seltzer 
 wasser, Fr. Ecm de Seltz). A mineral water containing much 
 free carbonic acid ; named from a spring near the village of 
 Nieder-Selters, in the duchy of Nassau. 
 
 SEMOLINA (It. ; Fr. semoule). This substance, as well as 
 soojee and manna croup, are granular preparations of wheat, 
 deprived of bran. The word is said to be derived from Sejno, 
 a tutelar deity of sown corn. Others derive it from semi- 
 moulu, half-ground. 
 
 SENEBIERA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Crucifera ; 
 named in honour of John de Senebier, of Geneva, a vegetable 
 physiologist. 
 
 SENEGA or SENEKA. The plant called snakeroot, 
 rattlesnake-root, and Polygala Senega, growing in the moun- 
 tainous parts of the United States. It was so named from 
 having been employed by the Seneca or Senegaw Indians as a 
 remedy for the bite of the rattlesnake. 
 
 SENEGIN. A name given to polygalic acid, the native 
 principle of the senega root. See Senega. 
 
 SEQUIN (found chequin, zechin, and zequin ; Fr. seqiiin. 
 It. zecchind). A gold coin of Italy and Turkey. The average 
 value at Venice and in other parts of Italy is 9s. 5d. sterling; 
 in Turkey the sequin fonducli is valued at 7s. ^d. sterling. 
 Webster, under " Zechin," says, " If named from Zecha, the place 
 where minted, this is the correct orthography." Bailey, under 
 " Zechin, Zacliin," says, " So called from La Zeeclia, a place in 
 the city of Venice, where the mint is settled ;" probably from 
 Stjxtj, a repository ; thus Qvjx-ij, theca, zeca, Zecca. The Spanish 
 has, however, zequi, a zechin, an Arabic gold coin formerly 
 used in Spain, and the Arab, has zuwak, argentum vivum. 
 
 SERAPIAS. Helleborine. A genus of plants, nat. or. 
 Orchidacem ; " from Serapis, a lascivious idol; so called because 
 it was thought to promote venery, or from the testiculated 
 shape of its roots " (Hooper, Lex. Med.) 
 
 SERGE (Fr. id. ; O. Fr. saj^ge ; Sp. serja, sarja ; It. sargia 
 a coverlet; Sp. xerga,jerga, coarse frieze, and jarjon; D. sergie'). 
 
 T
 
 274 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 A woollen twilled stuff. Silk serge is a twilled silk fabric, used 
 mostly by tailors for lining men's coats. Skinner derives the 
 word from G. serge, teges, tegmen ; in D. sargie, a coverlet ; 
 others from sarica, a tunic {Scirica misticia cum manicas cartas 
 valenfe siliquas aureas duas. Sarica prasina ornata, valente soliclo 
 uno); "and," says Menage, "as tunics are made ordinarily of 
 serge, the name may have been taken for the stuff itself; that 
 the Italians derive it from sargia, milled counterpane (^loclier); 
 others from serica." In the supplement he adds, " Although 
 this stuff (sarge) is made of wool, it may still derive its name 
 from sericum, silk, from being a twine, a la fa^on des ^toffes 
 de sole. Eckchardus le jeune, Moine de S. Gal, De Casibns 
 Monasterii S. Galli, ch. 3. Missus est Magontiam utique 
 pro panis laneis emendis, quos sericales aitt punicas vacant.^'' 
 Woollen serges are called in France " cadis de Montauban," 
 from Montauban, where they are made. See also Silk. 
 
 SERIANA (more commonly Serjania). An entirely tropical 
 South American and West Indian genus of the natural family 
 Sapindacece ; named by Schumacher after Serjeant, a French 
 monk and botanist. 
 
 SERICEOUS. Pertaining to silk; consisting of silk; silky; 
 from L. sericeus, from sericum, silk, muslin ; from sericus, of or 
 
 belonging to the Seres, or their country. See Silk. In 
 
 botany, covered with very soft hairs pressed close to the sur- 
 face ; as a sericeous leaf. 
 
 SERIPHIUM. Flax-Aveed; from Seriphus, name of the 
 island upon which it grew. — Forsyth. 
 
 SESLERIA. A grass which in its manner of flowering 
 resembles the genus Aii'a, but having the appearance of 
 AntJwscanthum ; a native of Europe in mountainous and 
 boggy pastures ; named by Scopoli in honour of Dr. Leonard 
 Seslei", a botanist, who formed the genus in the island of St. 
 Helen. 
 
 SEVERITE. A silicious hydrate of alumina, colour white; 
 found near St. Sever, in France. 
 
 SfiVRES. A porcelain made of a clay consisting of felspar 
 in its different states of decomposition, with small quantities of
 
 VEllBA NOMINALIA. 275 
 
 silica and chalk ; so called from Sevres, a town of France, cap. 
 cant. Seine-et-Oise, where it is manufactured. 
 
 SEYD or ZEID. The name of a slave of Mohammed, who 
 was one of the first to acknowledge the divine mission of his 
 master, was adopted by him, and received Zeinab, a cousin of 
 Mohammed, as his wife. The prophet, however, having fallen 
 in love with her himself, Seyd was ready to resign her. Vol- 
 taire, in his Maliomet, makes Seyd an innocent but blindly sub- 
 missive youth, who at the prophet's order, kills a person, who 
 turns out to be his own father. Seyd is, therefore, sometimes 
 used to denote a man blindly devoted to the will of another. 
 Thus St. Just is called by Mr. Nodier the Seyd of Robespierre; 
 and the Duke of Rovigo says in his Memoirs that he has often 
 been taken for the Seyd of Napoleon. 
 
 SHADDOCK. A large species of orange, Citrus decumana ; 
 named after Capt. Shaddock, who first carried this fruit from 
 the East to the West Indies. 
 
 SIIADRACH. A mass of iron, in which the smelting has 
 failed of its intended effect; probably called from Shadrach, 
 one of the three men who were preserved in the fiery furnace. 
 
 SHAKO, CHAKO, or SCHAKO. A military cap. Some 
 derive the word from O. Sp. zdco (now jdco'), a short jacket, 
 formerly used by soldiers ; corrui^ted from Jacobus, i.e. James. 
 Cf. Jacket. 
 
 SHALLOON (ras de Chalons, Sp. chalon, chalun). A 
 slight woollen stuff, the great staple of Halifax, where about 
 10,000 pieces are annually made for shipment to Turkey and 
 the Levant. The name is said to be derived from Chalons, in 
 France, where it was first made. Bailey writes the word 
 shallons and shaloon; and Chaucer uses shalons for blankets. 
 
 SHALLOT (found shalot, shalote, eschalot ; Fr. 
 echalote for eschalote. It. scaglogno, Sp. escahiiia). A 
 plant, the Allium Ascalonium, a species of small onion, the 
 mildest cultivated ; named from Ascalon or Askelon, a city in 
 the land of the Philistines, between Azoth and Gaza, on the 
 Mediterranean coast, where it grows wild, as it does also in 
 many parts of Syria. It was from Ascalon that the Romans 
 
 T 2
 
 276 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 imported the Allium Ascalonium. Calmet says, " The ancients 
 praise the shalot, which takes its name from Askelon." See 
 also Athen, lib. ii. cop. 28 ; Plin. lib. xix. cap, 6 ; Strabo, 
 lib. xvi. ; Stephens, and Menage. Ascalonium, ascalonio, 
 ascalone, ascalote, aschalote, eschalot, Shallot. 
 
 SHANGHAI. A tea from Shanghai, in China. A sort 
 
 of domestic fowl. 
 
 SHAWL. A cloth of wool, cotton, silk, or hair, used by- 
 females as a loose covering for the neck and shoulders. This 
 article of dress is said to have been originally manufactured 
 in the heart of India, from the soft woolly inner hair of a 
 variety of the common goat reared in Thibet, The best 
 shawls now come from Cashmere, but they are also manufac- 
 tured in Europe. According to some, it had its name from 
 Shawl, a town and valley in Beloochistan, the centre of 
 the traffic between Shikarpoor, Kandahar, and Kelat, The 
 town is not now celebrated for its shawls, but carpets and 
 blankets are made there ia considei'able quantities. More- 
 over, the Persian sJidl means not only a shawl of goat's hair, 
 but also a coarse mantle of wool and goat's hair worn by 
 dervishes, a tunic without sleeves, a small carpet, &c. 
 
 SHELTIE. A Shetland or Zetland pony, a small but 
 strong horse in Scotland ; so called from Shetland, where it is 
 produced. Dr. Edmonston (Zetland, ii. 207) says the shelties 
 are very sagacious, so much so, that, in crossing the mossy hills 
 they of themselves select the best "road," though there be not 
 " the vestige of a footprint." See also Ed. Rev. xvi. 152. 
 
 SHEMITIC or SEMITIC. An absurd appellation given 
 to the languages called Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, Hebrew, 
 Samaritan, Ethiopic, and Old Phoenician ; from Shem, son of 
 Noah, 
 
 SHEPARDITE. A mineral, colour brownish-black, found 
 in small grains in the Bishopville meteorite ; named after 
 Professor Shepard. It was formerly called schreibserite ; 
 doubtless derived from Schreibser. 
 
 SHERARDIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Ruliacece ; 
 whose only species is the *S'. at^vensis, found on sandy soils in 
 Great Britain, continental Europe, and the Crimea ; named
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 277 
 
 by Dillenius after his patron, William Sherard, LL.D., consul 
 at Smyrna. 
 
 SHERRY (formerly Sherris). A strong wine of a deep 
 amber colour, and having an aromatic odour ; so called from 
 
 Xerez, now Jerez, near Cadiz, where it is made. A similar 
 
 wine made at Jerez for the English market. A wine made 
 
 in England of Je ne sats quoi. 
 
 SHILLALY, SHILLALAH, SHILLELY, or SHILLE- 
 LAH. An oaken sapling or cudgel ; so named from a wood, 
 famous for its oaks, near the " Meeting of the Walers," in the 
 county of Wicklow, Ireland, " Four miles from Tiuehely is 
 Coolatin Park, residence of Earl Fitzwilliam, well-cultivated 
 fields and comfortable homesteads abounding around the 
 mansion. On this estate is the famed wood, or rather what 
 remains of it, of Shillelah, which gives its name to the solid 
 oak sapling so renowned in Milesian song and s(ory. This 
 wood, which covered the southern portion of the county, was 
 cut down in 1634 by Lord Lieutenant Strafford, who wrested 
 it from the original proprietors, the O'Byrnes, because they 
 were unable to produce any Avritten titles to their lauds. 
 Some of the oak was used to roof St. Patrick's Cathedral, and 
 Westminster Hall, it is supposed, was roofed from the same 
 source. Tourist's Handb. for Ireland. 
 
 SHIRAZ. A celebrated tobacco, brought through Bushire, 
 from Shiraz, a city of Persia, capital prov. Ears, and 
 
 formerly capital of Persia itself. A wine whose flavour 
 
 is by no means attractive to the European palate, notwitli- 
 standing the praises of the poet Hafiz. 
 
 SHRAPNEL SHELL. In (/tmner?/, a name given to shells 
 filled with musket-balls, which when the shells explode are 
 projected in all directions ; so called from the name of the in- 
 ventor. " Shortly after the siege of Gibraltar Lieut. -Gen. 
 Henry Shrapnel invented the spherical case-shot, which con- 
 sists of a hollow globe of iron, filled with musket-balls and 
 gunpowder. When the shell explodes these balls are projected 
 about 150 yards, and do as much injury as the same number 
 of muskets, in addition to the effects produced by the splinters 
 of the exploded shell. On the adoption of these shells by the
 
 278 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 artillery, Greneral Shrapnel was granted a pension of £1200 
 per annum, in addition to his regular pay. He died in 1842 " 
 {T. Wright, 3[.A.) 
 
 SIBBALDIA. A genus of plants, class Pe?i^fl?if?r2a; named 
 after Robert Sibbald, IM.D., author of Scotia Illustrata. 
 
 SIBERITE. A mineral, a sort of red tourmaline, found in 
 Siberia. 
 
 SIBYLLINE. Pertaining to the Sibyls ; uttered, written, 
 or composed by Sibyls; like the productions of the Sibyls, who, 
 in pagan antiquity, were certain Avomen said to be endowed 
 with a prophetic spirit, and who resided in various parts of 
 Persia, Greece, and Italy. They are pretended to have 
 Avritten certain prophecies on leaves in verse, which are called 
 Sibylline verses, or Sibijlline oracles. Hence the term is applied 
 to a gipsy or fortune-teller. Hence also Sibylline books, or 
 documents of prophecies in verse, supposed to contain the fate 
 of the Roman empire, and said to have been purchased by 
 Tarquin the Proud from a Sibyl. Sibylline oracles are univer- 
 sally allowed to be spurious, but it is evident that the Romans 
 in particular revered these productions as sacred, and on all 
 important occasions consulted them. Ten, or, as Gellius and 
 some others affirm, fifteen eminent Romans were appointed to 
 superintend and examine them. The Sibylline books were 
 preserved till the times of the civil wars between Sylla and 
 Marius. Cf. Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights. 
 
 SICILIANO. In music, a composition in measures of 6-4 
 or 6-8, to be performed in a slow and graceful manner ; so 
 called from Sicily, where it originated. " Sicilienne, sort d'air 
 a danser dans la mesure a six-quatre ou six-huit, d'un move- 
 ment beaucoup plus lent, mais encore plus marque que celui de 
 la gique." — Rousseau, Diet. Mus. 
 
 SICILIAN VESPERS. The era of the general massacre 
 of the French in Sicily, in 1282, on the evening of Easter 
 Tuesday, at the toll of the bell for vespers. 
 
 SIEBERA. A genus of plants of one species, S. jmngens, 
 native of the Levant ; so called after Henry Sieber, a cele- 
 brated botanical collector. 
 
 SIENNA. Clay coloured by the peroxide of iron and
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 279 
 
 iniinganese, known as raw and burnt sienna, according to the 
 treatment it has received (a good artists' colour); from Siena, 
 in Italy. 
 
 SILESIA. A sort of linen cloth ; so called from Silesia, 
 in Russia, where first made. 
 
 SILHOUETTE (Fn) A profile; a representation of the 
 outlines of an object filled in with a black colour. Etienne de 
 Silhouette (who was born at Limoges in 1709, was successively 
 counsellor to the parliament of Metz and master of requests, 
 and who held other important appointments, and was author 
 of several works) greatly occupied the public attention during 
 his short administration by recommending rigid economy. 
 Immediately after his fall everything that was brought out at 
 the time was called a la Silhouette : hence the term Silhouette, 
 which was in vogue at this time, and was aj)plied in derision to 
 the cheap picture above described. 
 
 SILK (A. S. seolc, Sw. and Dan. silke, Russ. schilJc). The 
 fine soft thread produced by various species of caterpillars, 
 particularly by the larve of the insect called silktvorm or Bom- 
 hyx mori. Webster gives the Arab, and Pers. t <^l... silk, pro- 
 perly any thread, from Arab, salaka, to send or thrust in ; 
 to insert, to pass or go. Others derive the word from Gr. 
 cnj^, a silkworm. Rees says, " The ancients were but little 
 acquainted with the use and manufacture of silk ; they took it 
 for the work of a sort of spider or beetle, who spun it out of 
 its entrails, and wound it with its feet about the little branches 
 of trees. This insect they called ser, from Seres (Sij^se), a 
 people of Scythia, whom we now call the Chinese, who, as 
 they thought, bred it; whence the silk itself was called sericum 
 {(rrjpiKOv); but this ser of theirs has very little afiinity with 
 our silkworm {Bomhyx), the former living five years, the latter 
 dying annually." Virgil evidently alludes to silk in Georg. ii. 
 121, " Vellei'aque ut foliis depectant tenuia seres?" Braunius 
 is of opinion that there is no mention of silk in the Old Testa- 
 ment, and that it was unknown to the Hebrews in ancient 
 times (De Vestitu Heb. Sacerdotum, lib. 1, cap. viii. sec. 8). 
 The only text supposed to denote that material, and therefore 
 rendered silk (''ti^D meshi, sericum) in our common version, is to
 
 280 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 be found in Ezek. xvi. 10; but which, it is thought, refers 
 more probably to some valuable article of female attire. Aris- 
 totle (Hist. Anim. v. c. 19) is the first ancient author who 
 affords any evidence respecting the use of silk. The art of 
 weaving silk was first practised in China 2600 years before 
 our era {vide Du Halde's Hist. China, vol. ii. 355-6, 8vo ed, 
 Lond. 1736), to which country the labours of the silkworm 
 were wholly confined until the time of the Emperor Justinian. 
 Long before the latter period, however, the Chinese had largely 
 exported the raw material to Persia, Tyre, Berytus, &c., 
 where it was wrought into various forms. The name seems 
 to be derived from the country where it was doubtless first 
 produced, viz. Serica. Serica, in ancient geography, was 
 an eastern country, whose frontier is very vaguely indicated 
 by ancient writers, but which has been more precisely ascer- 
 tained by Ptolemy. According to the latter, it is bounded on 
 the west by Scythia, on the other side of the Imaus ; on the 
 south by unknown territories, and by a part of India beyond 
 the Ganges and the Sines. M. d'Anville refutes the opinion 
 of those who assert that the Serica described by Ptolemy 
 corresponded to the northern part of China, and he adopts 
 that of M. de Guignes (Hist, of the Huns), that it belonged 
 to the conquests of the Chinese towards the west; and he says 
 that, with the exception of a small angular territory at the ex- 
 tremity of the province of Chen-si, towards the north-west, 
 China formed no part of Serica. According to some, the 
 metropolis of Serica (the Sera of Ptolemy) is now known 
 under the name of Can-cheou, the first considerable town that 
 occurs at the entrance of the Chinese province of Chen-si, 
 which belongs to a country known to orien-tals under the name 
 of Tangut, which, says Rees, may therefore be the country 
 anciently inhabited by the Seres, of which Sera was the 
 capital. The word would come thus : sericum, seric, by muta- 
 tion of r into I, selic, selik. Silk. " Such, indeed, was the im- 
 portance of silk" says Tomlinson, " that the very people and 
 their country are named Seres and Serica in ancient writings, 
 from the Chinese word se, which signifies silk. Sze keen is 
 the proper orthography, but if the name of the country is of
 
 VERBA NOMINAhlA. 281 
 
 Chinese origiu it might silso be from Sze-e, an appellation 
 applied to foreigners on all sides of China." Cf. Yates 
 Textrinum Antiquorum, 8° ed. Lond. 1843 ; "Wilkinson, 
 Ancient Egyptians, iii. 125, 8^ Lond. 1847, quoting Thomp- 
 son ; Smith, Diet, of Gr. and Rom. Ant. v. " Sericum," 860 ; 
 and N. & Q. 2nd S. vii. 456, and 500-1. 
 
 SILKSTONE. A coal from Silkstone, near Barnsley? 
 Yorkshire. 
 
 SILLERY. One of the best sorts of champagne, a non- 
 sparkling wine. Sillery, near Rheims, is not the locality which 
 produces this celebrated champagne. It derives its name from 
 Sillery by a secondary process. Under its name is compre- 
 hended the produce of all the vineyards of Verzenay, Mailly, 
 Raument, &c., situated at the north-east termination of the 
 chain of hills which separate the Maine from the Verle, and 
 formerly belonging to the Marquis de Sillery, husband of 
 Madame de Genlis. Having been originally brought into 
 vogue by the greater care bestowed upon its manufacture by 
 the Marechale d'Estrees, it was long known by the name of 
 Vin (III Marechale. 
 
 SILLIMANITE. A mineral, colour dark grey and hair- 
 brown, composed of silica and alumina, with some oxide of 
 iron, found at Say brook, in Connecticut ; named in honour of 
 Prof. Silliman, of Yale College. 
 
 SILURIA. A term applied to the fossiliferous strata below 
 the old red sandstone; so named from the portion of England 
 and Wales in which the successive formations are clearly dis- 
 played, and wherein an ancient British people (the Silures), 
 under their king Caradoc (Cai'actacus) opposed a long and 
 valorous resistance to the Romans. 
 
 SIM. One of a methodistical turn in religion ; a low 
 churchman ; originally a follower of the late Rev. Chas. 
 Simeon. — Cambridge ; J. C. Hotten. 
 
 SIMON or SIMPLE SIMON. A credulous gullible per- 
 son ; so called from a character in a song. — J. C. Hotten. 
 
 SIMON PURE, " the real Simon Pure," the genuine article. 
 Those who have witnessed Mr. C. Matthews's performance in 
 Mrs. Centlivre's admirable comedy of J. Bold Stroke for a Wife,
 
 282 VERBA NOMINALTA. 
 
 and the laughable coolness with which he, the false Simon Pure, 
 assuming the Quaker dress and character of the real one, 
 elbowed that worthy out of his expected entertainment, will 
 at once perceive the origin of this phrase. See act v. sc. 1, 
 and Hotten's Slang Diet., especially the preface, p. 36. 
 
 SIMONIAC. One who buys or sells preferment in the 
 church. — Ayliffe. See Simony. 
 
 SIMONIOUS. Partaking of simony ; given to simony, q.v. 
 — Milton. 
 
 SIMONY. The buying or selling ecclesiastical prefer- 
 ment, or the corrupt presentation of any one to an ecclesiastical 
 benefice for money on rcAvard. By stat. 31 Eliz. c. vi. severe 
 penalties were enacted against this crime. So named from 
 Simon Magus, who wished to purchase the power of conferring 
 the Holy Spirit. Acts viii. 
 
 SIMPLE SIMON, See Simon. 
 
 SINGLO (Songlo-tcha). A species of green tea from China; 
 so called from the Mountain Soug-lo, prov. Kiangnan, where 
 it is cultivated. 
 
 SIREN (L. siren, a mermaid, music, melody ; Fr. sirene ; It. 
 sirena). In modern use, an enticing woman, a female rendered 
 dangerous by her enticements. 
 
 " Sing, siren, to thyself, and I will dote." — Shak. 
 
 The Sirenes were the three daughters of the River Achelous 
 and one of the Muses, half human, half bird, who by their 
 sweet singing tempted sailors on shore to their destruction. 
 They derived their name from Heb. nw shur, to sing. Per- 
 taining to a siren, or to the dangerous enticements of music ; 
 
 bewitching ; fascinating ; as, a siren song. A batrachian 
 
 reptile of Carolina, constituting a peculiar genus, destitute of 
 posterior extremities and pelvis. 
 
 SISAL HEMP. The prepared fibre of the American aloe, 
 used for cordage ; named from Sisal, a port in Yucatan, whence 
 it is doubtless brought. 
 
 SIVATHERIUM. An extinct animal, whose skull and 
 other bones were recently discovered in India. It had four 
 horns and a proboscis, was larger than the rhiuosceros, and
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 283 
 
 must have resembled an immense antelope {Mantell) ; so called 
 from Siva, an Indian deity; Gr. ^rj^iov, a wild animal. 
 
 SLAVE (Dim. slave, sclave ; viw.slaf; D.slaaf; Gr. sclave ; 
 Fr. esdave ; Arm. sclaff ; It. schiavo; Sp. esclavo; Port, escravo; 
 Ir. schlahhadh ; Gael, sglahli). One wholly subject to the will 
 of another ; one who has no freedom of action, but whose per- 
 son and services are wholly under the control of another ; one 
 who surrenders himself to any power whatever ; as, a slave to 
 passion, lust, or ambition; a mean person; one in the lowest 
 state of life; a drudge; one who labours like a slave: hence 
 to slave, to drudge, to toil, to labour as a slave ; so called from 
 the Slavi, or Slavonians, a people who were made slaves by the 
 Venetians. The name of this people, however, is said to be 
 derived from the Slavonic word slava, praise, glory. " The 
 Avord acquii'ed its present signification in consequence of the 
 great number of prisoners made by the Germans among the 
 Slavonic nations, and whom they reduced into servitude." 
 Gibbon says, " The national appellation of the Slaves has been 
 degraded by chance or malice from the signification of glory to 
 that of servitude. This conversion of a national into an appel- 
 lative name appears to have arisen in the eighth century in 
 oriental France, where the princes and bishops were rich in 
 Sclavonian captives. From thence the word was extended to 
 general use, to the modern languages, and even to the style of 
 the last Byzantines. Jordan subscribes to the well-known 
 and probable derivation from slava, a word of familiar use in 
 the diiferent dialects and parts of speech, and which forms the 
 termination of the most illustrious names." See Gibbon, Decline 
 and Fall, vol x, 197-8, ed, 1797, text and note; De Orig, 
 Sclav, part i. 40, part iv. 101-2; Journal des Debats, 19 
 April, 1839, in a note by De Xivry. 
 
 SLOANITE. A mineral, a hydrous silicate, from the 
 gabbro rosso of Tuscany ; doubtless named after Sloane. 
 
 SLONEA. A genus of liliaceous plants, trees, natives of 
 South America ; named in honour of Sir Hans Sloane, founder 
 of Chelsea botanical garden. 
 
 SMITHIA. A genus of leguminous plants ; named after 
 the late Sir James Smith, the celebrated botanical Avriter.
 
 284 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 SMYRNIUM (^[Mv^viov of Diosc.) A genus of plants, now 
 of tlie nat. or. Umhelliferce, of seven species, natives of Africa 
 and North America ; so named, according to some, from the 
 city of Smyrna. Others say from (r[/.upva, tlie same with 
 ay^^a, because the root yields a juice very similar to myrrh. 
 
 SNOOKS. An imaginary personage often brought forward 
 as an answer to an idle question, or as the perpetrator of a 
 senseless joke {J. C. Hotten); corrupted from Sevenoaks, in 
 Kent, but why is doubtful. Snooks is an existing surname. 
 
 SNOWDON PUDDING. A pudding made of fine raisins, 
 butter, minced beef, kidney suet, bread crumbs, salt, rice flour, 
 lemon marmalade, pale brown sugar, whisked eggs, and grated 
 rinds of lemons ; so named from being constantly served to 
 travellers at the hotel at the foot of Snowdon, in North Wales. 
 
 SOBIESKI'S SHIELD {Scutum Sohieski). A modern 
 northern constellation, consisting of eight stars ; doubtless 
 named after Sobieski, the patriot King of Poland, surnamed 
 the Great. 
 
 SOCINIANISM. The tenets or doctrines of Socinus, a 
 native of Sienna, in Tuscany, founder of the sect of Socmians, 
 in the sixteenth century. He held Clirist to have been a mere 
 man inspired, denied His divinity and atonement, the doctrine 
 of original depravity, and kindred doctrines. 
 
 SOCRATIC, SOCRATICAL. Pertaining to Socrates, or 
 to his language or manner of treating or jihilosophizing. The 
 Socratic method of reasoning and instruction was by a series 
 of questions leading to the desired result. 
 
 SOCRATISM. The doctrines or philosophy of Socrates. 
 
 SODOMY. A crime against nature ; so called because 
 committed by the inhabitants of Sodom, one of the five cities in 
 the land of Canaan which were utterly destroyed by fire. 
 
 SOLANDRA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Solanacece, native 
 of Jamaica; named by LinnjEUS the younger in honour of 
 Daniel Charles Solander, M.D,, D.C.L., a Swedish naturalist, 
 disciple of Linnceus, under-librarian of the British Museum, 
 companion of Sir Joseph Banks in his voyage round the world 
 with Captain Cook. 
 
 SOLECISM. Impropriety in language, or a gross deviation
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 285 
 
 from the rules of syntax ; incongruity of words ; want of 
 correspondence or consistency. " Any unfitness, absurdity, or 
 impropriety " {B. Jonson). 
 
 " A barbarism may be in one word ; a solecism must be of moi'c." — 
 Johnson. From Cicero. 
 
 " Caesar, by dismissing his guards, and retaining his power, committed 
 a dangerous solecism in politics."— Middleton. 
 
 From Gr. <rokoiKi(r[/.og, impropriety of language, barbarism ; 
 said to be derived from the Soli, a people of Attica, who being 
 transplanted to Cicilia, lost the purity of their language. 
 Hence the Gr. croXoiKia,, impropriety of language ; a-oXoiKti^cu, 
 to speak like the Soli, to speak ungrammatically or incorrectly; 
 ^o\oiKog, an inhabitant of Soli, of Athenian origin, who spoke 
 in a corrupt dialect. " Solecism {soloecismus, (ToXofKicru.OQ), a 
 grammatical term which is used by the later Greek and Roman 
 writers, and by modern grammarians also, though in a some- 
 what different sense. It is defined by Sinnius Capito (Gell. v. 
 207) as an unequal and improper arrangement of the parts of 
 speech; that is, as a violation of the rules of syntax. Quinc- 
 tilian (i. s. 28, &c.) specifies four kinds of solecisms : the first 
 consists in the additioi'i of a superfluous word ; the second, in 
 leaving out one that is necessary ; the third, in perverting the 
 order of the words of a sentence ; and the fourth, in using an 
 improper form of a word. The ancients also used the word in 
 a wider sense, understanding by it any kind of fault, error, or 
 mistake, whether made in speaking, writing, or acting. Modern 
 grammarians designate by solecism any word or expression 
 which does not agree with the established usage of writing or 
 speaking. But, as customs change, that which at one time is 
 considered a solecism may at another be regarded as correct 
 language. A solecism, therefore, differs from a barbarism, in- 
 asmuch as the latter consists in the use of a word or expression 
 which is altogether contrary to the spirit of the language, and 
 can, properly speaking, never become established as correct 
 language. The term solecism was supposed by ancient gram- 
 marians to be derived from Soli, a town of Cilicia, where the 
 language of the original Greek settlers, who were few in num-
 
 286 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 bei-, became corrupt through the influence of the people by 
 whom they were surrounded " (P. Cyc.) 
 
 SOLFATARA. A volcanic vent from which sulphur, sul- 
 phureous, watery, and acid vapours and gases are emitted ; so 
 named from Solfaterra, the celebrated mountain of Naples, 
 called by the ancients Phlegraei Caiftpi. 
 
 SOLFERINA or SOLFERINO. The new pink ; a pink 
 of a dark bright colour ; named from Solferino, in Italy, scene 
 of the battle between the French and Italians and the Austrians 
 in 1859. 
 
 SOLOMON'S LEAF. A plant so called. 
 
 SOLOMON'S SEAL (Sigillum Salomonis). Popular name 
 of several plants belonging to the genera Polygonatum, Smila- 
 cina, Streptopus, &c., the fresh rhizome of which is used as an 
 outward application for bruises. Dried and powdered, it is 
 said to be antidysentric ; and is so called from having upon its 
 root the resemblance of an impression made by a seal. 
 
 SOMERVILLITE. A Vesuvian mineral related to geh- 
 lenite ; doubtless named after its discover Somerville, or in 
 honour of one of that name. 
 
 SOMMITE. Rhomboidal felspar, occurring in granular 
 limestone at Monte Somma, and in the lava of Capo di Bove, 
 near Rome. It is also called nepheline (from v£<J)£At], a cloud), 
 because in nitric acid its transparent fragments become cloudy. 
 
 SORBONIST. A doctor of the Sorbonne, a theological 
 college in the University of Paris, founded by Robert de Sor- 
 bonne, A.D. 1250. Sorhonne is properly the name of the build- 
 ing, from which the theological faculty are called the doctors 
 of the Sorhonne. — Murdock. 
 
 SORDAWALITE. A mineral, colour greyish or bluish- 
 black, in appearance resembling pit-coal ; found near Sorda- 
 wala (Sordawald, Wehster'), in Wibourg, Finland. 
 
 SOUBISE. A particular way of serving up cutlets {cvte- 
 lettes a la Soiibise) ; so named after the Prince de Soubise, 
 marshal of France. 
 
 SOUTHDOWNS. Name given to a celebrated variety of 
 sheep bred on the South Downs, in Sussex. 
 
 SPA. A general name for a spring of mineral water ; so
 
 VEKBA NOMINALIA. 287 
 
 called from Spa, a town of Belgium, famous for its mineral 
 springs. Spa water is the lightest and most subtle of all the 
 mineral Avaters, and is said to give great relief in all disorders 
 of the kidneys, ureters, and bladders, whether occasioned by- 
 stone, gravel, or ulcerations. 
 
 SPANIEL (Fr. epagnenl, L. hispaniolus). A dog used in 
 sports of the field, remarkable for his sagacity and obedience. 
 Some derive the word from Hispaniola, now Ilayti ; but it 
 is rather from Spain, whence the breed {canis Ilispanicus) 
 were first brought. Indeed, the Spaniards themselves were 
 anciently called Sj^aniels by the English. See also P. Cyc; 
 Duchat's Notes on Rabelais ; Maturin Corderius ; Pennant ; 
 
 and especially Menage. To follow like a spaniel, to fawn, 
 
 to cringe, to be obsequious ; a mean, cringing, fawning person. 
 
 SPANISH BROOM. A shrub of the genus Spartium, 
 thickly set with verdant flexible rush-like twigs ; from Spain. 
 
 SPANISH BROWN. A species of earth used in paints, 
 whose colour depends upon the sesqui-oxide of iron ; from 
 Spain. 
 
 SPANISH CHALK (French chalk). A variety of steatite 
 or silicate of magnesia ; from Spain. 
 
 SPANISH FLY (Cantharides). The blister-fly ; so called 
 because the best are brought from Spain. 
 
 SPANISH NUT. A bulbous plant, the Morcea Sisyrin- 
 chium of the south of Europe (^Miller') ; originally from Spain. 
 
 SPANISH WHITE (white bismuth). Nitrate of bismuth; 
 also called pearl-white, magistery of bismuth, &c.; a white 
 earth from Spain, used in paints. 
 
 SPARMANNIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Tillacece ; 
 called after Sparmann, the Swedish botanist, who accompanied 
 Captain Cook in his second voyage. — Crahh. 
 
 SPARTAN. Hardy, undaunted ; as. Spartan souls ; Spa?'- 
 fan bravery; so called from the ancient Spartans, who were 
 celebrated for their hardiness and bravery. 
 
 SPENCEAN SYSTEM. A plan devised and published 
 by one Thomas Spence, a political enthusiast, by which the 
 human kind could be provided with sustenance without 
 pauperism. He died in October, 1814.
 
 288 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 SPENCER. A short over -jacket worn by elderly gentlemen. 
 
 " Two noble earls, whom if I quote 
 Some folks might call me sinner, 
 The one invented half a coat, 
 The other, half a dinner. 
 
 " The plan was good, as some will say, 
 And fitted to console one, 
 Because in this poor starving day 
 Few can afford a whole one." 
 
 It is said that Lord Spencer told his tailor to cut off the tails 
 of his coat, and he would get some custom by it : hence the 
 name. " This article of dress originated with the late Lord 
 Spencer. His lordship, when Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 
 being out a hunting, had, in the act of leaping a fence, the 
 misfortune to have oue of the skirts of his coat torn off, upon 
 which his lordship tore off the other, observing, that to have 
 but one left was like a pig with one ear. Some inventive 
 genius took the hint, and, having made some of these half-coats, 
 out of compliment to his lordship gave them the significant 
 cognomen of Spencer " {Pullei/n). " Spenser, from Lord Spen- 
 ser, who introduced the short round overcoat, from under 
 which the swallow-tails protruded. Hence, to ' spenser' a man 
 was to tear off his coat-tails, so that he would appear as in a 
 jacket. This is a word in the mouths of old electioneering or 
 
 fast men " {S. F. Cresioell). A sort of jacket formerly worn 
 
 by women. Among seamen, a fore-and-aft sail set abaft the 
 
 fore and main masts ; a trysail. See also Notes and Queries, 
 2nd S. vii. 418, 447. 
 
 SPIELMANNIA. A plant of only one species, native of 
 the Cape ; named in honour of Jas. Reinbold Spielmann, pro- 
 fessor of medicine and botany at Strasbourg ; author of Pro- 
 dromus Florae Argentoratensis, &c. 
 
 SPIGELIA. Worm-grass ; a genus of plants ; named in 
 honour of Adrian Spigelius, professor of anatomy and surgery 
 at Padua: born at Brussels, 1578. 
 
 SPINACH, SPINAGE (L. spinacia. It. spinace, Sp. 
 espinaca). A plant of the genus Spinacia, whose leaves are 
 boiled for greens and used for other culinary purposes. See 
 Spinacia.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 289 
 
 SPINACIA. Spinach, spinage. A genus of plants, nat. 
 or. Chenojiodiacece. " From Iffttccv la., Spain, whence it origi- 
 nally came; or from its spinous seed" {Forsyth). ''From 
 spina, a thorn, on account of its prickly fruit" {P. C]jc.) 
 
 SPINOZISM. The form of Pantheism taught by Benedict 
 Spinosa, a Jew of Amsterdam, who maintained that God is 
 not only the maker, but also the original matter, of the uni- 
 verse, so that creation was only a development of Himself by 
 the Deity. — Murdock. 
 
 SPRUCE. Nice, trim, neat without elegance or dignity ; 
 formerly applied to things with a serious meaning ; now 
 applied to persons only (Webster). 
 
 " He is so spruce that he never can be genteel." — Tatler. 
 
 " Now, my spruce companions, is all ready, and all things neat?" — Tarn, 
 of the fcjh. 
 
 " Beware of men who are too sprucely dress'd, 
 And look, you fly with speed a fop profess'd." 
 
 Cong? eve. Ovid Imitated. 
 
 " Salmacis would not be seen of Hermaphroditus till she had spruced 
 up herself first." — Burton. Anat. Melanc, p. 335. 
 
 Minshew derives spruce, in the sense of neat, trim, a purus. 
 Skinner from Fr. preux, valiant. Junius says the well-fed 
 and strong are called spruze and lustie young fellows, from 
 A. S. spryttan, to grow, to spread. Dr. Johnson says, " I 
 know not whence to deduce it, except from priice. In ancient 
 books we find a furniture of pruce, a thing costly and elegant, 
 and thence probably came spruce.''^ The Avord is doubtless 
 corrupted from Prussian leather, found written Spr-uce 
 leather, and also Pruce. (" The leather was of Pruce." Dry- 
 den's Fables). A spruce person was one dressed in the Prus- 
 sian fashion. Hall, the chronicler, describing the appearance 
 of Sir E. Haward and Sir Thomas Parre, says they were 
 " appareyled after the fashion of Prussia or Spruce " (Hall, 
 Chron. 513; N. & Q. 3rd S. v. 385). "Perhaps," says 
 Richardson, " the quotation from Hall will show the true 
 origin of the woi'd. It was the custom of our ancestors, on 
 especial occasions, to dress after the manner of particular 
 
 u
 
 290 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 countries. The gentlemen who adopted that of Prussia or 
 Spnice seem, from the description of it, to have been arrayed 
 in a style to which the epithet spruce, according to our modern 
 usage, might have been applied with perfect propriety. Prus- 
 sian leather {coriimi Pruscianum) is called in Barett by the 
 familiar name of spruce.''' The beer called spimce is probably 
 from a totally different root ; perhaps from the German form 
 of the word, viz. sprossen-bier {sprossen-fichte, the spruce tree) ; 
 from sprossen, sprouts ; sprossen, to sprout, to bud ; because 
 spruce is made from the twigs and buds of the tree ; or it 
 may be from Gr. itBVK-rj, a pine or fir. The term sprtice for a 
 fir-tree is not only applied to all the species of that section of 
 the Linnffian genus Piiius which are comprehended under 
 " Abies," but likewise to some that are comprehended under 
 "Pence." 
 
 STAMBOULY. A Constantinopolitan coin, current at 
 Bassora for 20| mamoodies ; named from Stamboul, the Turk- 
 ish aiipellation of Constantinople. 
 
 STANHOPE. A light two-wheeled carriage without a 
 top ; named after Lord Stanhope, for whom it was contrived. 
 " So called from being introduced into the beau monde by the 
 Hon. Mr. Stanhope" {Pulleyn). 
 
 STANHOPE LENS. A lens, in shape, a cylinder of small 
 diameter, terminated at one end by a hemisphere, the other 
 end being a portion of a sphere less than a hemisphere ; named 
 after the late Lord Stanhope. 
 
 STANHOPE PRESS. A celebrated press, invented by 
 Lord Chas. Stanhope, who died in 1816. 
 
 STEINBERG (frequently called Stein). A wine made from 
 grapes grown at Steinberg, near Biberich, on the Rhine. It 
 is held in as great esteem and is equally priced with Johan- 
 nisberg. 
 
 STEINMANNITE. A mineral, colour lead grey, found at 
 Przibram, in Bohemia, with silver, blende, pyrite, and quartz ; 
 named after Steinmann. 
 
 STENO'S DUCT. The excretory duct of the parotid 
 gland ; called after its discoverer, Nic. Steno, a learned 
 anatomist, who was born at Copenhagen in 1638. He was
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 291 
 
 author of many works, the principal of which is Elemeutorum 
 Myologica? Specimen, &c. 
 
 STENTORIAN. Extremely loud ; as, a stentorian voice ; 
 able to utter a very loud sound ; as, stentorian lungs ; like 
 Stentor (Srsvrwp), a herald of the Greeks before Troy (men- 
 tioned by Homer), whose voice was as loud as that of fifty 
 other men ; according to the Schol., an Arcadian who con- 
 tended with Mercury in shouting, and lost his life. 
 
 " EvOa crrafr' ijoerg Sea KevhujXsv oq Uprj, 
 ^tavtopt £i(ra[j.£vrj, fxayaXriro^t, ^aXK£0<^ujvuj, 
 Og Toa-ov aU'Jijtrao'p^', 0(rov aXXoi TrsvrrjKoyta," 
 
 II. V. 784. 
 
 " There standing, the white-armed goddess Juno shouted 
 aloud, having likened herself to great-hearted, brazen-voiced 
 Stentor, who was accustomed to shout as loud as fifty other 
 men." 
 
 STEPHANITE. A mineralogical synonym of one of the 
 varieties of brittle sulphuret of silver, occurring in Saxony, 
 Bohemia, Hungary, the Hartz, in Mexico, and Peru ; named 
 after the mineralogist Stephan. 
 
 STEPHEN or ST. STEPHEN'S DAY. A festival of 
 the Christian church, observed on the 26 th Dec. in memory 
 of the first martyr St. Stephen. 
 
 STERLING. The lawful current money of England ; as 
 a pound sterling ; a shilling sterling ; a penny sterling. It is 
 not now applied to the coins of England ; but sterling cost, 
 sterling value are used. It was so called from the Esterlings or 
 Easterlings, Saxons who occupied the district of the present 
 Hanse Towns, and who were the earliest traders of Europe 
 (Spelman, Gloss. 203; Dufresne iii. 165). " Probably from 
 Easterling, once the popular name of German traders in Eng- 
 land, whose money was of the purest quality " {Camden'). " So 
 called from Esterlings, i.e. Prussians and Pomeranians, who in 
 old times were artists in filing gold and silver, and taught it to 
 the Britons" (5c«7e?/). ^^ Sterling, sterlingum, was and is the 
 epithet for silver money current within the realm ; and took 
 
 V 2
 
 292 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 name from this, that there was a pure coin stamped first in 
 England by the Easterlings or merchants of East Germany, by 
 the command of King John, and accordingly Roger Hoveden, 
 parte poster, suor. annal. fol. 377, writes it Esterling" {Cowel). 
 See also Stat, of Purveyors, cap. 13; stat. 31 Edw. I.; Lownd's 
 Essay upon Coins, p. 14; Keunet's G-loss. in Sterlingi; and 
 
 Ruding's Hist, of Coinage. Genuine, pure, of excellent 
 
 quality ; as, a work of sterling merit ; a man of sterling wit or 
 good sense. 
 
 STILTON. A well-known cheese first made at Stilton, 
 CO. Huntingdon, but now chiefly in Leicestershire. " Stilton, 
 'that's the Stilton,' or * it is not the Stilton,' i.e. that is quite 
 the thing, or that is not quite the thing; polite rendering of 
 ' that is not the cheese.'" (/. C. Hotten). 
 
 STCECHAS. French lavender ; from 2roi>ca5s^, the islands 
 on which it grew. — Forsyth. 
 
 STOIC (Sroococ). A disciple of the philosopher Zeno, who 
 founded a sect. He taught that men should be free from 
 passion, unmoved by joy or grief, and submit without com- 
 plaint to the unavoidable necessity by which all things are 
 governed ; from Sroa, a porch in Athens where Zeno taught. 
 
 STOIC, STOICAL. Pertaining to the Stoics or to their 
 doctrines ; not affected by passion, unfeeling, manifesting in- 
 diiFerence to pleasure or pain. See Stoic. 
 
 STOICISM. A real or pretended indifierence to pleasure 
 or pain ; insensibility ; the opinions and maxims of the Stoics. 
 
 See Stoic. 
 
 STOKIN or STOKEN. An apple; probably named from 
 
 Stoke, in Herefordshire. 
 
 STOLPENITE. The bole of Stolpen, a town of Saxony. 
 
 STRADUARIUS. A violin ; named from its maker, 
 Antonio Stradivarius, most skilful pupil of Amati, born at 
 Cremona about 1670, died about 1728, whose altos, contre- 
 bassos, but, above all, whose violins are in the highest estima- 
 tion. 
 
 STRAKONITZITE. A yellowish green steatite-like 
 mineral, forming pseudomorphs at Mutenitz, near Strakonitz, 
 in Bohemia.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 293 
 
 STRATHSPEY. A lively Scotch dance, a sort of reel, 
 danced in most parts of Scotland ; named from Strathspey. 
 
 STRELITZIA. A genus of plants of two species, natives 
 of the Cape ; named by Sir Joseph Banks in honour of Queen 
 Charlotte of Great Britain, of the family of Mecklenburg- 
 Strelitz, a patroness of the science of botany. 
 
 STROGANOWITE. A mineral, a silicate, from near the 
 River Sludiinka, in Dauria ; named after M. Stroganow. 
 
 STROMEYERITE. A steel-grey ore of silver, consisting 
 of sulphui*, silver, and copper (Dana) ; named after M. Stro- 
 meyer. 
 
 STROMNITE. Another name for bary-strontianite, a 
 compound of carbonate of strontian and sulphate of baryta ; 
 called from Stromness, in Orkney. 
 
 STRONTIA. A genus of ponderous earths, consisting of 
 strontian earth combined with acids. See Strontian. 
 
 STRONTIAN. An earth which when pure and dry is 
 perfectly white, and resembles baryta in many of its proper- 
 ties ; named from Strontian, in Argyleshire, noted for its rich 
 lead mines, where it was discovered in 1790. 
 
 STRONTIUM. A base of strontian, q.v. 
 
 STRUMPFIA. A genus of plants of only one species, 
 native of Curasao; named by Jacquin after Christop. Car. 
 StrumpfF, professor of chemistry and botany at Halle, in Ger- 
 many, editor of Liunjeus's Genera in 1752. 
 
 STRUVITE. A name given to the crystallised ammonio- 
 magnesian phosphate, found in peat earth in digging the 
 foundation of a church at Hamburg ; named in honour of 
 Struve. 
 
 STYGIA. A water made from corrosive sublimate ; so 
 called, on account of its supposed poisonous qualities, from 
 Styx, a name given by the poets to one of the rivers of hell. 
 
 STYGIAN. Hellish; infernal. 
 
 " At that 80 sudden blaze, the Stygian throng 
 Bent their aspect," — Milton, 
 
 So called from Styx, one of the rivers of hell, over which the 
 shades of the dead passed, or the region of the dead.
 
 294 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 SUFFOLK PUNCH. A variety of team horse ; probably 
 bred in Suffolk. 
 
 SULTAN OSMAE. A turban ranunculus so named. 
 
 SULTAN PLANT or SWEET SULTAN. An annual 
 flowering plant, Centaurea moschata ; named after one of the 
 sultans of Turkey. 
 
 SULTANA. A raisin ; named in honour of the Sultana, 
 i.e. the queen of the Sultan of Turkey. 
 
 SULTANIN. A former Turkish money of 120 aspers ; 
 also a gold coin worth 10s.; also a name for the Venetian gold 
 sequin ; doubtless named after one of the sultans of Turkey. 
 
 SURAT. Coarse short cotton grown in the neighbourhood 
 
 of Surat, in the Bombay presidency {S. F. CresioeU). " An 
 
 adulterated article of inferior quality. This word affords a 
 remarkable instance of the manner in which slang phrases are 
 coined. In the report of an action for libel in the Times, May 
 8, 1863, it is stated that since the American civil war it has 
 been not unusual for manufacturers to mix American cotton 
 with Surat, and the latter being an inferior article, the people 
 in Lancashire have begun to apply the term Surat to any 
 article of inferior or adulterated quality. The plaintiffs were 
 brewers, and the action was brought to recover special damages 
 resulting from the publication of an advertisement in these 
 words : — ' All in want of beerhouses must beware of Beau- 
 mont and White, the Surat brewers ' " {J. C. Hotten). 
 
 SURIANIA. A plant of only one species, native of the 
 sea-coast of South America and the West India Islands; named 
 by Plumier in honour of Donat vSurian, physician at Marseilles, 
 who accompanied him in his travels. 
 
 SURINAMINE. A crystallisable principle obtained from 
 the bark of the Geoffroya Surinamensis or Surinam bark, i.e. 
 from Surinam, in Lower Guiana. 
 
 SUSSEX MARBLE. A variety of limestone constituting 
 one of the freshwater deposits of the Wealden group. 
 
 SWEDE. A turnip originally from Sweden. 
 
 SWEDENBORGIANISM. The doctrines of the followers 
 of Emanuel Swedenborg, who claimed to have habitual inter- 
 course with the world of spirits, and to have received Divine
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 295 
 
 instructions from on high. He denied the doctrine of the 
 Trinity, and maintained that Jesus Christ alone is God. He 
 taught the doctrine of corresj^ondences, i.e. that tliere is a 
 spiritual meaning of the Scriptures lying back of the literal 
 one, which constitutes the only true meaning. — Encyc. Am. 
 
 SWEETIA. A genus of leguminous plants ; called after 
 Robert Sweet, F.L.S., author of several botanical works. 
 
 SWERTIA. A plant of six species, natives of Germany, 
 Austria, Switzerland, France, and Siberia, in Alpine bogs, 
 Virginia, Arabia Felix, Canada, and Kamschatka ; named by 
 LinnjEUS in honour of Eman. Sweert, a cultivator of bulbs and 
 flowers in Holland, author of Florilegium in 1612. 
 
 SWIETENIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Cedrelacece, of 
 three species, one of which is the mahogany tree, a native of 
 the warmest parts of America, and growing plentifully in Cuba, 
 Jamaica, Hispaniola, and in the Bahamas ; named by Jacquin 
 in honour of the illustrious Van Swieteu, chief physician to 
 Maria Teresa, Empress of Germany, who, at his persuasion, 
 founded the botanic garden at Vienna. 
 
 SWISS. A mercenary. This term arose from the hired 
 bands of Swiss soldiers who, in the Middle Ages, and down to 
 our own times, found employment in the armies of foreign 
 states. Le Suisse, in a French church, is the verger (from 
 this post being formerly held by Swiss), and is usually a tall 
 man dressed rather more extravagantly than an English 
 dowager's footman, with livery, cocked hat, and stafi^, — S. F. 
 Creswell. 
 
 SYBARITIC, SYBARITIC AL. Luxurious, wanton ; like 
 a Sybarite. " On the 4th I shall get to town, when I hope 
 you will dine with me on a single dish, to atone to phylosophy 
 for the sybaritic dinners of Prior Park " (Holland, Plinie b. 
 xviii. c. 30). So called from Sybaris, a town of Magna Graicia, 
 whose inhabitants were noted for their luxury and sensuality. 
 •' Sybaris, a Greek city in Lucania, in Southern Italy, situated 
 between the River Crathis (hod. Crati) and the Sybaris (hod. 
 Coscile, Coscilello, or Siburi). It was a colony founded about 
 B.C. 720 by Achaians and Troezenians (Aristotle, Polit, v. ii, 
 156, ed. Gottling ; Strabo, vi. 244). Strabo, without men-
 
 296 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 tioning the Troezenians, calls it an Achaian colony founded 
 by Iseliceus. In consequence of the fertility of the district 
 this colony soon increased in wealth and power; for at the time 
 of its greatest prosperity, about 200 years after its foundatioUy 
 it hnd, according to Strabo, acquired the dominion over four 
 neighbouring tribes, and had twenty-five subject towns. The 
 city itself occupied a space of fifty stadia in circumference, and 
 the Sybarites were enabled to send an army of 300,000 into 
 the field, a number which does not appear so unreasonable as 
 some modern writers have thought (Strabo, Diodorus Sic. xii. 
 9). Sybaris itself also became the mother of other colonies, 
 such as Posidonia, and carried on a considerable commerce, 
 especially with Miletus, in Asia Minor. But the prosperity of 
 Sybaris had a pernicious influence on the people, and within 
 the short period of 210 years that it existed the effeminacy 
 and the luxury of the inhabitants were carried to such a pitch 
 that the name Sybarite became proverbial and synonymous 
 with a voluptuous pei'son. Many curious particulars in illus- 
 tration of their effeminate character are mentioned in Athe- 
 njBus which it would be difficult to believe if they were not 
 reported on the authority of Aristotle, Timseus, and Phylar- 
 chus. Thus it is stated, among other things, that it was for- 
 bidden by law to carry on within the city any trade or craft 
 which made a noise, or might possibly disturb the citizens in 
 their sleep ; and for the same reason no person was alloAved to 
 keep cocks (Athengeus, xii. 518, &c.) The arts which con- 
 tributed to the enjoyment of life were prized most highly, and 
 those who distinguished themselves as inventors in this lin e 
 were considered benefactors to the nation. A Sybarite of the 
 name of Smindyrides is called by Herodotus the most luxu- 
 rious man that ever lived ; and it is said that when he went to 
 Sicyon to sue for the daughter of Cleisthenes he was accom- 
 panied by one thousand cooks and fowlers (Herodotus, vi. 27 ; 
 Athenseus, xii. 511 and 541. Cf. Perizonius on Aelian, 
 Var. Hist. ix. 24). . . . It is pi'obable that all we read 
 about the efteminacy of the Sybarites applies only to the ruling 
 aristocracy. . . . The city was taken, sacked, and razed 
 to the ground, and most of the inhabitants put to the sword, by
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 297 
 
 Croton, B.C. 510. . . . The site of the ancient Sybavis is 
 at present unknown, but it is generally supposed to have been 
 situated near the modern Torre Brodognato or Terra Nuova" 
 (P. Cyc.) 
 
 SYDNEAN or SYDNEIAN. A name given to a kind of 
 white earth brought from Sidney Cove, in South Wales. 
 
 SYENITE or SIENITE. A compound granular rock 
 composed of quartz, hornblende, and felspar, colour greyish ; 
 so called because many ancient monuments consisting of this 
 rock have been brought from Syene, in Upper Egypt. — 
 Dana. 
 
 SYEPOORITE. A mineral, a sulphuret, employed by the 
 Indian jewellers to give a rose colour to gold ; so called from 
 Syepoor, near Rajpootanah, in North- West India, w^here it 
 occurs in ancient schists w^ith magnetic pyrites. 
 
 SYLVANITE. Native tellurium, a metallic substance 
 discovered in Transylvania. 
 
 SYPHILIS. Dr. Mason Good says that this term vras 
 probably invented by Frascatorio, from Gr. a-vv and (piXsou, im- 
 porting " mutual love ;" for such is the title by which he has 
 desiguated his celebrated and very elegant poem on this very 
 inelegant subject. Others derive it from (mpXoQ, disgusting ; 
 others from the name of a shepherd who fed the flocks of 
 King Alcithous, and who insulted the sun, in vengeance of 
 which the venereal disease was sent upon earth. — Hooper, 
 Lex. Med. 
 
 SYRIAC. The language of Syria, especially the ancient 
 language of that country. 
 
 SYRIANISM or SYRIASM. A Syrian idiom, or a pe- 
 culiarity in the Syrian language. 
 
 SYRTIS (Gr. (rv^riQ). A quicksand or shelve in the water, 
 made by the drift of sand or gravel; so called from the Greater 
 and Lesser Syrtes, on the north coast of Africa.
 
 298 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 T. 
 
 TiENIA TARINI. A yellowish horny band lying over 
 the vena corporis striati, first noticed by Tarinus. It is a 
 thickening of the lining membrane of the ventricle. 
 
 TAFFY, A Welchman ; corruption of David, a common 
 name in Wales. 
 
 TAFILET. An excellent fig imported into Europe in con- 
 siderable quantities ; from Tafilelt, a principality of Marocco, 
 east of the Atlas range. 
 
 TAGILITE. A mineral, colour emerald green to mountain 
 green, occurring at Nischnii Tagilsk in reuiform masses on 
 brown iron ore. 
 
 TAGLIACOTIAN or TALIACOTIAN. Rhinoplastic, 
 applied to the surgical operation for restoring the nose. The 
 Taliacotian operation is a mode of forming a new nose from 
 the integuments of the forehead, or from the arm, &c., of 
 another person ; named from the first operator. Gasper Talia- 
 cotius (Tagliacozzi), a Venetian surgeon, whose statue stands 
 in the anatomical theatre at Bononia, holding a nose in his 
 hand. 
 
 TAGLIONI. An overcoat; so named after Madame Taglioni, 
 the late celebrated dancer. 
 
 TALBOR'S POWDER (English remedy). The name 
 formerly given in France to cinchona, from the successful use 
 of it in intermittent fever by Sir Robert Talbor, who employed 
 it as a secret remedy. For a similar reason it has, at different 
 times, received the names of the Countess's Powder, Jesuits' 
 Powder, &c. 
 
 TALBOTYPE. A process of photography invented by 
 Mr. Fox Talbot. 
 
 TAMARIND (Sp. tamarindo, It. tamarino, taviarindi, Fr. 
 tamarin). A tree which yields the fruit called tamainnds. 
 Two species are recognised, one a native of the East Indies, 
 Arabia, and Egypt ; the other of the West Indies and South 
 America. It is cultivated in both the Indies for the sake of 
 its shade, and for its grateful cooling acid fruit, the pulp of
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 299 
 
 which, dried either alone or with Bait, or mixed with boiled 
 sugar, is imported into northern countries. The word is de- 
 rived from the Aral), jjy^:^ [ ^['j tamni'l Hind, the date of 
 Hind or India. In like manner the Malacca bean is called 
 tamriClfahn. The word tamr signifies not only a ripe date (of 
 which there are seventy species), but also a dry or preserved 
 date. 
 
 TANTALIZE. To tease or torment by presenting some 
 good to the view, and exciting desire, but continually frustrat- 
 ing the expectations by keeping such good out of reach; to 
 tease ; to torment ; so called from Tantalus (son of Jupiter, 
 father of Pelops and Niobe), a king of Lydia. 
 
 " Thy vain desires, at strife 
 Within themselves, have tantalized thy life." — Dryden. 
 
 Tantalus is represented by the poets as punished in hell 
 with an insatiable thirst, and placed up to the chin in the 
 midst of a pool of water, which, however, flows away as soon 
 as he attempts to taste it. There hangs also above his head a 
 bough richly loaded with delicious fruits, which, as soon as he 
 attempts to seize it, is carried away from his reach by a sudden 
 blast of wind. According to some, his punishment is to sit 
 under a huge stone hung at some distance over his head, and, 
 as it seems every moment ready to fall, he is kept under con- 
 tinual alarms and never-ceasing fears. The causes of this 
 eternal punishment are variously explained. Some declare 
 that it was inflicted upon him because he stole a favourite dog, 
 which Jupiter had intrusted to his care to keep his temple in 
 Crete. According to others, he stole away the nectar and am- 
 brosia from the tables of the gods when he was admitted into 
 the assemblies of heaven, and that he gave it to mortals on 
 earth. Others say, from his cruelty and impiety in killing his 
 son Pelops, and in serving his limbs as food before the gods, 
 whose divinity and power he wished to try, when they stopped 
 at his house as they passed over Phrygia. There are also 
 others who impute it to his lasciviousness in carrying away 
 Ganymedes to gratify the most unnatural of passions. Pind, 
 O. 1 ; Hom. Od. 581 ; Cic. Tusc. i. 5, 4, 16; Eurip. Iphig. ;
 
 300 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 Proper t. 2, 1,66; Hor. Sat. i. 1, 68 ; and Lempriere. A 
 
 genus of birds allied to the Ibis. Tantalus's cup is the name 
 
 of a philosophical toy which amusingly exhibits the principle 
 of the siphon. 
 
 TANTALUM ( Columhimi). A metal found in the Swedish 
 minerals tantalite and yttro-tantalite ; so named from the in- 
 solubility of its oxide in acids, in allusion to the fable of Tan- 
 talus. Hence tanialimi ore (columbite of Hatchett), a prismatic 
 ore of tantalum, occurring as a coarse red granite in Finland. 
 
 TARANTELLA. See Tarentism and Tarentula. 
 
 TARENTISM or TARANTISM (L. tarentismus). A 
 fabulous disease supposed to be produced by the bite of the 
 insect called the tarentula, and considered to be incapable of 
 cure, except by protracted dancing to appropriate music : 
 hence the Sp. tai^antela, a powerful impressive tune played to 
 cure the bite of the tarantula ; whence the celebrated dance 
 called the tarantella. 
 
 TARENTULA or TARANTULA (It. tarantella, formerly 
 tarantola, Sp. tarantula, Fr. tarenttde, O. Fr. tarentole). A 
 species of spider Avhose bite on some persons produces no 
 effect, and on others is about equal to the sting of a wasp ; so 
 called from Tarentum (hod. Taranto), a city of Naples, in the 
 vicinity of which this insect is said to be found. 
 
 TARIFF (Fr. tarif, Sp. tarifa, It. tariffa). A list or table 
 of duties or customs to be paid on goods imported or exported. 
 Some derive the word from the Arab. u_aytj" tarif (Hind, id., 
 Hindi tdinph, Tel. tariplm) ; lit. determination, ascertainment ; 
 from i^_s.jS. arafa, to know; others from Tarifa, a town of Spain, 
 at the entrance of the Straits of Gibraltar, where duties were 
 formerly collected. 
 
 TARQUINISH. Proud, haughty; like Tarquin, a king of 
 Rome. — Quart. Rev. 
 
 TARRAGON. The herb dragon-wort ; a plant of the 
 genus Artemisia, celebrated for perfuming vinegar in France ; 
 so called from Tarragona, in Spain, where it abounds. 
 
 TARSHISH. In Scriptural times, a precious stone ; so 
 called as brought from Tarshish, an ancient, celebrated, and 
 opulent city, which carried on trade in the Mediterranean and
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 301 
 
 with the seaports of Syria, especinlly Tyre and Joppa. It 
 was doubtless the same with Tartessus, in Spain, which was 
 not far from the Straits of Gibraltar, and near the mouth of 
 the Guadalquivir. The Lxx, followed by Josephus, makes 
 this stone the " chiysolite," i.e. the topaz of the moderns, 
 which is still found in Spain. Others suppose it, without 
 reason, to be amber. In the authorised version the word is 
 translated "beryl." Cf. Exod. xxviii. 20; xxxix. 13; Ezek. 
 i. 16; X. 9 ; xxviii. 13; Cant. v. 14; Dan. x. 6. 
 
 TARTAN (O. Fr. tyretaine, Mod. Fr. tiretahie). A sort of 
 woollen cloth, checkered or cross-barred with threads of 
 various colours (Janiiesoii' s Diet.) A checkered worsted stuff, 
 called tartan or plaid, is made in various parts of England 
 {Encyc. of Dom. Econ.) Logan derives the word from Gael. 
 tarstin or tarsiUn, " across;" but Planche says the French had 
 the word tiretaine for a woollen cloth as early as the thirteenth 
 century, and that the true Gael, term for the Highland plaid 
 or mantle is treacan-feile, lit. the " chequered, striped, or 
 spotted covering." Tartan, in French tyretaine, in Latin 
 tiretanus, was a fine woollen cloth, much used for ladies' robes, 
 and generally of a scarlet colour. John de Menu speaks of 
 
 " Robbes faites par grands devises, 
 De beaux draps de soies et de laine, 
 De scarlate de tiretaine." — Roman de la Rose. 
 
 From whence, probably, its name, the teint or colour of Tyre; 
 scarlet being indifferently used for purple by the early writers, 
 and including " all the gradations of colours formed by the mix- 
 ture of blue and red, from indigo to crimson" ( Vide Illustrations 
 of Northern Antiquaries, 4to, Edinb. 1814, p. 36. Planche). 
 
 (Sp., It., and Russ. tartana, Fr. tartam, Barb. Gr. taprava.) 
 
 A small coasting vessel in the Mediterranean, having only one 
 mast and a bowsprit; now a boat for transport and fishing, says 
 Jal. Menage, however, seems to think that the name of the 
 vessel was formed from Tartarina, i.e. from Tartary. lie says 
 further that tarida, ttxpihs, is a sort of sea vessel, and that 
 tartane may have come from tarida; thus tarida, taridana, 
 tardana, Tartane. Jal says tartane may be from Bas. L. tarta,
 
 302 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 a ship of the Middle Ages, which the continuers of Du Cange 
 regard as the taride ; and that the form tarta is very near the 
 forms tareda and tareta ; but that tartane may also come from 
 the old Sp. tardante. 
 
 TARTAR. A person of a keen irritable temper : hence, 
 to catch a Tartar, i.e. to lay hold of or encounter a person who 
 proves too strong for the assailant ; so called from the Tatars. 
 Latin authors of the thirteenth century changed the name into 
 Tartar, from having, perhaps, the same sound as their word 
 Tartarus. See David's Turk. Gram. ; Remusat, tom. i. 1 ; 
 
 Klaproth, tom. ii. 1. "A savage fellow, an ugly customer" 
 
 {J. C. Rotten). 
 
 TARTAREAN or TARTAREOUS. Hellish; pertaining 
 to Tartarus, the name of the infernal regions, over which 
 Pluto or Hades ruled. 
 
 " And for lightning see 
 Black fire and horror, shot with equal rage 
 Among his angels ; and his thi-one itself 
 Mixt with Tartarean sulphur, and strange fire, 
 His own invented torments." — Milton, P. L. b. ii. 
 
 TARTERINE (O. Eng. tarteryne). Formerly, a kind of 
 silk stuff; said to have been so named because obtained from 
 the Tartars, properly Tatars. 
 
 TARTUFFISH. A term used by Sterne for precise, 
 hypocritical ; so called from Tartuffe, the hero in Molicre's 
 celebrated comedy of the same name ; hence the Fr. tartafe, a 
 hypocrite. 
 
 TAURUS PONIATOWSKI. A modern constellation, 
 consisting of seven stars, situated between Aquila and Ophi- 
 uchus, formed by the Abbe Poczobut, a Polish astronomer, in 
 1778; probably named after Poniatowski, King of Poland, 
 father of the celebrated Polish general. 
 
 TAWDRY. Very fine and showy in colours, without taste 
 or elegance ; having an excess of showy ornaments without 
 grace ; as, a taiodry dress ; tawdry feathers ; tawdry colours. 
 " Tawdry implies the gay or gaudy finery purchased at the 
 fair held in Ely and elsewhere on St. Etheldreda's Feast, on 
 the 17th Oct." (Nares, Gloss.) Thus St. Etlieldreda, St.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 303 
 
 Aiidry, Staudry, Tawdry. "Just as St. Olave's Street be- 
 comes Tooley Street" {S. F. Creswell). 
 
 TELAMONES. In architecture, figures of men supporting 
 entablatures, as distinguished from caryatides, wliicb are 
 figures of women. Dr. Wm. Smith says the Greeks called 
 them Atlautes, and he thinks they may refer to the strength 
 of Ajax, son of Telamon. Atlas is also called Telamon in 
 Latin, and Telamon was the name of a town and harbour of 
 Etruria, now called Talamone. 
 
 TELEPHIUM. A great ulcer, and of difficult cure ; so 
 named from Telephus, who received a wound from Achilles, 
 
 which pi'oved incurable. {Sedem Telepliiuni) . Systematic 
 
 name of the orpine, " because it heals old ulcers, such as that 
 of Telephus, made by Ulysses " (Forsyth). 
 
 TEMPLAR. A student of the law in the inns of court 
 called the Inner or Middle Temple. " So called from a house 
 near the Thames, which originally belonged to the Knights 
 Templars. The latter took their denomination from an apart- 
 ment of the palace of Baldwin II., in Jerusalem, near the 
 Temple" (Webstei^). 
 
 TENERIFFE. A wine often sold as Madeira; brought 
 from Teneriflfe, one of the Canary Islands, abounding in wine, 
 fruit, cattle, and game. It is also called Vidonia. 
 
 TENNANTITE. A blackish lead-grey ore of copper, 
 from Cornwall, consisting of copper, iron, arsenic, and sulphur; 
 named after Smithson Tennant. 
 
 TERENTIAN. Pertaining or peculiar to Terence (Pub- 
 lius Terentius Afer), the celebrated Latin comic poet; as 
 Terentian measures. 
 
 TERMAGANT. A boisterous, brawling, turbulent woman; 
 in Shakespeare used of men. 
 
 " She threw his periwig into the fire. ' Well,' said he, ' thou art a brave 
 temuicjant.' " — Tutler. 
 
 " The sprites of fiery termagants in flame." — Pope. 
 
 " The eldest was a termagant, imperious, prodigal, profligate wench." 
 — Arbuthnot. 
 
 So called from Termagant, a vociferous tumultuous character
 
 304 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 iu ancient farces and puppet shows. Cf. the Tale of Sir 
 Thopas, iu Chaucer, i. 15,221. 
 
 TERMINALIA. Roman festivals, annually celebrated in 
 February, iu honour of the god Terminus ; first established by 
 Numa. Peasants assembled at the principal termini, or land- 
 mai'ks, that divided the fields, and offered libations of milk and 
 wine. These termini were a kind of statues without hands or 
 feet. 
 
 TERPSICHORE AN. Relating to Terpsichore, the muse 
 who presided over dancing. 
 
 TERRA SIENNA (It.) A brown bole or ochre, used as 
 a pigment ; from Sienna, in Italy. 
 
 TEUCRIUM. A plant, the herb speedwell; now applied 
 to a genus, nat. or. Labiatce ; so called, according to Diosco- 
 rides, from Teucer, a Trojan commander, by whom it was 
 discovered. 
 
 TEUTONIC. The language of the Teutons, the parent of 
 
 the German, Dutch, and Anglo-Saxon or native English. 
 
 A military religious order of knights, founded in 1191, in imi- 
 tation of the Templars and Hospitalers. It was composed 
 chiefly of Teutons or Germans, Avho marched to the Holy 
 Land in the Crusades, and was established in that country for 
 charitable purposes. It increased in numbers and strength till 
 it became master of all Prussia, Livonia, and Pomerania. 
 
 TEXASITE. Another name for emerald nickel, found on 
 chromite at Texas, iu Lancaster, co. Pennsylvania. 
 
 THAPSIA. The deadly carrot, Thapsia asclejnas of Lin- 
 naeus ; from Thapsus, the island where it is found. — Forsyth. 
 
 THAPSUS. The great white mullein, or cow's lung-wort ; 
 from the Island Thapsus. — Forsyth. 
 
 THEBAICA. The Egyptian poppy ; from the country 
 about the ancient city of Thebes, where it flourished. — 
 Forsyth. 
 
 THEBAID. A celebrated heroic poem, written in twelve 
 books, by Statins, the Roman poet, contemporary with Domi- 
 tian. The subject of this poem is the civil war of Thebes 
 between the two brothers Eteocles and Polynices, or Thebes 
 taken by Theseus. The author was twelve years in composing
 
 VK1M5A NOMINALIA. '6()5 
 
 it. Several Greek poets had composed Thebaids before the 
 time of Statins, tlio principal of whicli were Antagoras, Anti- 
 phaiies of Coloplion, Meiielaus the ^gean, and an anonymous 
 autlior mentioned by Pausanius, lib. ix. — Nuttall. 
 
 THEBAN YEAR. In ancient chronology^ the Egyptian 
 year of 365 days and 6 hours ; so called from Thebes, where 
 it was doubtless first in vogue. 
 
 THENARDIA. A genus of plants of two species, one a 
 native of Cayeniie, the other of Mexico ; dedicated by Kunth 
 in honour of his friend L. J. Thenard, who wi'ote on the 
 chemical physiology of plants. 
 
 THEODOLITE. A surveyor's compass furnislied with a 
 small telescope for the more accurate measurement of angles. 
 Webster derives it from 9sw, to run, 5oX{;^^o^, long; and several 
 other etymologies will be found in Notes and Queries. It was, 
 perhaps, invented by and called after one Theodulus, a name 
 that occurs more than once in Zedler (Lex.) A writer in 
 Notes and Queries (3rd S. vii. 337) says, " I have before me 
 a copy of Exegeses Physico-Mathematicce, de momentis gra- 
 vium, de vecte, &c., dedicated to D. Carolum Theodolum, 
 Marchionem S. Viti, Romje, 1685. He is described as belong- 
 ing to a family renowned for their interest in mathematical 
 studies. It is not very improbable that the instrument was 
 named after him, or one of his ancestors. I have less doubt 
 in offering this suggestion, as all others hitherto given seem so 
 manifestly impossible." 
 
 THEODOSIAN CODE. An important code of laws pro- 
 mulgated in the Eastern Roman empire, a.d. 438, under the 
 auspices of Theodosius 11. 
 
 THEOPHRASTA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Myrsinaceai, 
 from the pounded seeds of which bread is said to be made in 
 St. Domingo, where it is called le ipetit coco. It was originally 
 called Eresia by Plumier, from Sresus, in the isle of Lesbos, 
 the birth-place of Theophrastus, the celebrated Greek natural- 
 ist and philosopher, but was afterwards altered by Linnaeus 
 to its present name in honour of Theophrastus. 
 
 THERA. A wine. See Santorin. 
 
 THESPIAN. Pertaining to Thespis, an Athenian poet, 
 
 X
 
 306 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 who lived in the time of Solou, about 535 B.C., and Avho is 
 said to have introduced the first rudiments of a tragic stage : 
 hence the art of representing tragedy has been called the 
 Thesjncm art. 
 
 THOLOSAN GOLD. When Coepio, the consul, plundered 
 the town of Tholosa (Toulouse), in Gaul, and found vast 
 quantities of gold in the temples of the place, whoever in this 
 plundering had touched the gold is said to have pei'ished by 
 a miserable and agonizing death. Hence the expression Tho- 
 losan gold became a proverb by Cicero and Strabo. An 
 account may be found in Herodotus of a calamity which perse- 
 cuted certain Scythians who were engaged in a similar oiFence 
 against Venus, by plundering one of her temples. Cf. Aulus 
 Gellius. 
 
 THOMAISM or THOMISM. The doctrine of the Tho- 
 mists or followers of Thomas Aquinas, in opposition to the 
 Scotists, with respect to predestination and grace. 
 
 THOMSONITE. A mineral of a glassy or vitreous lustre, 
 consisting of silica, alumina, and lime, with some soda, and 
 fourteen per cent, of water. The mineral comptonite is iden- 
 tical with this species {Dana) ; named in honour of Dr. 
 Thomas Thomson, of Glasgow, the celebrated chemist and 
 mineralogist. 
 
 THORIA or THORINA. A white earthy substance, ob- 
 tained by Berzelius in 1829 from thorite, q.v. 
 
 THORITE. A massive and compact mineral, found in 
 Norway, and resembling gadolinite ; so called from the Scan- 
 dinavian deity Thor. See Thursday. 
 
 THORIUM or THORINUM. The metallic base of 
 thoria, q.v. 
 
 THRASONICAL. Boastful, bragging ; so called from 
 Thraso, the braggart in the Latin comedies. But see Terence's 
 Eunuch. 
 
 THUGGISM. The practices of the Thugs, in India, 
 robbers and assassins of a peculiar class, who, sallying forth in 
 a gang of smaller or larger numbers, and in the character of 
 wayfarers, either on business or pilgrimage, fall in with other 
 travellers on the road, and, having gained their confidence,
 
 VEllBA NOMINALIA. 307 
 
 tako a favourable opportunity of strangling them by throwing 
 their turbans or handkerchiefs round their necks, and then 
 plundering them and burying their bodies. The word thug, 
 thag, signifies primarily a knave, an impostor, and has also been 
 applied to child-stealing and robbery not amounting to Dakaiti ; 
 from Hind, thag, thug a cheat. Cf. Wilson, Ind. Gloss. 
 
 THULITE. A variety of epidote, colour peach-blossom, 
 found in Norway; doubtless named from Thule, i.e. the Ultima 
 Thule of the Romans, denoting the northernmost and further- 
 most part of the habitable world ; probably Iceland. 
 
 THUMITE. A mineral, another name for axinite, occur- 
 ring at Thum, near Ehrenfriedersdorf, in Saxony. 
 
 THURSDAY (G-. Donnerstag, D. Donderdag, thunder-day, 
 L. Dies Jovis, It. Giovedi, Sp. Jueves, Fr. Jeudi). The fifth day 
 of the week ; from Dan. Torsdag, i.e. Thor's day, the day con- 
 secrated to Thor, in Scandinavian mythology, the son of Odin 
 and Freya, the deity that pi-esided over all mischievous spirits 
 in the elements, the god of thunder, answering to the Jove of 
 the Greeks and Romans. 
 
 TIGER (L. tigris, Gr. nypi;, Fr. tigre. It. tigro). A fierce 
 and rapacious animal of the genus Felis, one of the largest and 
 most terrible of the genus, inhabiting Asia. Some derive the 
 word from Heb. I^J gir, a dart, whence 'T'Jn tiger. According 
 to others, this animal was so named from frequenting the banks 
 
 of the Tigris, a river of Asiatic Turkey. A boy in livery 
 
 who rides behind his master; probably named from his activity, 
 A parasite. A ferocious woman. 
 
 TILBURY. A kind of gig or two-wheeled carriage with- 
 out a top or cover ; named from the person who first manufac- 
 tured or let it out to hire. 
 
 TILBURY WATER. An acidulous or saline water issu- 
 ing from a spring near a farmhouse at West Tilbury, in Essex. 
 It is esteemed for removing glandular obstructions, and is 
 recommended in scurveys and cutaneous diseases. 
 
 TIMOTHY GRASS (Fhleum pratense, meadow cat's-tail 
 grass). A grass highly extolled by many agriculturists for the 
 profusion of hay which it makes, and also for its rapid growth 
 when depastured ; so called from a person of the name, who 
 
 X 2
 
 308 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 successfully cultivated it in North America, where it grows 
 more luxuriantly than any other kind of grass. 
 
 TING-IS. A genus of insects which for the most part live 
 by pricking the leaves of plants ; named from Tingis (Tan- 
 giers), in Africa, where this insect abounds. 
 
 TINTAMAR. A hideous or confused noise \^not in use']. 
 " Bruit eclatant accompagne de tumulte, de desordre. Faire 
 un grand tintamarre. Quel tintamarre ! H y a trop de tinta- 
 marre la dedans, trop de brouillamini " (Mol.) Pasquier de- 
 rives the word from tinter (to ring, tingle), and marre (mattock) ; 
 " parce que les vignerous, pour s'avertir mutuellement que le 
 moment de quitter le travail etait venu, frappaient, tmtaient, 
 sur leur marre avec une pierre." Ash says Fr. tintamarre, L. 
 tinnitus, ringing, tinkling ; and Mars. 
 
 TIRONIAN NOTES. The shorthand among the ancient 
 Romans, the usage of which in France only ceased about the 
 tenth century ; said to have been named after Tullius Tii'o, 
 freedman and secretary of Cicero, by whom it was either in- 
 vented or perfected. In French diplomacy the Tironian 
 alphabet is an alphabetical and explanatory table of the Tiro- 
 nian notes. 
 
 TITAN. A calcareous earth ; said to have been so named 
 by Klaproth after the Titans. See Titanian. 
 
 TITANIAN, TITANIC, TITANITIC. Earth-born; so 
 called fi'om the Titanes, sons of Coelus and Terra, who were 
 treated with great cruelty by Coelus, and confined in the bowels 
 of the earth, till their mother pitied their misfortunes, and 
 armed them against their father. 
 
 TITHONIC. Pertaining to or denoting those rays of light 
 which produce chemical effects ; doubtless from Tithonus, son 
 of Laomedon, who was so beautiful that Aurora became 
 enamoured of him and carried him away. 
 
 TOBACCO. A plant, a native of America, of the genus 
 Nicotiana, much used for smoking and chewing, and in snuff. 
 Some derive the word from Tabasco, in Mexico. Accord- 
 ing to others, the Spaniards called it tobacco from Tabaco, 
 Tobago, or Tobago, an island in the Bay of Panama (discovered 
 by Columbus in 1496); or, as others style it, a province of
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 309 
 
 Yucatan, where they first found it and first learnt its use. 
 Rees (Encyc.) gives Tobago, one of the Caribbee Islands, in 
 the West Indies ; Tobago (Little), a small island near the east 
 coast of Tobago ; Tobacco Key, a small island in the Bay of 
 Honduras, near the coast of Yucatan. 
 
 TOCCAVIENSIS BOLUS. Bole of Tokay, in the Ma- 
 teria Medica ; a fine medicinal earth, dug about Tokay, in 
 Hungary, and esteemed a powerful astringent. Kentmau 
 calls it the Bolus Pannonica Vera; and Crato, Bolus Hunga- 
 rica. 
 
 TOKAY. A wine made at Tokay, in Hungary, of white 
 grapes ; distinguished from other wines by its aromatic taste. 
 This wine, which is said to be produced in so small a quantity 
 as never to be genuine unless when given in presents by the 
 Court of Vienna, is, however, a common dessert wine in all 
 the great families at Vienna and in Hungary. 
 
 TOLEDO. A sword of the finest temper ; so called from 
 Toledo, in Spain, once famous for its swords {B. Jonson). 
 There is still a sword manufactory there. But see Ford's 
 Spain. 
 
 TOLU BALSAM (called in medicine, balsam of Tolu). A 
 I'esin, or oleo-resin, pi-oduced by a tree of South America, the 
 Myrospermum toluiferum ; said to have been first brought from 
 Tolu, in Venezuela. 
 
 TOLUOLE. An oily hydrocarbon obtained by distillation 
 from balsam of Tolu, q.v. 
 
 .TOM (OLD). A slang appellation for gin; said to be 
 called from the nickname of a publican. 
 
 TOM-AND-JERRY. A low drinking shop; probably 
 some allusion to Pierce Egan's famous characters in his Life 
 in London. — J. C. Hotten, 
 
 TOM THUMB. A dwarf geranium so called. 
 
 TONTINE. An annuity or survivorship ; or a loan raised 
 on life annuities, with the benefit of survivorship. Thus, an 
 annuity is shared among a number, on the principle that the 
 share of each at his death is enjoyed by the survivors, until 
 at last the whole goes to the last survivor, or to the last two or 
 three, according to the terms on which the money is advanced.
 
 310 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 The term is derived from Lorenzo Tonti, a Nefipolitan, who 
 originated the idea in 1635, and who introduced it into France, 
 wliere tlie first tontine was opened in 1653. " Tontines have 
 seldom been resorted to in England as a measure of finance. 
 The last for Avhich the government opened subscriptions was 
 in 1789. The terms may be seen in Hamilton's History of the 
 Public Revenue, 210. There have been numerous private 
 tontines in this country, for the purpose of carrying into effect 
 some desirable public improvement, the whole of which derive 
 a considerable profit from their investments ?iow, whilst the last 
 survivor becomes the sole possessor of the capital. It has fre- 
 quently been applied beneficially towards the erection of great 
 hotels, such as the Tontine establishment in Glasgow, of which 
 Mrs. Douglas, of Orbiston, who died on the 28th July, 1862, 
 was the last of the original shareholders. Hamilton (p. 61) 
 remarks that ' tontines seem adajited to the passions of human 
 nature, from the hope every man entertains of longevity, and 
 the desire of ease and afiluence in old age ; and they are bene- 
 ficial to the public, as affording a discharge of the debt, although 
 a distant one, without any payment.' " Cf. N. & Q. 3rd S. ii. 
 213. " The tex'm originated from the circumstance that Lo- 
 renzo Tonti, an Italian, invented this kind of security in the 
 seventeenth century, when the governments of Europe had some 
 difficulty in raising money in consequence of the wars of Louis 
 XIV., who first adopted the plan in France. A loan was 
 obtained from several individuals on the grant of an annuity to 
 each of them, on the understanding that as deaths occurred 
 the annuities should continue payable to the survivors, and 
 that the last survivor should take the whole. This scheme 
 was adopted by other nations as well as France, but was not 
 introduced into England until recently, and then only for the 
 purpose of raising money to carry j)rivate speculations into 
 effect, which could not be satisfactorily accomplished without 
 a combination of capital." As to the formation of such a 
 scheme, see Stone's Benefit Build. Soc. 78. 
 
 TOORKOMAN. A horse said to be preferable for service 
 even to the pure Persian. It is large, standing from fifteen to 
 sixteen hands high ; swift and inexhaustible under fatigue,
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. '6ll 
 
 and was so called from Turkistan, which has been celebrated 
 from very early times for producing a pure and valuable breed 
 of horses. 
 
 TOORKY. A horse, of beautiful form, graceful action, 
 and docile temper ; originally from a Toorkoman and a 
 Persian. 
 
 TOPHET. Hell ; so called from a place east of Jerusalem, 
 where children were burnt to Moloch, and where drums were 
 used to drown their cries; from Heb. nsn tophet, from Qii iojyh, 
 a drum. 
 
 TORG-AU. A very fine wine from Torgau, on the Elbe. 
 
 TORRELITE. A red mineral from New Jersey, consist- 
 ing principally of silica, iron, and lime ; named from Dr. 
 Torrey. 
 
 TORRICELLIAN. Pertaining to Torricelli, an Italian 
 philosopher and mathematican, who discovered the true prin- 
 ciple on which the barometer is constructed. The Torricellian 
 tube is a glass tube, thirty or more inches in length, open at 
 one end, and hermetically sealed at the other, such as is used 
 in the barometer. A Torricellian vacuum is a vacuum pro- 
 duced by filling with mercury a tube hermetically closed at 
 one end, and, after immersing the other end in a vessel of 
 mercury, allowing the enclosed mercury to descend till it is 
 counterbalanced by the weight of an equal column of the 
 atmosphere, as in the barometer. 
 
 TOURNOIS. A livre Tournois was a French money of 
 account, equal to twenty sous, or a franc ; called in distinction 
 from the Paris livre, which contained twenty-five sous ; so 
 named from having been minted at Tours. Tournois was also 
 the appellation of a sous equal to twelve deniers, the Paris 
 sous being valued at fifteen deniers. 
 
 TOURNOSER or TOURNOVER. A coin minted at 
 Tours, temp. Philip le Bel and his immediate successors. 
 
 TRAPPISTINE. A liqueur, for the manufacture of which 
 the Abbey of Grace-Dieu, near Besangon, in France, has ac- 
 quired considerable reputation ; so named from the Trappists, 
 a religious order founded in 1140 in the valley of La Trappe, 
 and still existing in Normandy. See Globe, 20 Jan. 1865.
 
 312 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 TRATTINICKIA. A genus of plants, cl. Monoecia, of 
 only one species, T. rhoifolia, native of Brazil ; dedicated by 
 Willdenow to Dr. Trattinick, a German botanist. 
 
 TRAUTVETTERIA. A genus of plants, cl. Pohjandria, 
 instituted by Fischer and Meyer in honour of E. R. Traut- 
 vetter, a distinguished botanist, author of Monographs of 
 Echinops, &c. 
 
 TRAVERTIN. A white concretionary limestone, usually 
 hard and semi-crystalline, deposited from the water of springs 
 holding lime in solution. It was called by the ancients Lapis 
 Tiburtinus, the stone being found in great quantity by the 
 River Anio, at Tibur, near Rome. Some suppose travertin 
 to be an abbreviation of ti^asteverino, from transtiburtinus. — 
 Lyell. 
 
 TREBELLIANICK. By the trehelUanich portion is meant 
 the fourth part which the laws appropriate to executors who 
 are charged with a universal fiduciary bequest of the whole 
 inheritance, or of a part of it ; which distinguishes the tre- 
 hellianick portion from the falcidian portion ; for the falcidian 
 portion relates to legacies, and to particular fiduciary bequests 
 of certain things. It was so called from a decree of the 
 Senate, named after one of the Consuls of the year in which 
 it was made, ordaining that the executor who should be charged 
 to restore the inheritance to the fiduciary substitute should be 
 discharged of all the debts and burdens, and that the same 
 should pass with the goods to the substitute. Domat, Civil 
 Law, part 2, lib. v. tit. iv. 
 
 TREMOLITE. A mineral, a white variety of hornblende; 
 called from the valley of Tremolla, in the Alps, where it was 
 discovered. 
 
 TREPAN or TRAPAN. To ensnare; to catch by strata- 
 gem ; a snare. Webster derives it from Sax. treppan, from 
 trap (to ensnare) ; others from rpvitavov, which Bailey renders 
 a crafty beguiler, but which signifies lit. a borer, drill. The 
 usual derivation is from Trapani (anc. Drcpanum), a seaport 
 of Sicily, where some English ships being friendly invited 
 in, in stress of weather, were afterwards detained, contrary to 
 the assurance given them.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 313 
 
 TRIDENTINE. Pertaining to Trent (Tridentum), in 
 Southern Tyrol, or the celebrated council held in that city. 
 
 TRIPOLI. A powder used for polishing metals and stones, 
 first imported from Tripoli, which, as well as a certain kind of 
 siliceous stone of the same name, has been lately found to be 
 composed of the flinty cases of infusoria. — Lyell. 
 
 TRITON. According to Linnasus, a genus of Mollusca, of 
 only one species, having the body oblong, and tentacula or 
 arms twelve, Avhich inhabits the cavities of submarine rocks in 
 Italy; so called from the demi-god Triton, who is represented 
 
 by poets and painters as half man and half fish. A genus 
 
 of batrachian reptiles, or aquatic salamanders, comprehending 
 numerous species. 
 
 TROPHONIAN. Pertaining to the Grecian architect 
 Trophonius, or his cave, or his architecture. — Dwight. 
 
 TROY or TROY-WEIGHT. A weight of twelve ounces 
 in the pound, by which gold and silver, jewels, medicines, &c., 
 are weighed; said to have been named from Troyes, in France, 
 where it was first adopted. According to others, the original 
 name was tron. 
 
 TUBA EUSTACHIANA. The Eustachian or auditory 
 tube of the ear,- first described by Bartholomew Eustachius, an 
 eminent Italian physician of the sixteenth century. His 
 Opuscula Anatomica was published by Boerhaave in 1707. 
 
 TUESDAY (Sw. Tisdag, Dan. Tirsdag, D. Dingsdag, A. S. 
 Tiwmdag or Tuesdwg). The third day of the week ; so called 
 from Tig, Tiig, or Tuisco, the Mars of the Northern nations, 
 who presided over combats, strife, and litigation: "hence," 
 says Webster, " Tuesday is coiirt day, assize day, the day for 
 combat, or commencing litigation." 
 
 TULBAGIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. SjJcttJiacece ; 
 named by Linnieus from De Tulbagh, Governor of the Cape, 
 patron of botany, who sent the Cape plants to the brothers 
 Burman, in Holland. 
 
 TULLE, A kind of silk open-work or lace ; said to have 
 been originally brought from Tulle, in France, dep. Correze. 
 According to French authors, however, there is not and never 
 was either at Tulle or in the environs any fabric of this sort.
 
 314 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 There is, however, a place iu France named Toul, on the 
 Moselle, having lace manufactories. 
 
 TUNISIAN FALCON. A hawk from Tunis, in Africa. 
 
 TURANIAN. A name by which the inhabitants of Iran 
 designate the barbarians of the North ; a term frequently but 
 inappropriately used in ethnology and philology. Max Miiller, 
 speaking of the Aryans, says that the etymological signification 
 of Arya seems to be, " one who ploughs or tills," and is con- 
 nected with the root of arare ; and that the Aryans would 
 seem to have chosen this name for themselves as opposed to 
 the nomadic races, the Turanians, whose original name, Tura, 
 implies tlie swiftness of the horseman. 
 
 TURCISM, TURKISHNESS. Religion, manners, &c., of 
 the Turks. " He [Dr. Cox] grounds his following discourse 
 upon the probability of the fall of Turcism, and the hopes of 
 the further propagation of the Christian religion ; and the 
 necessity of unity and concord of Christendom " (Strype, 
 Eccles. Mem. Hen. VIII. an. 1536). " Contemnynge of know- 
 ledge and learninge, settinge at nought, and having for a fable, 
 God and His highe providence, will bi'inge us, I say, to a more 
 ungracious Turkishnes, if more Turkishnes can be than this? 
 than if the Turkes had sworne to brynge all Turkye against us " 
 (Ascham, Toxophiles, b. i.) 
 
 TURKEY. A domestic bird, the Meleagris of Linnaeus ; 
 said to have been so called from being brought from India 
 through Persia and Turkey. It is, however, a native of 
 America. Its French name is dinde, dindon, from D'Inde, i.e. 
 from India. 
 
 TURKEY BUZZARD. In America, a common species of 
 vulture, having a distant resemblance to a turkey. 
 
 TURKEY RED. A fine durable red, dyed with madder 
 upon calico or woollen cloth. 
 
 TURKEY STONE. Another name of the oil-stone; 
 brought from Turkey. 
 
 TURKOPHONE. A new musical instrument invented by 
 Ali Ben Squalle ; from Turk, and <f)a;vij sound. 
 
 TURK'S CAP. A plant of the genus Lilium ; and also of 
 the genus Melocactus.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 315 
 
 TURK'S HEAD. Name of plants of the genera Mammil- 
 laria and Melocactus. 
 
 TURK'S TURBAN. A plant of the genus Banunenlus. 
 
 TURLUPINADE. A term used chiefly among the French 
 for a low jest or witticism ; said to be derived from Turhqym, 
 a celebrated comedian of Paris, whose talent consisted mainly 
 in raising a laugh by miserable puns and quibbles. 
 
 TURNERA. A genus of plants, of which Miller enume- 
 rates two, and Linnaeus four species ; named after Turner, the 
 naturalist. 
 
 TURNERITE. A rare mineral, occurring in small crystals 
 of a yellowish-brown colour, found only on Mount Sorel, in 
 Dauphine ; named in honour of Mr. Turner, in whose collec- 
 tion it was first found. 
 
 TURPINIA. A small genus of trees, nat. fam. Celastrinece, 
 common in the West Indies, India, and China; named after 
 Turpin. 
 
 TURQUOISE (Fr. turquoise). A mineral, called also 
 calaite, of a bluish-green colour ; when highly coloured, much 
 used as a gem. Pedro Teueira says this stone Avas brought 
 from Nixabar, a province of Persia, bordering on Turkistan, 
 whence it was called Turkoise. Others assert the Fr. word 
 was named from its blue colour, the favourite one of the 
 Turks, whence the It. word turchino, blue. Cf. La Crusca and 
 Scaliger. Webster writes turhois. Bailey says, " Tureoise, a 
 precious stone of an azure colour ; so called because brought 
 to us from the Turks." 
 
 TURR^A. An evergreen tree or shrub, of five species, 
 found by Koenig among heaps of scorice or worn-out volcanoes 
 in the East Indies ; named by Linnaeus in honour of Giorgio 
 a Turre, author of a History of Plants, Padua, 1585. 
 
 TUTENAG (sometimes called Tooth and Egg Metal). 
 Chinese copper, an alloy of copper, zinc, and nickel, or spelter. 
 The Rev. Thos. Boys says, although what we now call Ger- 
 man silver, which is one of many alloys that have been termed 
 tutenag, does not appear to have been made in Europe till 
 about the commencement of the present century, that various 
 alloys resembling in appearance German silver, and known by
 
 316 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 the name of white copper (iveiss kupfei-'), were made in Ger- 
 many long before ; that the Portuguese, meeting with a 
 similar article in their early commerce with India and China, 
 would at once be struck with the resemblance, and, speaking 
 by their own language, would naturally call it prata Teutonica 
 (German silver); that Teutonica thus becomes the trade name 
 of the Eastern article, and in due time comes back to Europe, 
 transmuted into tutenag ; that tutenag is also called tutenago 
 [Enci/c., and Bechnann) and tutenaga (^Moraes), and that these 
 last two forms represent the Portuguese masculine and femi- 
 nine: — metal Teutonico, m. (German metal); prata Teutonica, f. 
 
 (German silver), " A watch-maker of Nottingham, named 
 
 Tutin, made articles from it, whence they are often, but in- 
 correctly, called Tutinic ware " (S. F. Creswell). A name 
 
 given in India to zinc or spelter. 
 
 TWEED. A light woollen stuff, used for summer coating ; 
 a milled Scotch trousering or wrapper worn by shepherds and 
 others ; said to derive its name from the Tweed, a river of 
 Scotland and England ; perhaps because first manufactured on 
 its banks. 
 
 TYBURN TICKET. A certificate given to the prosecutor 
 on the capital conviction of a criminal, by virtue of the 10 & 
 11 Wm. Ill, c. 23, s. 2, which exempted the prosecutor "from 
 all manner of parish and ward offices within the parish where- 
 in such felony was committed ; which certificate shall be en- 
 rolled with the clerk of the peace of the county, on payment 
 of Is., and no more." This Act was repealed by 58 Geo. III. 
 c. 70 (3rd June, 1 8 1 8), a fact, however, which seems to have been 
 afterwards ignored. A correspondent of Notes and Queries 
 remarks, "In the autumn of 1856 I was on the jury at New- 
 gate. On that occasion Mr. Pratt, armourer, of Bond Street, 
 claimed and obtained exemption from serving on the jury by 
 reason of his possession of a Tyburn ticket." The editor of 
 N. & Q. (25 Dec. 1858, p. 529) says, "Mr. George Phillips, 
 late of Charlotte Street, Bloomsbury, and now residing in 
 Kingsgate Street, Theobald's Road, was the last individual 
 who received the Tyburn ticket for a burglary committed by
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 317 
 
 two housebreakers on his premises. This ticket was purchased 
 of Mr. Phillips by the late Mr. Pfeil, of Holborn." 
 
 TYCHONIC. Pertaining to or designating the system of 
 Tycho Brahe the astronomer, a noble Dane, born a.d. 1546. 
 The Tychonic system partly restored that of Ptolemy, concern- 
 ing the earth remaining at rest whilst the other heavenly 
 bodies moved round it. 
 
 TYPHEAN. Pertaining to Typhteus, the fabled giant 
 with a hundred heads. 
 
 TYRANT (L. tyrannus, GrV.i'vpa.vvoQ). A cruel master; an 
 oppressor. According to Liddell and Scott, rvpavvoq is strictly 
 Doric for -KfupoivoQ, from wj^oq, Kupio;, a lord, master. Can* 
 (Lucian) says the Tyrreheni were a mischievous people, very 
 troublesome to the Athenians ; and that from their name it is 
 pretended was derived the word tyrant, which was, however, 
 in better repute than its original, being for some time synonym- 
 ous for king. " We will not inquire whether Turk, the grand- 
 son of Japhet (who gave his name to the nation), was or was 
 not the Targitaos of Herodotus, and the Togarmah of Scrip- 
 ture. But it is more curious that the name of the people 
 found its way into the language of the Greeks in a sense of 
 prognosticating evil. The ancient Persians, who called their 
 own country Iran and every other country Aniran, gave to the 
 land beyond the Oxus the name of Turan ; the inhabitants of 
 this country were proverbial among the Persians for their 
 rudeness and ferocity, as the Scythians and Thracians among 
 the Greeks and Romans ; from thence the Asiatic Greeks 
 borrowed the word rv^acvvos, so that the word tyrant, traced to 
 its primitive signification, means a Turk " (For. Quar. Rev. 
 iv. 239). 
 
 TYRIAN. Of a purple colour ; so called from Tyre, a 
 celebrated city on the coast of Phcenicia, where the Tyrian 
 dye was made. 
 
 TYROLITE. A mineral, colour apple-green, verdigris- 
 green, inclining to sky-blue, found at Falkenstein, near 
 Schwatz, and other places in the Tyrol ; also in Hungary, &c.
 
 318 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 U. 
 
 ULLMANITE. Phosphate of manganese and iron, occur- 
 ring massive at Limoges, in France ; analysed by Ulhnann. 
 
 ULSTER. A name given to one of the kings at arms. 
 Edw. VI. in his journal makes the following note : — " Feb. 
 There was a king at arms made for Ireland, whose name was 
 Ulster, and his province was all Ireland." This must mean 
 that Ulster was his title, which he derived from the province 
 of that name in Ireland. 
 
 ULTIMA THULE (L.) The utmost stretch or boundary; 
 so called from Thule, the name given, in early history, to the 
 northernmost part of the habitable world ; and supposed to 
 refer either to Iceland or to one of the Shetland Isles. 
 
 UNION JACK. " The British flag consists of the crosses 
 of St. George, St. Andrew, and St. Patrick, united ; but the 
 etymology of the term Union jack has never, it is presumed, 
 been explained, for it does not occur in any lexicon or glossary. 
 The word Union obviously arose from the event to which 
 the flag owes its origin (the union of Ireland in 1801); the 
 only difliculty, therefore, is as to the expression ' Jack.' As 
 the alteration in the banner of St. George occurred in the 
 reign of James I., it may with great probability be supposed 
 to be a corruption of Jacques. If, however, this hypothesis be 
 rejected the following is submitted : — English soldiers were 
 formerly accustomed to wear the cross of St. George on their 
 upper garment, and as it appears from early writers that the 
 upper dress of a horseman, and, according to others, a coat of 
 mail was called Jack, it admits of the inference that a small 
 flag containing the cross in question was termed a Jack when 
 used at sea after the banner, which, more properly speaking, is 
 confined to the field, fell into comparative disuse. The former 
 of these conjectures ajDpears, however, the more probable." Sir 
 Harris Nicolas's Naval and Military Mag. 1827. 
 
 URALIC. A name given to the languages of the Finnic 
 tribes, from it being generally supposed that the original seat 
 of such tribes was in the Ural Mountains.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 319 
 
 URANIA, A genus of plants, nat. or, Jihisacece ; named 
 
 after Urania, one of the Muses. A genus of lepidopterous 
 
 insects. 
 
 URANITE, URAN MICA, or URAN GLIMMER. An 
 oi"e of uranium, colour bright green or yellow. See Uranium. 
 
 URANIUM. A metal, colour reddish brown, discovered 
 by Klaproth in 1789, in pitchblende; perhaps named after 
 Uranus, the same as Coelus, the most ancient of all the gods, 
 whose children conspired against him because he confined 
 them in the bosom of the earth. But see Urania. 
 
 URANUS. One of the primary planets ; the name now 
 generally given to the planet discovered in 1781 by Dr. Her- 
 schell, and by him called Georgium Sidus ; by others, Herschell. 
 So called from Uranus, otherwise Coelus, the most ancient of 
 all the gods, who married Terra. A better name would have 
 been Urania, the Muse who presided over astronomy. 
 
 UTOPIA. A word now used in all the European languages 
 to signify a state of ideal perfection ; a term invented by Sir 
 Thomas More (from Gr. ovroitog, no place), and applied to an 
 imaginary isle, which he represents as enjoying the greatest 
 perfection in politics, laws, &c. 
 
 UTOPIAN. Ideal, chimerical, fanciful, not well founded. 
 See Utopia. 
 
 UTOPIANISM. Chimerical schemes in theory or practice. 
 — Chalmers. See Utopia. 
 
 V. 
 
 VACHELLIA. A genus of plants, of only one species, 
 V. Farnesiana, the Acacia Farnesiana, a small tree, native of 
 India; dedicated by Wright and Arnott to Rev. H. G. H. 
 Vachell, who has lately made the botany of China better 
 known to Europeans, by means of specimens. 
 
 VAHLIA. A genus of plants, cl. Pentandria, of seven 
 species, natives of Africa ; dedicated by Thunberg to Martin 
 Vahl, professor of botany at Copenhagen, author of several 
 botanical works.
 
 320 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 VALANCE. A piece of drapery hanging round the tester 
 and head of a bed, and also from the head of window curtains 
 
 '' Valance of Venice gold in needlework." — T. of the Shrew. 
 " Thy face is valanc^d since I saw thee last." — Hamlet. 
 
 Webster qu, Fr. avalant, falling ; Norm, valaunt, descending. 
 Bailey derives the Avord, which he writes valences and vallens, 
 from Falenzana, in Italy. Skinner gives " Valenzana del letto, 
 from Valentia (Valencia), a town in Italy and Spain." There 
 is also Valenza, in Sardinia ; and Valence and Valencia are 
 names of several places in Continental Europe. 
 
 VALANTIA. An annual with smooth stem and leaves, 
 native of Italy and the south of France ; named by Tourne- 
 fort in honour of Sebastien Vaillant, an eminent French 
 botanist, demonstrator at the botanic garden at Paris, author 
 of several works on botany, who died in 1722. 
 
 VALDEPENAS. A red wine from Valdepeiias, between 
 Granada and Madrid ; the produce of the Burgundy vine, 
 transplanted into Spain. 
 
 VALENCIANITE (of Breithaupt). A mineral, a variety 
 of adularia ; named from the Mexican mine Valenciana. 
 
 VALENCIENNES. A rich lace, from Valenciennes, a 
 town of France, dep. Nord. 
 
 VALENTINE. A sweetheart or choice made on Valen- 
 tine's Day {Wotton). A letter containing professions of 
 
 love or affection, sent by one young person to another on 
 Valentine's Day {Burton). The term is also now applied to 
 caricatures sent in jest on the 14th February, Valentine's Day, 
 in the Roman Church, a day sacred to St. Valentine. " It 
 was," says Webster, " a very old notion, alluded to by Shak- 
 speare, that on this day birds begin to couple. Hence, per- 
 haps, arose the custom of sending on this day letters contain- 
 ing professions of love and affection." 
 
 " Saint Valentine is past, begin these wood-birds but to couple now." — 
 M. N.'s Dr. 
 
 In the following passage in Bacon's Descriptio Globi Intellectu-
 
 VERBA NOMINA LI A. 321 
 
 alis, c. 6, the fantastic speculations of the modern Platonists 
 are compared to " the images and dreams of Valentine ;" and 
 some of the customs (the most prevalent of which seems to 
 have been that of drawing lots for lovers) connected with St. 
 Valentine's Day, seem to be alluded to: ' De ccclis vero et 
 spatiis immateriatis, religioni omnino standum et permittendum. 
 Quae enim a Platonicis, et nuper a Patricio (ut diviniores sili- 
 cet habeantur in philosophia) dicuntur. non sine superstitione 
 magna et jactantia, et quasi mente turbata, deuique ausu nimio, 
 fructu nullo, similia Valentini iconibus et somniis ; ea nos pi'o 
 rebus commentitiis et levibus habemus '" (YoL xi. 21, ed. 
 Montagu), [The Neo-Platonic philosopher mentioned in this 
 passage was Francis Patricius, or Patrizzi, who was born in 
 1529, and died at Rome in 1597]. A correspondent of Notes 
 and Queries (3rd S. iii. 128) says, " How this Saint \_Valentine'] 
 came to be chosen as the patron of lovers seems to be still a 
 vexata qucestio, but I think that some light may be thrown on 
 the subject by the fact that vaJantin is still used in Normandy 
 in the sense of siveetheart. Frederic Pluqnet, a well-known 
 Norman antiquary, in a small brochure on the popular Tales, 
 Patois, &c., of Bayeux, explains the word valantin as signify- 
 ing 'petit galant; le v pour le g ;' and in a tale by a modern 
 French novelist, Emile Souvestre, the scene of which is laid 
 in Normandy, and in which the dialect of that province is 
 occasionally introduced, both valantin and galantin are used in 
 this sense. There can be no doubt that galant and vaillant are 
 both derived from the Latin valens, and our English word 
 gallant, with a distinguishing accentuation, combines both 
 meanings. Valantin being thus so closely identified with 
 galant, it is easy to conceive how a saint with such a name as 
 Valentine, and whose feast occurs at a time when all living 
 nature inclines to couple, should have been fixed upon as the 
 patron of lovers. I have not been able to find any satisfactory 
 reason for believing that he was so honoured elsewhere than 
 in G-reat Britain and France. The assertion of some writers 
 that the custom of choosing valentines had its origin in heathen 
 times, and was attempted to be turned to a religious purpose 
 by the Saint, seems to want confirmation. If this was the 
 
 V
 
 322 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 case, traces of the custom would surely be found in other 
 Christian countries." Another correspondent of Notes and 
 Queries (3rd S. iii. 169) says, "The assertion that the custom 
 of choosing valentines was attempted to be turned to a reli- 
 gious purpose by St. Valentine, seems to want confirmation, or, 
 rather, has no foundation at all. Indeed, thei'e is no connection 
 whatever between the custom of valentines and the history of 
 the saint himself. We know but little of him, as is the case 
 with many early martyrs and other saints. He was a priest at 
 Rome, and celebrated as an illustrious martyr under Claudius 
 II. about the year 270, on the 14th February, having been put 
 to death for assisting the martyrs ; but nothing is recorded of 
 this saint that could in any way connect him with the obser- 
 vances in question. That the custom, however, of choosing 
 valentines had its origin in heathen times may be safely said 
 to need no confirmation. Every one read in Roman history is 
 acquainted with the festival of the Lupercalia, on the 15th of 
 February, in honour of Pan, when the young men used to run 
 about the streets and whip all whom they met, and particularly 
 the women, who willingly submitted to the whip, under the 
 belief that it imparted fecundity and promoted safe delivery. 
 But this feast was also kept in honour of Juno, who was called 
 from it Februata, Februalis, and FebruUa, as Mr. Douce ob- 
 serves in his Illustrations of Shakespeare. The names of 
 young women were drawn out of a box by young men, and 
 some Christian pastors, though not St. Valentine himself, sub- 
 stituted the names of saints to be drawn instead of those of 
 young women, and fixed upon St. Valentine's Day, as occur- 
 ring about the middle of the month, the time of the Lupercalia. 
 The pagan customs, however, still prevailed, as in too many 
 other instances, though the pastors of the church have re- 
 peatedly laboured to suppress them, or at least to divert them 
 to innocent and holy purposes. Thus St. Francis of Sales 
 severely condemned the profane custom of valentines, and 
 laboured to substitute for them papers with the names of saints 
 proposed for imitation. In many religious houses these billets 
 are regularly drawn for on St. Valentine's Day, and each 
 member of the community preserves the billet during the year.
 
 VERBA NOMINALTA. 323 
 
 as an excitement to invoke the saint's intercession, and to 
 imitate his virtues, the principal of which are noted upon the 
 paper. It is stated that the earliest poetical valentines known 
 were composed by Charles Duke of Orleans, who was taken 
 prisoner at Agincourt in 1415, and wrote them in the Tower 
 of London. They are preserved in MS. in the British 
 Museum. John Lydgate alludes to the custom o? valentines in 
 a poem in praise of Queen Catherine in 1440. The day is 
 observed with different practices in different places. In Nor- 
 wich it has grown into a monstrous and almost universal system 
 of giving and receiving presents, which prevails nowhere else, 
 or is at least of only partial observance in other places." 
 
 VALENTINIA. A herb, flowers usually of a deep rose 
 colour, but varying to pale flesh-colour and white, native of 
 France, Switzerland, Italy, the Levant, and Barbary. It Avas 
 named by Dr. Schwartz in memory of two Avriters named 
 Valentini, both of whom contributed to botanical information. 
 One of them (Michael Bernhard Valentini) was professor of 
 medicine at Giessen, and author of several works on natural 
 history. 
 
 VALERIAN. A plant of the genus Valeriana. The root 
 of the officinal valerian has a strong smell, is very attractive to 
 cats and rats, and is much used in medicine. The genus 
 Valeriana is a native of France, Switzerland, Italy, the Le- 
 vant, and Barbary. Some derive its name from valor, or 
 valentia, or from valere. According to others, it was so called 
 from Valerius, Avho first used it as a medicine, or who first 
 particularly described it. See Miller. 
 
 VALLANCY. A large wig that shades the face, mentioned 
 by Dryden ; perhaps from same root as valance. 
 
 VALLISNERIA. A genus of aquatic plants, nat. or. Hy- 
 drocharacece ; named by Micheli after the naturalist Antonio 
 Vallisneri, F.R.S., &c., professor of medicine at Padua, archi« 
 ater to Emp. Chas. VI., author of Opere Fisico-Mediche. 
 
 VALLS. A wine from Vails, in Catalonia. 
 
 VALONIA. A species of acorn, produced in the Morea 
 and the Levant, and used by tanners. Rees says, " Velani, 
 sometimes called valonia, a name given by the modern Greeks 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 to the acorns of a species of oak denominated the Velanida." 
 The word is probably derived from Valona, Avlona, Aulona 
 (anc. Anion), a town of European Turkey, Albania. On 
 referring to Blackie, I find I am confirmed in this etymology. 
 He says the exports of Valona consist chiefly of salt, pitch 
 from the mines of Selenitza, olive-oil, wool, gall-nuts, and 
 valo7iia. 
 
 VANADATE or VANADIATE. A compound of vanadic 
 acid and a base. See Vanadium. 
 
 VANADIC ACID. A compound of vanadium and oxygen, 
 in the proportion of one equivalent of vanadium, and three of 
 oxygen. 
 
 VANADINITE. The mineral vanadate of lead, occurring 
 in yellowish and brownish hexagonal crystals. 
 
 VANADIUM. A metal, colour white, extremely brittle, 
 much resembling silver ; discovered by Sefstrom in 1830, and 
 named after Vanadis, a Scandiuavian deity. 
 
 VANCOUVERIA. A genus of plants, of only one known 
 species, native of north-west coast of America ; named by 
 Decaisne in honour of the celebrated circumnavigator Van- 
 couver. 
 
 VANDAL. One hostile to the arts and literature ; one 
 ignorant and barbarous ; so called from the Vandals, one of 
 the most barbarous of the northern nations that invaded Rome 
 in the fifth century, notoriously for destroying the monuments 
 of art and literature. 
 
 VANDALIC. Ferocious, rude, barbarous ; like the Van- 
 dals. See Vandal. 
 
 VANDALISM. Ferocious cruelty ; hostility to the arts 
 and literature; the spirit or conduct of Vandals. See Vandal. 
 VANDELLIA. A genus of plants of very many species, 
 principally natives of the East Indies and other parts of Asia; 
 dedicated by P. Browne to Dominico Vandelli, professor of 
 natural history at Lisbon. 
 
 VANDYKE. A small round covering for the neck, worn 
 by females, as seen in portraits by Van Dyck, temp. Chas. I.: 
 hence articles of dress are vandyked when ornamented with a 
 kind of notch-work. " At Cambridge University, a drunken
 
 VERBA NOMINA LIA. 325 
 
 person is said to vandyhe when he zig-zags from one side of 
 the pavement to anotlier " (^S. F. C.) 
 
 VARINAS. A celebrated tobacco from Varinas, a town 
 and prov. of Venezuela, South America. 
 
 VARRONIA. A genus of plants of several species, natives 
 of the West Indies, Santa Cruz, Carthagena, Curapao, China, 
 and the Caraccas ; named by Browne after Marcus Terentius 
 Varro, one of the most learned of the Romans, author of De 
 Re Rustica. 
 
 VARSOVIENNE. A celebrated dance ; named from 
 Warsaw, in Poland, where it probably originated. 
 
 VARVICITE. An ore of manganese, occurring massive at 
 Hartshill, in Warwickshire, and in 2:)seudo-crystals at Ilfeld ; 
 named from locality, Faryac?7e being a softening of Wanvickite. 
 
 VAUDEVILLE. In the French theatre, a piece whose 
 dialogue is intermingled with light or comic songs ; but ori- 
 ginally a song common among the vulgar, and sung about the 
 streets ; a ballad ; a trivial strain. Some assert that the 
 vaudeville is a song, Qui va par la ville ; others derive the word 
 from voix de ville. Accox'ding to others, the " French aval or 
 avau is a phrase among navigators implying the reverse of 
 amont ; avau de Veau is used adverbially to. express drifting 
 down a stream (' Personne ne ramoit, nous nous laissions aller 
 a vau de I'eau'); and vaudeville was originally applied to 
 designate any song or ballad borne along the current of town 
 gossip or popularity — ' a vau de villeJ' " The correct etymology 
 is from Vaux-de-Vire, in Normandy, where the vaudeville first 
 originated. Menage says, " Vaudeville, sorte de chansons par 
 corruj)tion an lieu de Vaudevire. C'est ainsi qu'on appelloit 
 anciennement ces chansons ; parce qu'elles furent inventees 
 par Olivier Basselin, qui etoit un foullon de Vire, en Nor- 
 mandie, et qu'elles furent premierement chantees au Vaudevire, 
 qui est le nom d'un lieu proche de la ville de Vire." Charles 
 de Bourgueville (Antiquites de Caen), speaking of Vire, says, 
 " C'est aussi le pays d'oii sont procedez les chansons que Ton 
 appelle Vaux-de-Vire : comme ces-deux : 
 
 ' Helas ! Olivier Basselin, 
 En la Duche de Norinandie, 
 II y a si grand' pillerie, &c.'
 
 326 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 Jan Vauquelin, Sr. de la Fresnaye, pere de Mr. Des-Yveteaux, 
 precepteur de Louis XIII. : 
 
 ' Je ne puis sans horreur ouir qu'au Vau-de-vire, 
 Ou jadis on souloit ies belles chansons dire, 
 D'Olivier Basselin, &c.' " 
 
 Du Bois says, " Le Vau-de-Vire (car ce n'est que par corrup- 
 tion que depuis on a dit Vaudeville) tire son nom des Vaux de 
 la riviere de Vire, ou cliantait si gaiment Basselin. Ainsi c'est 
 encore a la Normandie, qui a vu naitre presque tons nos pre- 
 miers auteurs fameux, que Ton est redevable d'Olivier Basselin 
 et du Vau-de-Vire. II est incontestable que la vaudeville est 
 d'origine Norraaude." Dibdin, in his account of Vire in Nor- 
 mandy, gives the foUovfing note on the Vaudevires of Olivier 
 Basselin : — " The present seems to be the proper place to give 
 the reader some account of this once famous bacchanalian poet. 
 It is not often that France rests her pretensions to poetical 
 celebrity upon such claims. Love, romantic adventures, gaiety 
 of heart and of disposition, form the chief materials of her 
 minor poems ; but we have before us, in the person and pro- 
 ductions of Olivier Basselin, a rival to Anacreon of old, to 
 our own Richard Braithwait, Vincent Bourne, and Thomas 
 Moore." ..." Basselin appears to have been a Virois ; 
 in other words, an inhabitant of the town of Vire. But he 
 had a strange pi'opensity to rusticating, and prefei'red the 
 immediate vicinity of Vire — its quiet little valleys, running 
 streams, and rocky recesses — to a more open and more distant 
 residence. In such places, therefore, he carried with him his 
 flasks of cider and his flagons of wine. Thither he resorted 
 with his ' boon and merry companions,' and there he poured 
 forth his ardent and unpremeditated strains. These ' strains ' 
 all savoured of the jovial propensities of their author; it being 
 very rarely that tenderness of sentiment, whether connected 
 with friendship or love, is admitted into his compositions. He 
 was the thorough-bred Anacreon of France at the close of the 
 fifteenth century. Vire is the chief town of that department of 
 Normandy called the Bocage; and in this department few places 
 have been, of old, more celebrated than the Vauo: de Vire, on ac-
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 327 
 
 count of the number of manufactories which have existed there 
 from time immemorial. It derives its name from two principal 
 valleys, in the form of a T, of which the base (if it may be so 
 called — 'jambage') rests upon the Place du Chateau de Vire. 
 It is sufficiently contiguous to the town to be considered among 
 the fauxbourgs. The rivers Vire and Virene, which unite at 
 the bridge of Vaux, run somewhat rapidly through the valleys. 
 These rivers are flanked by manufactories of paper and cloth, 
 which from the fifteenth century have been distinguished for 
 their prosperous condition. Indeed, Basselin himself was a 
 sort of cloth manufacturer. In this valley he passed his life in 
 fulling his cloths, and in composing those gay and delightful 
 songs which are contained in the volume under consideration. 
 Discours Preliminaire, 17, &c. Olivier Basselin is the parent 
 of the title Vaudeville, which has since been corrupted into 
 Vaudeville. From the observation of his critics, Basselin 
 appears to have been the father of bacchanalian poetry in 
 France. He frequented public festivals, and was a welcome 
 guest at the tables of the rich, where the Vaudevire was in 
 such request that it is supposed to have superseded the ' Conte, 
 or Fabliau, or the Chanson d'Amour,' p. xviij : 
 
 ' Sur ce point-la, soyez tranquille : 
 Nos neveux, j'en suis bien certain, 
 Se souviendront de Basselin ; 
 Pere joyeux du Vaudeville.' " 
 
 Among other specimens of the Vaudevire of Olivier Basselin, 
 Dibdin gives the following : — 
 
 VAUDEVIRE II. 
 
 " Ayant le doz au feu et le ventre a la table, 
 Estant parmi les pots pleins de vin delectable, 
 Ainsi comme ung poulet 
 
 Je ne me laisseray morir de la pepie, 
 Quant en debvroy avoir la face cramoisie 
 Et le nez violet. 
 
 Quant men nez devendra de couleur rouge ou perse, 
 Porteray les couleurs que cherit ma maitresse, 
 Le vin rent le teint beau. 
 
 Vault il pas mieulx avoir la couleur rouge et vive, 
 Riche de beaulx rubis, que si pasle et chetive 
 Ainsi qu'ung beuveur d'eau."
 
 328 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 I believe it is not generally knoAvn that it is to one of the 
 Vaudevires of Olivier Basselin we are indebted for the song 
 called " Jolly Nose." The original will be found in Vau-de- 
 Vire xviii., " A son nez," in the edition of Olivier Basselin, 
 ed. by M. Louis du Bois, Caen, 1821. It commences thus — 
 
 " Beau uez, dont les rubis orit couste mainte pipe 
 De vin blanc et clairet, 
 Et duquel la couleur licliement participe 
 Du rouge et violet." 
 
 Cf. Gabriel du Moulin, Discours sur la Normandie; Andre du 
 Chesne, Antiquites des villes et chateaux de France; Jean 
 Chardavoine de Beaufort, Recueil des plus belles et excellentes 
 chansons en forme de Voix de Ville (Paris, 1, 1576); Saint 
 Julien, Melanges historiques, 263 ; Callieres, Des Mots a la 
 mode; Vaux-de-Vire par Olivier Basselin, poete Normand de 
 la fin du 14 siecle, ed. par M. Louis du Bois, 8°- Caen, &c., 
 1821 ; and especially Dibdin's Tour in France and Germany, 
 Vol. i. 289, et seq., Lond. 1829. 
 
 VAUQUELINITE. Chromate of copper and lead, green, 
 of various shades ; named after Prof. Vauquelin, the celebrated 
 French chemist. The French at first gave the name of vau- 
 queline to strychnine, in honour of the same professor. Vau- 
 queline is also the French name of a genus of Mexican plants. 
 The Corymbus V. is a tree thirty feet high. 
 
 VENEGASIA. A genus of plants, or. Supei-flua, whose 
 only species is a native of California ; dedicated by De Can- 
 dolle to P. M. Venegas, a Spaniard, who wrote on the civil 
 and natural history of California. 
 
 VENERABLE (L. venerabilis). Worthy of veneration or 
 reverence ; deserving of honour and respect ; as, a venerable 
 magistrate ; a venerable parent ; rendered sacred by religious 
 associations, or being consecrated to God and to His worship ; 
 to be regarded with awe, and treated with reverence; as, the 
 venerable walls of a temple or church ; from Venus, 
 
 VENERATION (L. veneratio). The highest reverence ; 
 respect mingled with some degree of awe ; a feeling or senti- 
 ment excited by the dignity and superiority of a person, or by
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 329 
 
 the sacrediiess of his character, and, with regard to place, by 
 its couseci'ation to sacred services ; from Venus. 
 
 VENEREAL. Pertaining to sexual intercourse ; adapted 
 to the cure of venereal diseases ; from venereus, from Venus, 
 
 en's. Consisting of or pertaining to copper, formerly called 
 
 by chemists Vcinis. 
 
 VENETIAN SCHOOL. A school of painting, in which 
 the distinguishing character is colouring, and a consummate 
 knowledge of chiaro-oscuro, in both of which all is grace, spirit, 
 and faithful adherence to nature, so seductive as to lead the 
 spectator away from any consideration of its defects ; named 
 from Venice, whence it originated. 
 
 VENETIANS. Blinds for windows, doors, &c.j so called 
 from Venice, where they were first made. 
 
 VENICE TURPENTINE ; vulgarly called Weenus's 
 turpentine ; doubtless brought from Venice. 
 
 VENICE WHITE (Dutch white, Hamburg Avhite). A 
 pigment consisting of carbonate of lead mixed with sulphate 
 of baryta, brought from Venice. 
 
 VENULITE. A petrified shell of the genus Venus. 
 
 VENUS. One of the inferior planets, but the brightest, 
 and to appearance the largest of all ; as morning star, called 
 by the ancients Lucifer ; as evening star, Hesjierus ; so named 
 from Venus, goddess of beauty and love. In the old che- 
 mistry, a name for copper. A genus of animals, cl. Vermes, 
 
 or. Testaceci, having a bivalve shell. 
 
 VENUS'S COMB. An annual plant of the genus AS'crt?zfZz'a;; 
 shepherd's needle. 
 
 VENUS'S FLY-TRAP. A.\A&nt,Dionceamuscipula,'w\\ic\\ 
 seizes and holds fast insects which brush against its leaves. 
 
 VENUS'S LOOKING-GLASS. An annual plant of the 
 genus Campanula, allied to the bell-flower. 
 
 VENUST {ohs.) Beautiful; from L. venustus, from Venus. 
 Hence devenustate (obs.), to deprive of beauty and grace. 
 
 VERDE DI PRADO. A gi'een marble, marked with spots 
 of a deeper green than the rest, passing into blackish blue ; 
 found near the little town of Prado, in Tuscany. 
 
 VERNIER. A contrivance attached to the graduated limb
 
 330 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 of an instrument for measuring aliquot parts of the smallest 
 spaces into which the instrument is divided (^Olmsted); named 
 from the inventor, Pierre Vernier, born at Ornans, Franche 
 Comte, 1580; died 1637. 
 
 VERNONIA. A plant, named after Wm. Yernon, fellow 
 of St. Peter's College, Cambridge, who, with David Kreig, 
 M.D., of Saxony, collected many new plants in Maryland, in- 
 serted in the supplement to Ray's History. 
 
 VERTUS. One of the best sorts of champagne, from 
 Vertus, in France, dep. Marne. 
 
 VERULAM. A genus of plants, whose only species is 
 Corymhus V., growing in Africa; probably named after Lord 
 Verulam. 
 
 VERVISE. Formerly a kind of coarse woollen cloth, 
 otherwise called plonkets ; probably from Verviers, in Bel- 
 gium. 
 
 VESTA. One of the asteroids, discovered by Dr. Olbers 
 in 1807 ; so called after Vesta (Etrria), virgin goddess of the 
 hearth or fire. The Vestals, who were six in number, were 
 virgins consecrated to Vesta, and to the service of watching 
 the sacred fire, Avhich was to be perpetually kept burning upon 
 her altar. A sort of lucifer match. 
 
 VESTAL (L, vestalis). Pure, chaste; pertaining to 
 Vesta, q.v. 
 
 VESUVIAN. Idocrase ; a mineral consisting of silica, 
 
 alumina, and lime; called from Mount Vesuvius. A sort of 
 
 lucifer match for lighting pipes, cigars, &c. 
 
 VEVEYSAN. A cigar made at Vevey, Switzerland. 
 
 VICHY WATER. A water from the tepid mineral 
 springs near Vichy, in France. 
 
 VIDIAN DUCTS. Two small canals at the base of the 
 pterygoid process ; discovered by Vidus-Vidius, a celebrated 
 physician of Florence, professor of medicine at the Royal 
 College of Paris, temp. Francois I. The name is also given 
 to a nerve and to an artery. 
 
 VIGANI'S ELIXIR. Sweet elixir of vitriol ; or the 
 sp. cetheris aromaticus ; named after Vigaui. 
 
 VIGO PLASTER. A plaster used in variola ; probably 
 named from Vigo, in Spain, where it was first made.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 331 
 
 VILLANOVA. A wine from Villanova, in Catalonia. 
 
 VIN-DE-GRAVE. A wine growing upon the Greve, i.e. 
 upon the banks of the Garonne, in the Bourdelois. 
 
 VIOLA (the violet). A genus of plants, nat. or. ViolacecB ; 
 "from lov, because first found in Ionia" {ForsytK). 
 
 VIOLET-MARIAN. A flower called also Canterbury- 
 bells. — Bailey. 
 
 VIRGILIA. A small, chiefly tropical, genus of the large 
 natural family of LeguminoscB ; named by Lamarck in honour 
 of Virgil. 
 
 VIRGINIA. Tobacco from Virginia, one of the principal 
 kinds imported into England from the United States. 
 
 VIVIANITE. A phosphate of iron, of various shades of 
 blue and green, found at St. Agnes, in Cornwall, also in 
 Carinthia, Greenland, Transylvania, the Crimea, New Zealand, 
 the United States, and in Syria ; doubtless named after one of 
 the Vivian family. 
 
 VOCONIAN LAW. Among the Romans, a law enacted 
 for the purpose of limiting the fortunes that might be left to 
 females. It is recommended by M. Cato in his oration, and was 
 named after its author, Voconius Saxa, the tribune, a.u.c. 584. 
 " It enacted that no woman should be left heiress to an estate, 
 and that no rich person should leave by his*will more than the 
 fourth part of his fortune to a woman. This step was taken 
 to prevent the decay of the noblest and most illustrious of the 
 families of Rome. This law was abrogated by Augustus" 
 (^Lempi'iere). 
 
 VOLBORTHITE. A mineral, colour olive-green, also 
 gray ; first discovered by Volborth, with copper ores, in the 
 collection of Dr. Ranch. 
 
 VOLCANIC. Pertaining to volcanoes ; as, volcanic heat. 
 
 Produced by a volcano ; as, volcanic tufa. Changed or 
 
 affected by the heat of a volcano, q.v. 
 
 VOLCANIST or VULCANIST. One versed in the 
 
 history and phenomena of volcanoes. One who believes in 
 
 the effects of eruptions of fire in the formation of mountains. 
 See Volcano.
 
 332 VEEBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 VOLCANO (It.) In geologij, an opening in the surface of 
 the earth, or in a mountain, from which smoke, flames, stones, 
 lava, or other substances are ejected. Such are seen in Etna, 
 Vesuvius, Sfc. So called from Vulcan, the god who presided 
 over fire, &c. 
 
 VOLGEEITE. A mineral, a white powder or crust occur- 
 ring Avith cervantite, and resulting from its alteration ; analysed 
 by Volger. 
 
 VOLNAY. A fine light wine, of an agreeable bouquet ; 
 produced at Voluay, France, dep. Cote-d'Or, renowned for its 
 Avines. 
 
 VOLTAIC PILE. A column formed by successive pairs 
 of metallic discs, with moistened cloth between every two con- 
 tiguous pairs ; named in honour of Volta, Avho invented it. 
 The voltaic apparatus is used for exciting and accumulating 
 galvanic electricity, a larger specimen being called a voltaic 
 battery. 
 
 VOLTAISM. That branch of electrical science which has 
 its source in the chemical action between metals and different 
 liquids ; so called from Alessandro Volta, a celebrated experi- 
 mental philosopher, who was boi'u at Como in 1745. Pie laid 
 the foundation of his fame by two treatises, Avhich described a 
 new electrical mackine ; Avas for thirty years professor of na- 
 tural philosophy at Pavia ; Avas created an Italian count and 
 senator by Napoleon, and died in 1826. Volta dii'ected his 
 attention particularly to the subject of galvanism, or animal 
 electricity, in Avhich science he made many discoveries and 
 improvements; but the great invention which immortalizes his 
 name is the Voltaic pile, or electrical column. His Avorks 
 form five vols. 8o- Voltaism is more properly called galvanism, 
 from Galvani, Avho first proved or brought into notice its re- 
 markable influence on animals. 
 
 VOSLAUER. A celebrated wine from Voslau, near 
 Vienna. 
 
 VOUGEOT (Clos-Vougeot). A red Avine of the first 
 quality, produced at Le Clos Vougeot, near the village of 
 Vougeot, dep. Cote-d'Or, France. 
 
 VULCANIAN. Pertaining to works in iron, &c.; so called
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 333 
 
 from Vulcau. See Volcano. As an epithet, in geolojij, 
 
 the same as plutonian. 
 
 VULCANIZATION. The process of treating India rubber 
 with sulphur, and exposing it to a strong heat to make it more 
 serviceable ; so called from Vulcan, " the very first of black- 
 smiths." 
 
 VULPINITE. A mineral, a variety of anhydrite, contain- 
 ing some silica, colour greyish-white ; from Vulpino, in Italy. 
 
 W. 
 
 WAGNERITE. A rare mineral, a phosphate of magnesia, 
 resembling the Brazilian topaz ; named after Wagner. 
 
 WALCHOWITE. A mineral found in yellow translucent 
 masses in brown coal at Walchovv, in Moravia; formerly called 
 Retinite. 
 
 WALKERIA. A genus of plants, allied to Gomphia, of two 
 species, shrubs ; the one a native of Malabar and Ceylon, the 
 other of French G-uiaua; dedicated by Schreber to Richard 
 Walker, D.D., founder of the botanic gardens at Cambridge. 
 
 WALLENIA. A genus of plants, of only two species, 
 small trees, the one a native of Jamaica, the other of the 
 East Indies ;• dedicated by Swartz to Matthew Wallen, Avho 
 cultivated both indigenous and exotic j^lants in Jamaica. 
 
 WALLERITE. A variety of clay, found in small compact 
 masses, white and opaque, yellowish and translucent ; named 
 after Waller [not used]. 
 
 WALLICHIA. A genus of plants, of only one species, a 
 palm, native of the East Indies ; named by Roxburgh after N. 
 Wallich, Ph.D., superintendent of the East India Company's 
 botanic gardens at Calcutta. 
 
 WALLOP. To beat or thrash. Mr. John Gough Nichols 
 derives this word from an ancestor of the Earl of Portsmouth, 
 one Sir John Wallop, K.G., who in lien. VIII.'s time distin- 
 guished himself by ivalloping the French. 
 
 WALLROTHTA. A genus of plants, of a few species,
 
 334 VERBA NOMINALlTi. 
 
 trees; dedicated by Roth to F. Wallroth, M.D., a German 
 
 botanist. Also a genus of only one species, the W. tenuifolia, 
 
 a native of the Central Pyrenees ; dedicated by Sprengel to 
 the same botanist. 
 
 WALLSEND. The coal so called. " Wallsend, so called 
 as being the spot where the celebrated Wall of Severus termi- 
 nated on the northern bank of the Tyne, a few miles below 
 Newcastle, has in modern times been chiefly known as the site 
 of a colliery yielding the most valuable description of coal. So 
 important, indeed, is the appellation in the market that, although 
 the high main seam which afforded the original coal has long 
 been Avorked out, the designation has not only continued to be 
 applied to some other sort, as the best, but to several sorts 
 which the dealers wish to recommend." 
 
 WALPERSIA. A genus of plants (identical with the 
 Trichocephalus of Brogniart), small heath-like shrubs, natives 
 of the Cape ; dedicated by Riessek to G. G. Walpers, author 
 of Repert. Botan. 
 
 WALPURGIS NIGHT. According to popular super- 
 stition, the witch festival held on the summit of the Brocken, 
 in the Harz Mountains, on the 1st of May, a festival of St. 
 Philip and St. James. The superstitution is said to have 
 originated in the rites performed by the pagan remnants of the 
 Saxons to their gods, when their nation was forcibly converted 
 to Christianity, and which, being secretly celebrated in remote 
 places, were supposed by the vulgar to be supernatural orgies. 
 St. Walpurga was an English lady, sister of Boniface, the 
 apostle of the Germans. Her festival falls on the same day 
 with that of the above-mentioned saints, and is a common day 
 in Germany, like Lady Day in England, for the commence- 
 ment of leases, &c. 
 
 WALS ALL-LEGGED. Said to be equivalent to baker- 
 legged, which Bailey renders straddling with the legs bowing 
 outward. A correspondent of N. h Q. says, " I have heard 
 similarly-fashioned people called ' Walsall-legged,' their forma- 
 tion being accompanied with a peculiar outward motion of the 
 knees when the person is walking, like to that made in 
 descending stairs ; and I have been told that this arises from
 
 VERBA NOMINAI.IA. 335 
 
 the natives having to walk up and down so many steps when 
 going to and from their houses." Another correspondent of 
 the same journal says, " The natives of Walsall are, or at least 
 used to be, looked down upon by their neighbours as peculiarly 
 uncouth. This circumstance is well illustrated by an anecdote 
 that I remember to have heard of a gentleman living in the 
 last century, who, in walking through a street in Birmingham, 
 happened to jostle against a passex'-by. The man jostled 
 against vented his wrath ujDon the stranger by calling after 
 him that he was ' A Wa'sall tyke, that had never been in 
 Brummagem before.' " Another correspondent says, " Formerly 
 several years resident in various parts of Staffordshire, in- 
 cluding the old-chartered town of Walsall, the epithet Walsall- 
 leggecl I have repeatedly heard orally from persons Walsall- 
 born, whose family, relative, and official positions for three 
 generations in the locality rendered them tolerably well ac- 
 quainted with its traditions ; a hearty welcome and prolonged 
 stay being often accorded to visitors or friends by saying, ' till 
 you begin to get Walsall-leggecL' The comparatively great 
 elevation of the parish church at the head of the town, its 
 foundations nearly on a level with adjacent house-tops, on the 
 west entered by ascending a number of steps, and diverging 
 from the main street, itself a tedious incline ; on the south- 
 west, its approaches, formerly rugged and dilapidated, being 
 fragments of crumbled out-of-the-hill sort of steps, partly 
 earthen and partly hill-side shale, causing consequent exertion 
 and precariousness of ascent — these are local traditionary par- 
 ticulars for the jocose saying, Walsall-legged. Recent years' 
 improvements of the approaches by removal and otherwise of 
 surrounding property afford but partial evidence of its anterior 
 tendency to leg-deformity of the natives, though its present 
 considerable number of modern steps leading to the sacred 
 edifice still ft-equently give rise to the old saying, ' Don't get 
 Walsall-legged.'' " Another correspondent of the same journal 
 says, " Walsall parish church is built on a very steep hill, and 
 there are many steps from the street to the church. Black 
 Country people affirm that Walsall men became bandy-legged 
 through ascending and descending the hill and steps : hence
 
 336 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 the terms, ' WcC sail-legged,'' and ' He's bin [been] up Wa'sall 
 steps.' A local rhyme says — 
 
 * Sutton for mutton, 
 
 Tamworth for beef, 
 Walsall for bandy-legs. 
 
 And Brummagem for a thief.' " 
 
 WALTHERIA. A genus of plants, of many species, small 
 shrubs, principally natives of the tropical parts of America ; 
 dedicated by LinnjEUS to Aug. Fred. Walther, a German 
 botanist, professor of medicine in the University of Leipsic. 
 
 WARWICKITE. Borate, a mineral occurring in granular 
 limestone near Edenville, New York ; probably named from 
 its discoverer Warwick, or from one of the several places in 
 America so named. 
 
 WARWICK'S (COUNT) POWDER. A powder, con- 
 sisting of scammony, oxide of antimony, and cream of tartar ; 
 much extolled by Baglivi and Van Swieten as an efficacious 
 purgative in intermittent fevers. 
 
 WATERFORD. A sort of over garment. Stanihurst, 
 who wrote in the reign of Elizabeth, and whose account of 
 Ireland is published in Holinshed's chronicles, speaking of 
 Waterford, says, " As they distill the best aqua vitce, so they 
 spin the choicest rug in Ireland. A friend of mine, being of 
 late demurrant in London, and the weather, by reason of a 
 hard hoare frost, being somewhat nipping, repaired to Paris 
 Garden clad in one of these Waterford rugs. The mastifs had 
 no sooner espied him, but, deeming he had beene a beare, 
 would fain have baited him ; and were it not that the dogs 
 were partly muzzled and partly chained, he doubted not but 
 that he should have beene well tugd in this Irish rug ; where- 
 upon he solemnlie vowed never to see beare-baiting in any such 
 weed " (Pkmche'). 
 
 WAVELLITE. A phosphate of alumina, consisting of fine 
 radiated fibres ; named after Wavel, who discovered it. 
 
 WEBSTERITE. The sub-sulphate of alumina, a white or 
 yellowish mineral, occurring on the coast near Newhaven, in 
 Sussex ; doubtless named from its discoverer, Webster. 
 
 WEDGWOOD-WARE. A kind of semi-vitrified pottery,
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 337 
 
 without much superficial glaze, but capable of receiving all 
 kinds of colours by means of metallic oxides and ochres. Ad- 
 mirable imitations of Etruscan and other vases have been 
 executed in this ware (Ure). Named from the inventor, the 
 celebrated Josias Wedgwood, who was born July, 1730, and 
 died in January, 1795, at his house in Staffordshire, to which 
 he gave the name of Etruria, whence the place of that name. 
 
 WEDNESDAY (Sw. Odensdag or Onsdag, Dan. Onsdag, 
 D. Woensdag'). The fourth day of the week ; from A. 8. 
 Wodnesdag, Wodin's day, from Woden, Wodin, or Odin, a 
 deity or chief among the northern nations of Europe, said to 
 correspond to Mercury of the ancients. 
 
 WEHRLITE. A mineral consisting of silica, red oxide of 
 iron, protoxide of iron, oxide of manganese, lime, alumina, and 
 water; found on the Kecskefar mountain, near Szutrasko, in 
 Hungary ; analysed by Wehrle. 
 
 WEISSIG-ITE. A mineral occurring in the cavities of a 
 porphyritic amgygdaloid, with chalcedony and quartz, near 
 Weissig, in Saxony. 
 
 WELLINGTON. A boot ; named after the late duke. 
 
 WELSH RABBIT. Cheese melted into a mass, and 
 usually spread over slices of toasted bread ; properly Welsh 
 rare-bit ; and doubtless so called from having been first made 
 in Wales. 
 
 WELTER'S TUBE. A safety tube introduced into a 
 Woolfe's bottle, to prevent retrograde pressure ; named after 
 the inventor. 
 
 WERNERIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. Compositce ; so 
 called after Werner, the mineralogist. 
 
 WERNERIAN. Pertaining to Werner, the German 
 mineralogist and geologist, who arranged minerals in classes, 
 &c., according to their external characters, and advocated that 
 all the geological strata were originally in solution in an aqueous 
 fluid, from which they were deposited or precipitated. 
 
 WESLEYANISM. Arminian methodism. The doctrine 
 and discipline of the Wesleyan methodists, a sect founded by 
 John Wesley, who was born at Epworth Rectory, co. Lincoln, 
 17 June, 1703, and died 1791.
 
 338 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 WESTRINGIA. A genus of plants, nat. or. LabiatcB ; 
 called after Westring, physician to the King of Sweden. 
 
 WHARTON'S DUCT. The excretory duct of the sub- 
 maxillary gland ; named after its discoverer, Wharton. 
 
 WHITECHAPEL. Low, mean, paltry; so called from the 
 
 district of same name at the east end of London. " The 
 
 upper-cut, or strike" {Pugilistic). "In tossing, two out of 
 
 three wins " (J. C. Hotteri). 
 
 WILDING OF CASSOY or BESI DE CASSOY. A 
 pear named from the Forest of Cassoy, in Bretague, where it 
 was discovered. It is also called Rousset d'Aujou and Petit 
 Beurre d'Hiver, i.e. small winter butter pear. 
 
 WILLEMITE or WILHELMITE. A mineral, a silicate 
 of zinc, colour yellowish; found at Moresuet, in Belgium, and 
 in New Jersey ; doubtless named after its discoverer (Willem 
 or Wilhelm ?) 
 
 WILLIAM (SWEET). The name of several species of 
 pink, of the genus Dianthus. 
 
 WILSON'S MUSCLE. The perpendicular portion of the 
 compressor urethras, described by Mr. Wilson. The transverse 
 portion was discovered by Mr. Guthrie, and bears his name. — 
 Hoblyn. 
 
 WINCHESTER BUSHEL. The original English standard 
 measui-e of capacity, established by Henry VIL, and ordered 
 to be kept in the town hall of Winchester. It contained 2150 
 cubic inches, and is the one generally used in the United States. 
 WINDSOR PEAR. A pear from Windsor, in Berks. 
 WINTERA AROMATICA. A tree, whose bark, called 
 Winter's bark, is used as an aromatic tonic, native of the 
 Straits of Magellan, Peru, Chili, &c.; named in honour of 
 Capt. Winter, companion of Sir Francis Drake in his voyage 
 round the world, who brought some of this bark from the 
 Straits of Magellan. 
 
 WINWICKED. A slang term used in Cornwall for over- 
 reached ; said to have originated from the last male repre- 
 sentative of the Winwick family, who, from tradition, was 
 celebrated for making good bargains. Have you been win- 
 nicked ? as they pronounce it in the west.
 
 VERBA NOMINALTA. 339 
 
 WIRSUNG'S DUCT {Canal de Wirsingus). Another 
 name for the pancreatic duct ; named from Wirsung, who first 
 demonstrated it in 1642. 
 
 WITHAMITE. A variety of epidote, colour red or yellow, 
 found in Scotland; doubtless named in honour of its discoverer, 
 Witham. 
 
 WITHERINGIA. A genus of plants, of only one species, 
 native of South America ; named by L'Heritier in honour of 
 William Withering, M.D., F.R.S., author of " An Arrangement 
 of British Plants, &c." 
 
 WITNEY. A very superior blanket made at Witney, co. 
 Oxford. The colour is said to be attributable to the peculiar 
 properties of the Avater of the Windrush. In the time of 
 Queen Anne the manufacturers had 150 looms in full operation, 
 affording employment to more than 3000 persons. Of late the 
 trade has greatly declined, and most part of the fabrics now 
 sold as Witney blankets are made in Glamorganshire and 
 elsewhere. 
 
 WITSENIA. A genus of plants, of only one species, native 
 of the Cape; named after Nicholas Witsen, author of Descrip- 
 tions of Shells found in East Indies, and of Observations in 
 New Holland, both printed in the Philosophical Transactions. 
 
 WOLFFIAN BODIES (false kidneys). A name given by 
 Rathke to the substance by which the kidneys are preceded in 
 the embryo ; first remarked by Wolff. 
 
 WOLFRAM or WOLFRAMIUM. An ore of tungsten, 
 colour brownish or greyish black ; named from Wolfram, a 
 ferruginous mine in Sweden. 
 
 WOLLASTONITE. A mineral, a variety of tabular spar, 
 found in the Banat, in Finland, Sweden, Italy, Germany, the 
 United States, Canada, Ceylon, &c. ; named after William 
 Hyde WoUaston, M.D., a celebrated chemist and natural 
 philosopher, who died in 1828. 
 
 WOODEN WEDGE. "The last name in the classical 
 honours-list at Cambridge. The last in mathematical honours 
 had long been known as the Wooden Spoon ; but when the 
 classical Tripos was instituted in 1824, it was debated among 
 the undergraduates what sobriquet should be given to the last 
 
 z 2
 
 340 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 on the examination list. Curiously enough, the name that 
 year which happened to be the last was Wedgewood (a distin- 
 guished Wrangler): hence the title." — J. C. Hotteii. 
 
 WOODSIA, A genus of ferns, of two species, the looodsia 
 of the Isle of Elba, and the hyperborean woodsia ; named after 
 the English botanist, Wood. 
 
 WOODVILLE. A cigar imported from Cuba; named from 
 an estate there. 
 
 WOODWARDIA. A genus of ferns, of seven species ; 
 named after Prof. Woodward, of England. 
 
 WOOLFE'S APPARATUS. An apparatus for impreg- 
 nating water for medicinal purposes with carbonic acid ; so 
 called from the name of the inventor. 
 
 WORMIAN BONES {Ossa triquetra). A name given to 
 triangular bones sometimes found in the course of the suture 
 of the parietal and occipital bones ; so called from Olaiis 
 Wormius, physician of Copenhagen, who first described them. 
 WORSTED. Yarn made of wool drawn out into long 
 filaments by passing it, when oiled, through heated combs ; 
 supposed to take its name from Worsted, in Norfolk, where it 
 was first manufactured. Stow says, " Soon after this [sixteenth 
 century] Wm. Rider, then apprentice to Tho. Burdet, at the 
 bridge foot, opposite the church of St. Magnus, seeing a pair 
 of knit worsted stockings at an Italian merchant's, brought 
 from Mantua, borrowed them, and, having made a pair like 
 unto them, presented them to the Earl of Pembroke, which 
 was the first pair of worsted stockings knit in this country." 
 This says nothing against worsted stockings having been 
 afterwards manufactured at Worsted, and having had their 
 name from thence. From the following passage in Anderson's 
 History of Commerce, it may, however, be still doubtful 
 whether the original name was not Ostade, which is both a sur- 
 name and a local name. Anderson says, " Guicciardini likewise 
 ascribes to the Netherlands, but without assigning the times 
 when, among other arts, that of making says, serges, fustians, 
 ostades (worsteds) and demi-ostades, woollen cloth napped (a 
 friser), and many sorts of linen cloth, besides a great number 
 of lesser inventions."
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 341 
 
 WOTHLYTYPE {votelij type). In photography, a new 
 process by which peraiauence is secured ; lately inveuted by 
 Herr Wothly. 
 
 WRISBERG. Another name for the lesser internal 
 cutaneous nerve, the smallest of the brachial nerves ; named 
 after its discoverer. 
 
 X. 
 
 XAINTONGE or SAINTONGE (pucelle de Xaiutonge). 
 A pear named from Saintonge, formerly Xaintonge, in France. 
 
 XIMENIA, A genus of plants, of three species, natives of 
 the West Indies and New Caledonia ; named by Plumier in 
 honour of Rev. Francis Ximenes, a Spaniard, author of the 
 Animals and Plants of New Spain, 161.5. 
 
 Y. 
 
 YANKEEISM. The ism of the Y^ankees, the popular name 
 for the citizens of New England, but applied among foreigners 
 to all the inhabitants of the United States indiscriminately. 
 
 YARMOUTH CAPON. A bloater or red herring.— 
 Raifs Proverbs. 
 
 YENITE or JENITE. A mineral, colour black or 
 brownish-black, occurring massive and in prismatic crystals ; 
 first obtained at Elba, and called jenite, in commemoration of 
 the battle of Jena. — Dana. 
 
 Y'ORKSHIRE. "To Yorkshire," or "come Yorkshire 
 over any person ;" to cheat or bite them {North). The pro- 
 verbial overreaching of the rustics of this county has given 
 rise to this phrase, vrhich is sometimes pronounced Torkshar. 
 " Torkshar, to put Yorkshire to a man, is to trick or deceive 
 
 liim " (Lancashire Dialect, 1757). Every man pays his share 
 
 ( Sporting).
 
 342 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 YTTRIA. A metallic oxide, in appearance of a fine white 
 powder, without taste or smell ; discovered in 1794 by Prof. 
 Gadolin in a mineral found at Ytterby Quarry, in Sweden. 
 
 YTTRIUM or ITTRIUM. The metallic base of yttria, 
 first obtained pure in 1828 by Wochler. See Yttria. 
 
 Z. 
 
 ZANONIA. A genus of plants, of one species, native of 
 Malabar ; named by Linnaeus after Giacomo Zanoni, prefect of 
 the botanic garden at Bologna, author of Istoria Plantarum, 
 Bol. 1615, edited in Latin by Monti, 1742. 
 
 ZANNICHELLIA. Pond-weed, a genus of plants, nat. or. 
 Niadacece, native of Europe and Virginia ; named by Micheli 
 after Giovanni Geronimo Zannichelli, apothecary of Venice, 
 author of Laboratorium Zannichellianum, &c. 
 
 ZANY (It. zanni, a buffoon). A merry-andrew, a buffoon; 
 v.a. to mimic. 
 
 " Marry, you may bring Frisker, my zany ; he's a good skipping 
 swaggerer." — J3en Jonson. Poetaster. 
 
 " Talking of stones, stars, plants, of fishes, flies, 
 Playing with words, and idle similes, 
 As th' English apes and very zanies be 
 Of every thing, that they do hear and see, 
 So, imitating his ridiculous tricks, 
 They speak and write, all like meer lunaticks." — Drayton. 
 
 " Reads her asleep a-nights, and takes his oath 
 Upon her pantoffles, that all excellence 
 In other madams do but zany hers." — Beaum. ^' F. 
 
 From Zan, the Italian nickname of John, in Dutch Jan. 
 Casaubon derives it from Gr. cravvos, a fool ; Skinner from L. 
 sanna, a scoff. " But," says Bailey, " it rather is of Zane, Ital., 
 a contraction of Giovanni, i.e. John, as we use Jack often by 
 way of contempt." Richardson gives, " It. Zane, the name of 
 John. Also a sillie John, a gull, a noddle. Used also for a
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 343 
 
 simple vice, clowiio, f'oole, or !:*iinple fellow in a pUiy or comedy 
 (Florio); and Skinner seems inclined to favour this etymology ; 
 and Menage also considers it to be a corruption of Giovanni. 
 Tooke supposes Sanese (an inhabitant of Sienna) was used to 
 denote a fool ; and that the first part of the word Seme has 
 given us zani, and the latter, neze, nizzy." 
 
 ZANYISM. The state or character of a zany, q.v. 
 
 ZAPANIA. A genus of plants, or. Angiosperinia, dedicated 
 by Jussieu to P. A. Zappa, an Italian botanist. 
 
 ZAUCHNERIA. A genus of plants, or. Monogytiia ; 
 dedicated by Presl to the botanist Zauchner. 
 
 ZELTINGER. A very good wine made at Zeltingen, 
 centre of the wine districts of the Moselle, in which all the 
 best sorts are produced. 
 
 ZENONISM. The philosophy of Zeno, the celebrated 
 Greek philosopher, founder of the Stoics. 
 
 ZEUXITE. A zeolitic substance, found in Huel-Unity 
 Mine, near Redruth, in Cornwall ; doubtless named after 
 Zeuxis, one of the most celebrated painters of antiquity; but 
 why is doubtful. 
 
 ZIERIA (Fr. zierie). A genus of Australian plants, one 
 species of which is cultivated in French orangeries ; named by 
 Dr. J. E. Smith after John Zier, F.L.S., an indefatigable 
 botanist. 
 
 ZINKENITE. A steel-grey ore of antimony and lead ; 
 named after M. Zinken. 
 
 ZINN. A genus of plants, of five species, natives of 
 Pei'u, North America, and Mexico ; named by Linnaeus in 
 honour of John Godof Zinn, pupil of Haller, and professor of 
 botany at Giittingen after him; author of Hortus Goettingen- 
 sis, 1757. 
 
 ZION. The theocracy or church of God ; so called from a 
 hill in Jerusalem, which, after the capture of that city, became 
 the royal residence of David and his successors. 
 
 ZOEGEA. A handsome plant, flowering in summer and 
 autumn, found by Michaux in the Levant ; named by Linnceus 
 after Johann Zoega, M.D., author of Flora Islandica. 
 
 ZOISITE. A greyish variety of epidote ; so called from 
 Baron Von Zois, its discoverer.
 
 344 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 ZORGITE. A mineral found in granular masses at 
 Tilkerode and Zorge, in the Harz. 
 
 ZWINGERA. A genus of plants, of only one species, a 
 shrub, native of Guiana; named after Theodorus Zwinger, 
 prof, of anatomy and botany at Basel, author of Theatrum 
 Botanicum, Basel, 1696.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 345 
 
 ABERNETHY. A biscuit named after the late celebrated 
 surgeon, John Abernethy. 
 
 ACADEMY. At p. 1, 1. 9, for Academe read Academia. 
 Donnegan gives A>iaSy]iMia, the Academy, a garden so called 
 after an ancient hero, Academus, near Athens, where Plato 
 taught (Aristoph. Nub. 992) : hence the school of Plato. 
 Etym. properly, a fem. of axa^iMog, a, ov, of, or pertaining to 
 Academus. 
 
 ALABASTER. " A white stone used for ornamental pur- 
 poses. The name is derived from Alabastron, a town of Egypt, 
 where there appears to have been a manufactory of small 
 vessels or pots made of stone, found in the mountains near the 
 town. These vessels were employed for containing certain 
 kinds of perfumes, used by the ancients in their toilets, and 
 with which it was the custom to anoint the heads of their 
 guests, as a mark of distinction, at their feasts. There are in 
 Horace many allusions to this custom. In like manner, Mary, 
 the sister of Lazarus, poured upon the head of our Saviour, as 
 He sat at supper, ' very precious ointment ' from an alabaster- 
 box. The tei-ms aXajBoca-rpov among the G-reeks and alabastnim 
 among the Romans were applied to those vessels even when 
 they were not made of the white stone ; for, although they may 
 have imitated the original form of the vessels made at Ala- 
 bastron, they appear from Theocritus (Idyl, xv.) to have been 
 sometimes made of gold. They were of a tapering shape, and 
 without handles ; and from this circumstance, Adam (Lat. 
 Diet.) gives as the etymology of alahastrum, a without, \a(iy] 
 handle, a derivation which certainly cannot be assigned to it 
 consistently with the formation of the Greek language. It 
 appears from a passage in Demosthenes (Oration on the Em- 
 bassy, ch. 68), that one of the brothers of ^schines, the orator, 
 was employed in painting these alabaster-boxes. Pliny says 
 (lib. xxxvi. 12, and xxxvii. .54) that the stone, which he calls
 
 346 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 alahastrites, was got from Thebes ; but Manuert (Geographie 
 der Griecheu und Romer) places the town of Alabastron in 
 Heptanomis, or Middle Egypt, in the hills between the Nile 
 and the Red Sea, about thirty English miles east of Acoris ; 
 and states that the stone of which the alabasti'a were made was 
 brought from Mons Alabastrinus, about thirty miles south-east 
 of the town. Mr. James Burton, who has been long resident 
 in Egypt, has determined the site of Alabastron to be latitude 
 27° 43', longitude 31°, not far from the east bank of the Nile, 
 a few miles south of the ruins of Antinoii." — P. Cyc. 
 
 ANACREONTIC. At p. 6, 1. 10, for anapest read wiapcest. 
 
 ASSASSIN. At p. 10, 1. 10, for plant read preparation of 
 hemp. 
 
 ATH AN ASIAN. At p. 10, 1. 11 from bottom, for of faith 
 read of the orthodox faith. 
 
 ATLANTES. At p. 11, 1. 2, for Zelamones read Telamones. 
 
 ATLAS. At p. 11, 1. 13, for vertebrcs read vertebra. 
 
 BANTING or BANTING SYSTEM. A treatment for 
 the cure of corpulence first resorted to by Mr. Wm. Harvey, a 
 London surgeon ; so called from Mr. Wm. Banting, of Ken- 
 sington, who was the first person cured by it. 
 
 " What combination of anti-Banting, engineering, and sartorial jargon 
 have we here ? What does this worthy gentleman actually mean by ' widen 
 without weakening.' " — D. Tel. 
 
 BASSORINE. At p. 16, 1. 16, for constitutuent read con- 
 stituent. 
 
 BAYONET. At p. 17, 1. 3, for 1814 read 1714; and at 
 p. 18, 1. 4 from bottom, after Madrid, add, " The word is still 
 vulgarly pronounced bagganet. — S. F. Creswell." 
 
 BENEDICT. See also Notes and Queries, 3rd. S. viii. 
 210, 276, &c. 
 
 BERENICE. At p. 20, 1. 11, for Evergetes read Euergetes. 
 
 BERTHOLETIA. At p. 21, 1. 5, for Brazil nut tree read 
 Bi^azil-nut tree. 
 
 BESSEMER. At p. 21, for a steel invented by M. Bessemer 
 read a pi^ncess of making steel invented by M. Bessemer,
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 347 
 
 BILBO. At p. 22, for Bilboa read Bilbao. 
 BISANTIUM. At p. 22, 1. 9 from bottom, for ducane read 
 ducat of. 
 
 BISHOP. Among horse-dealers, to use arts to make an old 
 horse look like a young oue, or to give a good appearance to a 
 bad horse {^Ash ; Encyc). " Dishonest dealers in horses have 
 been said to resort to a method of prolonging the mark in the 
 lower nippers. It is called bishoping, from the name of the 
 scoundrel who invented it " (Lib. Usef. Knowl. ; The Horse). 
 
 A cant word for a mixture of wine, oranges, and sugar 
 
 {Swift). A part of a lady's dress ( Webster). 
 
 BISTOURY. At p. 22, 1. 6 from bottom, for Pistoria read 
 Pistoja. 
 
 BOCK or BOCK BEER. A strong beer now much drunk 
 at the Paris cafes. Ure says, '■'•Bock, a favourite double-strong 
 beverage of the best lager description, which is so named from 
 causing its consumers to prance and tumble about like a buck 
 or a goat (because it makes one capricious);" but the word is 
 more probably derived from the place where it was first brewed. 
 Meyer (Das Grosse Convers. Lex.) says simply that it is a 
 beer from the Bockkeller, in Miinchen (Munich); but in the 
 supplement he gives a long notice of it. He says it is a strong 
 malt-rich Bavarian beer, that was first brewed in the little 
 Hanoverian town of Einbeck, and that it is in great repute. 
 He states that Friedrich, Elector of Saxony, called the Wise, 
 was in the habit of sending Martin Luther a mass (over 
 an imperial quart) of it daily, in order to strengthen him. He 
 speaks of a Bavarian princess who was cured by it after a 
 serious illness of several months, and mentions the following 
 words in connection with it: — Bier und Bockfreund, Bock- 
 hallen, Bockkur, Bocksaison, Bockschaffler, Bockwalzer (a 
 melody), Bockwappen, Bockzeit, Bockzeitung. Since writing 
 the above I have found the following notice of this celebrated 
 beer in the Bayerisches Worterbuch von J. Andreas Schmeller 
 (Stuttg. 1827, vol. 1, p. 151-2), " Der Bock, Aimbock, eine 
 Art besonders starkeu Bieres, das nur in den Staatsbrauereyen 
 zu hoherem Preise, als dem des gewohnlichen Marzenbieres 
 verschleisst werden darf, in soferne also der Gcgenstand eines
 
 348 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 Monopols ist. Die kurze aber rauscheude Epoclie, die dieses 
 Getrank, besonders bey den mittlern Volksklassen Miincbens, 
 jahrlich macht, tritt gewohnlich um die Zeit des Fronleich- 
 namsfestes ein. Bock mit Bockwiirsten (einer eignen Species) 
 ist an diesen Tagen ein beliebtes altmiinchnerisches Friihstiick. 
 Der Bockkeller, eine fiir den Beobacbter des Miinchner nie- 
 dern Volkslebens uicht ununterricbtende Spelunke. Im 
 Reiebsarcbiv zu Miinchen findet sieb noch eine, auf den Erfur- 
 ter Biirger Cornelius Gotwalt, unterm 2ten Miii'z, 1553, zum 
 Transport von 2 Wagenscbwer Ainpechhisch Bier, von Ainheck 
 aus, nacb Miincben oder Landstrut ausgestellte berzogliche 
 Vollmacbt. ' Einbeckiscb Bier, so die Niirnberger dem gnadi- 
 gen Herrn gelifert ' kommt auch in einer Miincbner Hofrecb- 
 nuug, V. 1574 (Wstr. bist. Calender, v. 1788, p, 195), vor. 
 Wie aus Einbecker oder Embeckerbier gemeinen Mann, der in 
 jeden, ibm fremden Ausdrucb gern einen handgreiflicben Sinn 
 legt, Ainbock und endlicb gar Bock werden konnte, ist begrei- 
 flicb. Diese volksmiissige Umformung ist iudessen schon ein 
 paar Jabrbunderte alt, denn in der Land und Policey Ord.v.l616, 
 f. 532, ist aucb von einem Bock-Meet die Rede, welcher nicbt 
 anders als zur Notbdurft ' der kranken gesotten werden solle.' 
 Als gegenstiick zu diesem (starker stossenden) Bock gieng, 
 besonders aus den Briiubiiusern der Jesuiten, die etwas sanft- 
 miitbigere Gaiss bervor." Einbeck, or ratber Eimbeck, is a 
 town of Hanover, gov. Hildesheim, on tbe Ilm, forty miles S. 
 Hannover. It was a place of considerable importance in tbe 
 fifteenth century, and early embraced the Reformation. It 
 still contains, among other factories, several brandy distilleries 
 and breweries. 
 
 BORDEAUX. At p. 2, for made read exported from. 
 
 BOSWELLIA. At p. 27, 1. 13 from bottom, for Catholic 
 Church read and Greeh Orthodox Churches. 
 
 BOUGIE. At jD. 28, 1. 14, for Corruvias read Covarruvias ; 
 and transfer to p. 27 after "Boswellisra." 
 
 BRAGATIONITE. At p. 29 read Bagrationite ; at 1. 7, 
 for Bragation read Bagration. 
 
 BRAG. To boast ; from Bragg, a Scandinavian deity Avho 
 sang the praise of the heroes in the Hall of Odin (./. Power").
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 349 
 
 Bragi or Brag was the god of poetry : hence it was sometimes 
 bestowed as a proper name on a poet. There was a celebrated 
 Icelandic bard called Bragi Skalld. 
 
 BRUM {nearhj obsolete). A counterfeit coin; from Brum- 
 magem, q.v. (Slang. J. C Hotten). 
 
 BRUMMAGEM. Trashy, common. 
 
 " Diluted history and brummarjem lore." — Sat. Rev. 
 
 So called from Brummagem, i.e. Brumwycheham, ancient name 
 of Birmingham, the great emporium for plated goods and imi- 
 tation jewellery. 
 
 BURPORT DAGGER. A periphrase for being hanged, 
 in allusion to the ropes for which the manufacturers of Bridport 
 were once famous, and with which Newgate and other places 
 were supplied. See the Old Morality of Hyclce Scorner, in Dr. 
 Percy's Collection, dated 1520 (cii'c.) " Once a yere the in- 
 mates of Newgat have taw halts of Burtporte." 
 
 CABAL. At p. 34, 1. 15 from bottom, after councils add, 
 " This accidental circumstance may have introduced or extended 
 the foreign meaning of the word. — ;S'. F. Creswell." 
 
 CvESIA. At p. 35, 1. 15, for Frederico read Federico. 
 
 CALATRAVA. At p. 35, 1. 4 from bottom, s£tev from add 
 St. John of. 
 
 CAMBO. A fragrant Chinese tea with a violet smell ; its 
 infusion pale ; so called from the place whei'e it is made. 
 
 CANNIBAL. At p. 37, 1. 9 from bottom, after Islands add 
 S. F. Creswell. 
 
 CANTABRICA. At p. 38, 1. 14 from bottom, for north- 
 easteim read northern. 
 
 CARLINO. At p. 39, 1. 12 from bottom, for £51 read £5. 
 
 CAROLINEA. At p. 40, 1. 13, for StercidiaccB read Ster- 
 culiacea'. 
 
 CARP-MEALS. At p. 40, 1. 9 from bottom, after English 
 coast, add, " probably from Cartmel, in North Lancashire. — 
 S. F. CresivelL" 
 
 CARTHUSIAN POWDER {Poudre de Chartreux, Pulvis 
 Carthnsianonmi). A designation of Kermes mineral, or amor-
 
 3oO VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 phous tersulphuret of antimony ; so called from its successful 
 use by a Carthusian friar named Simon. 
 
 CHARTREUSE. A liqueur probably named La Grande 
 Chartreuse, a celebrated monastery in France, dep. Isere. 
 The French word is also used for a little isolated country 
 house ; also, in conchology, horticulture ; and frequently in the 
 culinary art. 
 
 CHESSY COPPER. Another name for the mineral called 
 azurite, which occurs in splendid crystallizations at Chessy, 
 near Lyons. 
 
 CHILTERN HUNDREDS. Appellation of a nominal 
 stewardship under the Crown. Chiltern is the appellation of 
 a chain of chalky hills, separating the counties of Bedford and 
 Herts, and running through the middle of Bucks, from Tring, 
 Herts, to Henley-upon-Thames, Oxon. They are covered, in 
 various parts, with woods, and some of the eminences are of 
 considerable height, and afford rich prospects. To these hills, 
 which belong to the crown, is annexed the nominal office of 
 steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, by the acceptance of which 
 a member of the British Pai'liament is enabled to vacate his 
 seat. 
 
 CHRISTMAS. At p. 49, for the festival read the principal 
 festival. 
 
 CIRCENSIAN. Pertaining to the Circus, in Rome, where 
 were practised games of various kinds, as running, wrestling, 
 combats, &c. The Circeusian games accompanied most of the 
 feasts of the Romans, but the grand games were held five days, 
 commencing on the 15th of September. From L. Circenses, 
 games of the Circus. 
 
 CLAUDETYPE. A process of photography invented by 
 M. Claudet. 
 
 CLAYTONIA. At p. 50, for Pontulacacecs read Portulacete. 
 
 CLIONIDtE. At p. 50, 1. 5 from bottom, for peteropods 
 read pteropods. 
 
 CLYDESDALE. Name of a good draught-horse, especially 
 for farming business and in a hilly country; so called from the 
 district on the Clyde, in Scotland, where it is principally bred. 
 
 COACH (p. 51). Adelung (Mithridates), under the Hun-
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 351 
 
 gariau word kotsi, says, " Kutsche doch vie leicht ist das 
 deutscbe wort aus dcra Ungarischeu entstanden, weil die 
 Kutscheu in Ungarn erfunden seyn und von dem Marktflecken 
 Kots ilireu Nnlimen erhalten haben sollen." 
 
 COLBERTEEN (p. 51). "Lace so called after tlie cele- 
 brated French minister, M. Colbert. Swift mentions the 
 ' pinners edged with colberteen ' (temp. Jas. II. and Wm. & 
 Mary), as the lace streamers were called." — Planche, Hist. 
 Brit. Cost. 395. 
 
 CONGREVE. At p. 56, last line, for engine of loar read 
 rochet. 
 
 CORUNDOPHILITE (p. 59). Delete this paragraph. 
 
 CORYDON. An old classical term for a shepherd ; so 
 called from the name of a shepherd in Virgil. 
 
 " Nerine Galatea, thymo mihi dulcior HybljB, 
 Candidior cycnis, edera formosior alba : 
 Cum primum pasti repetent pi'jesepia tauri, 
 Si qua tui Corydonis habet te cura, venito." 
 
 Bucol. Eel. vii. 37. 
 
 COZAKEE. A horse, patient. and docile, deep in the girth, 
 powerful in the fore-arm, but with large head, and sadly cat- 
 hammed : hardy, and calculated for long journeys and severe 
 services. The name would seem to be a corruption of Cossack. 
 
 CRETISM. At p. 60, 1. 1 3 from bottom, after deceivers, 
 add, " St. Paul thus characterizes them in his epistle to Titus i. 
 12 : ' One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, 
 The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.' — 
 S. F. Creswell." 
 
 DA VILLA. At p. 66, 1. 14 and 15, for Davilla read 
 Davilct. 
 
 DIGBY CHICKENS. "The neighbourhood of Digby 
 appeared to me particularly eligible, for the town was a thriving 
 little sea-port ; boats of a large size were built in her docks, 
 and the sea abounded with several good sorts of fish. A small 
 species of herring afforded the inhabitants almost a staple 
 commodity. They are extremely delicate, and are salted in 
 great quantities every year. They have gained the nickname
 
 352 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 of Dighy ChicJcens, and are exported to different parts of the 
 province in barrels." — Forest Scenes in the Wilds of North 
 America, by Geo. Head, Esq., Lond. 8°- 1829. See Quar. 
 Rev. No. 83, p. 82. 
 
 DRACONIC. " The most draconic repressive statutes." 
 So called from certain laws made by Draco, a celebrated 
 Athenian lawgiver, who succeeded Triptolemus as legislator, 
 B.C. 623. On account of their severity they were said to be 
 written in letters of blood. Idleness was punished with as 
 much severity as murder, and death was denounced against the 
 one as well as the other. Solon abolished all except that 
 which made murder a capital offence. 
 
 ELEUSINIAN. Relating to Eleusis (now Lepsina), in 
 Attica, or to sacred rites in honour of Demeter (the Roman 
 Ceres), there celebrated ; as, Eleusinian mysteries. The 
 FAeusinia was celebrated on the 15th of the month of Boiidro- 
 mion, lasted nine days, and was held by the Athenians in great 
 reverence. Everybody was obliged to pass through the cere- 
 monies once in the course of his life. Strangers, slaves, bas- 
 tards, prostitutes, &c., were excluded from these rites ; and so 
 superstitiously were they observed that, if any one revealed 
 any of the mysteries or applied to private purposes any of the 
 hallowed solemnities, it was considered a capital crime. See 
 Dissertation on the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries, by 
 Thos. Taylor, Amst. 1792, 8°-; Essai sur les Mysteres d'Eleusis, 
 by Ouvaroff, Par. 1816, 8°- 
 
 EOLIC. At p. 79 read ^olic ; and at last line, for Eolia 
 read uEolia. 
 
 FAIRNTOSH. The name of a whisky in very great repute 
 up to 1761 ; so called from the lands of Fairntosh, in Scotland, 
 where it was distilled. For an interesting account of this 
 beverage see Ed. Rev. No. 94, pp. 505-7 (May, 1828), in an 
 article on Jamieson's Scot. Diet. 
 
 FALLOPIAN. At p. 83, 1. 3, for Versalms read Vesalius. 
 
 FENIANISM. The political principles of the Fenians, an 
 association of natives of Ireland or their descendants in the
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 353 
 
 United States, having for its avowed object the separation of 
 Ireland from the government of Great Britain, and the esta- 
 blishment of the former as a republic. The name Fenian is said 
 to be derived from Fion, a hero in Ossian, famous for his victories 
 over the Scandinavian and German invaders. In the Edin. 
 Rev. (July, 1805, p. 429) I find the following :— " It is allowed, 
 on all hands, that numberless traditions Avere current in Ireland 
 concerning the Fenij or Fions, a species of militia inhabiting 
 Leinster, and commanded by Fin Mac Coul, named by Fer- 
 guson, Fingal, the son of Conhal." F. K. Meyer, in a late 
 work entitled " The still existing Celtic People, Languages, and 
 Literatures," gives the following on thenameof the Fenians: — 
 " Many traditions of the primitive history, contests, and migra- 
 tions of the Celts had been preserved, as on the British Islands, 
 so principally in Ireland. These were finally revived and re- 
 modelled in the second and third century of our era by the 
 latest Irish-British immigrants ; the Scoti, that came from the 
 north-east, calling themselves by the Irish name Fiona, Fena, 
 i.e. the blond or white, from the singular Fion (Kymri given, 
 guend, ancient Celtic vind, as in Vindobona, &c.) This tribe 
 was distinguished both by beauty, wisdom, poetry, and valour, 
 and thus widely differed from the contemporaneous, likewise 
 East-Celtic, tribe of the Picts, or, according to their indigenous 
 name, Cruithne, the Dubh Taratha Cruithue (black people of 
 the Cruithne) of the Irish Annalists, and the Liu Dhu (black 
 host) of the Welsh bards and triads. Eminently celebrated, 
 however, among the blond Fena for beauty and wisdom was 
 the so-called light or noble family of the Ua-sin, or Uafiin 
 (from ' Ua,' the O' of the Irish family name — family ' Sippe,' 
 and ' sin ' or ' fB.n,' clear, white). After many sanguinary fights 
 the Fena were conquered and destroyed towards the end of the 
 third century, by the Belgian king Cairpre Cinncait, in the 
 great (half-mythical) Battle of Cath. This destruction, it 
 would appear, became the origin of the new Fion or Fin Gall 
 (of Ossian's poem of that name). The ancient hero of the 
 tribe who bore that name arose anew in the course of centuries, 
 enlarged as it were into an historical primary type, and a 
 religious and historical expression, not merely for the one East- 
 
 A A
 
 354 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 Celtic branch of the Irish- Scottish population, but for the 
 whole complex of its West and East-Celtic portions. He be- 
 came the Divine king who had immigrated either from north 
 or south (hence, perhaps, his name Gall = stranger), son of 
 Cumhal, i.e. the Picts in the north, grandson of Base, i.e. the 
 Iberians in Spain ; the type and beginning of all ancient Irish 
 history and culture, civilization and legislation, and, more 
 especially, from his epithet of Miledh (warrior), the ancestor 
 of all ancient Irish families that date their descent from the 
 East, the so-called Phoenico-Milesians." 
 
 FEVILLEA. At p. 84 read Feuilha. 
 
 FORTUNATUS'S CAP. " Fortunatus had a wishing 
 hat, which, Avhen he put on and wished himself anywhere, be- 
 hold he was there. By this means had Fortunatus triumphed 
 over space, he had annihilated space ; for him there Avas no 
 Where, but all was Here. Were a hatter to establish himself 
 in the Wahngasse of Weissnichtwo, and make felts of this sort 
 for all mankind, what a world we should have of it ! Still 
 stranger, should, on the opposite side of the street, another 
 hatter establish himself, and, as his fellow-craftsman made 
 space annihilating, make time annihilating. Of both would I 
 purchase, Avere it with my last groschen ; but chiefly of this 
 latter. To clap on your felt, and simply by wishing that you 
 were any ivhere, straightway lo be there. Next to clap on your 
 other felt, and simply by wishing that you were any when, 
 straightway to be then." — Carlyle, Sartor Resartus. For 
 Fortunatus's Purse, see N. & Q. 2nd S. vii. 21 ; xi, 72. 
 
 FRAUNHOFER LINES. Fraunhofer was an eminent 
 optician residing at Munich, who, having prepared some glass 
 of great purity, repeated the experiments of Newton on the 
 analysis of white light. His researches showed that not only 
 are the rays of light of very different refraugibility, but that 
 some of the rays are wanting in the spectrum. It has been 
 reserved for the recent discovery of spectrum analysis to show 
 that their spaces — these Fraunhofer lines — are due to the ab- 
 sorption of those rays in their passage through the sun's 
 atmosphere by the vapours of those metals, which, in a state 
 of incandescence, would emit rays of the same refraugibility.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 355 
 
 GA6G. "A foolish fellow. 'And Agag came uuto him 
 delicately.' Hence gaggish." — /. Power. 
 
 GOLGOTHA. At p. 100, 1. 12 from bottom, for tU place 
 of skulls read facetiously identified with the place of a skull. 
 
 GRASSINI. At Turin, a kind of bread in long crispy 
 sticks, for easy digestion ; named after the inventor. 
 
 HECTOR. At p. 115, 1. 4, for ayg read aya.vois. 
 HOCUS-POCUS. At p. 120, 1, 11, after Transubstanlia- 
 tion, add, The priest, however, says, Hoc est enim corpus. 
 
 IRVINISM. At p. 126, for rving read Irving. 
 
 ISTHMIAN GAMES. One of the four great festivals of 
 Greece; so called because celebrated on the Isthmus of Corinth, 
 " The prize was an ivy -wreath " {S. F. C.) 
 
 ISTHMIAN SCHEME. The French scheme of cutting 
 through the Isthmus of Suez for the ]3urpose, it is said, of 
 gaining a preponderance in the East. 
 
 ISTHMUS OF VIEUSENS {Isthmis Vieusenii). The 
 ridge surrounding the oval fossa, or remains, of the foramen 
 ovale in the right auricle of the heart; so called from Vieusens, 
 the anatomist, who discovered it. He was born in 1641, and 
 was author of several works on anatomy. 
 
 LETHEAN. At p. 151, 1. 14 from bottom, for letheed read 
 lethe'd. 
 
 LIEBERKUHNIAN GLANDS. At p. 153, 1. 14, for 
 Lieberkiihnn read Lieherkuhn. 
 
 LINNiEA. Add, " It is remarkable as having received its 
 name in honour of the great Swedish naturalist, who, as appears 
 by the journal of his ' Tour to Lapland,' chose this plant to 
 transmit his own name to posterity," — T. Wright, M.A. 
 
 LINN^AN SYSTEM. At p. 154, 1. 19 from bottom, for 
 Linne read Linne. 
 
 LOCHABER AXE. At p. 155, 1. 7, for and farewell my 
 Jean read farewell to my Jean. 
 
 MAQON. At p. 163, 11. 2 and 3 from bottom, for Maqon 
 read Macon. 
 
 A A 2
 
 356 VERBA NOMINALIA. 
 
 MAYONNAISE. A superb sauce, compounded of yolks 
 of unboiled eggs, oil of the purest quality, French or Tarragon 
 vinegar, cayenne, and salt ; properly Bayonnaise, so called from 
 Bayonne, where it was first made. The term is usually applied 
 to a pyramidical dish composed of boiled or roast chicken deli- 
 cately carved, served up with hearts of small lettuces, hard 
 eggs, jelly, &c., and covered w^ith this sauce. 
 
 MOGrUER. A wine mixed with sherry, and forming that 
 inferior kind of which a large quantity is exported ; so called 
 from Moguer, on the Guadalquivir, where it is produced. 
 
 MORAVIANISM. At p. 190,.l. 19 from bottom, for to the 
 read in the. 
 
 MOSS-LAIRD. A name given to the tenants in the great 
 improved Moss of Blaii'-Drummond. — Carlisle. 
 
 MOSS-TROOPERS. A term applied to certain bandits 
 that formerly infested the border country between England and 
 Scotland. The name is derived from the character of the 
 country over which they " trooped," it being extensively inoss 
 or morass. — Webster. 
 
 NABOTH'S GLANDS. At p. 201, 1. 10 from bottom, for 
 oviila read ova. Add also, " Some small glands situated be- 
 tween the folds of the membrane lining the cervix uteri. An 
 anatomist named Naboth, finding them morbidly enlarged, 
 mistook them for ova, whence they were called ovula Nabothi, 
 or glandulee Nabothi." — Hooper, Med. Diet. 
 
 PARADISE. A garden, library, or study. See Britton's 
 Arch. Diet. — Halliwell. 
 
 PARAMATTA. At p. 220, 1. 15, for where it is jnanufac- 
 turecl read which produced the wool from which it was manufac- 
 tured. 
 
 PH^BE. At p. 230, 1. 5 from bottom, for Phoebe read 
 Phcebe. 
 
 ROQUEFORT. A superior French cheese resembling 
 Stilton in flavour ; named from Roquefort, dep. Aveyron, 
 where nearly 1000 tons of it are annually made.
 
 VERBA NOMINALIA. 357 
 
 ST. JULIEN. At p. 261, 1. 16 from bottom, after prime, 
 add, " lu Englaud, a kind of pear." 
 
 TiENIA TARINI. At p. 298, 1. 2, for vena corporis 
 striati read corpus striatum. 
 
 TINTAMAR. At p. 308, 1. 8, after grand tintaman^e, add, 
 " " ; and at 1. 1 1 for vignerous read vigncrons. 
 
 TOKAY. At p. 309, 1. 16, add Tempora mutantur. 
 
 TYRANT. At p. 317, 1. 13, for Tijrreheni read Tyrrheni. 
 
 KINIS. 
 
 Charles Jones, Printer, West Harding Street (late Sumfield & Jones).
 
 WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 BRADSHAW'S ILLUSTRATED HAND-BOOK 
 TO SPAIN AND PORTUGAL: 
 
 A complete Guide for Travellers in the Peninsula, with Maps, Town 
 
 Plans, &c. 
 
 London : W. J. Adams, 59, Fleet Street, 
 
 GUIDE TO THE TYROL; 
 
 COMPRISING PEDESTRIAN TOURS OF 1600 MILES IN TYROL, STYRIA, CARIN- 
 TUIA, AND SALZKAMMERGUT, WITH A SKELETON MAP OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 London : W. J. Adams, 59, Fleet Street. 
 
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 — Athenceitm. 
 
 "As a brief record of personal experience, this little volume, which would occupy small 
 space in the corner of a knapsack, will, we have no doubt, prove a most useful companion 
 to any one who proposes to follow the author's footsteps through the beautiful scenery to 
 be found among the mountains and valleys of the Tyrol." — Notes and Queries. 
 
 " For full information on the Tyrol we beg to refer our readers to a concise, useful, and 
 interesting little work just published, entitled ' Guide to the Tyrol,' by R. S. Charnock."— 
 Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide. 
 
 " This book is not only interesting, but useful. The information it contains will enable 
 the tourist to make his way through a large portion of the finest scenery in Europe with no 
 more help than a light purse, a cotton umbrella, and a leather knapsack." — Morning 
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 " With this work, the pedestrian may learn how to spend a month or si.x weeks among 
 the most magnificent scenery in the world, and at a cost considerably under £20. "—i/jTitory 
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 " We strongly advise every one who contemplates going over this ground to purchase this 
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 never dull or -^rosy ."—Cambridge Independent. 
 
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 " If any of our readers are thinking of a continental tour, and wish to deviate somewhat 
 from the beaten track, we recommend them to be o£f to the Tyrol, and to take this book 
 for a pocket companion."— /?r«d/ord Observer. 
 
 " We think Jlr. Charnock's Guide is likely to induce many a visit to the Tyrol. Above 
 all, he is most practical on the subject of the currency ."—Southern Times. 
 
 LOCAL ETYMOLOGY: 
 
 London : Houlston & Wright, 65, Paternoster Row. 
 
 " Contains a lai-ge selection of names most likely to be sought for, and is carefully com- 
 piled." — Examiner. 
 
 " An immense amount of industry has been brought to bear upon the compilation of this 
 dictionary. Those interested in such a study will, in this dictionary, find a help such as 
 they have hitherto found the want of." — Morning Post. 
 
 "Contains the etymology of about 3000 names of most interest to the general reader; 
 but the reader may, by applying the information furnished by Mr. Charnock with reference 
 to the prefixes and affixes of local names, carry the work far beyond the limits within which 
 the author has confined himself."— iW)tes and Queries. 
 
 " A volume on which Mr. Charnock has spent much labour, with corresponding success."— 
 Alhenceum. 
 
 " The genealogies have been followed out with much labour and research through nume- 
 rous languages." — Globe. 
 
 " As a compilation, it indicates a considerable amount of philological attainment, and less 
 of that perplexing ingenuity so characteristic of etymologists, which amuses rather than 
 instructs." — Westminster Review. 
 
 " The two great requisites for the task were industry and judgment, and by the help of
 
 these Mr. Charnock has produced a useful and Instructive, and we may add, an entertain- 
 ing and curious volume." — Morning Chronicle. 
 
 " To a conviction of the importance of the study of etymology, together with a love of 
 the study itself on the part of Mr. Charnock, we are indebted for the present admirable 
 volume, wliich for conscientiousjinquiry, accuracy and skill in the performance, could scarcely 
 be surpassed in value, and, as such, is constituted an incontestable autliorlty in the matter 
 of which it treats. It will accordingly find grateful acceptance with antiquaries, students, 
 and men of letters. The work is marked by diligent research in ancient and modern 
 languages, and the consultation of numerous histories and other works."— /)aj7y Telegraph. 
 
 " Mr. Charnock deserves every credit for producing, within the moderate limits of an 
 octavo volume, a work which, while its well-digested conciseness cannot fail to render it 
 acceptable to the general reader, is entirely free from that flippant style of jumping at con- 
 clusions without research, which excites the contempt of the genuine archaeologist. The 
 author has shown himself to possess sound discrimination as well as extensive reading, the 
 power of condensing much important matter within a narrow compass, and a judgment not 
 to be led astray by specious but superficial and conjectural derivation."— ^«a«. 
 
 "It suggests some curious and interesting topics to the philologist."— ^iW the Fear 
 Round. 
 
 " As a word of reference, most important and valuable, and entitled to a prominent posi- 
 tion in every library." — Constitutional Press. 
 
 " The author has consulted a long list of authorities, and his work shows care and inge- 
 nuity, as well as good judgment in selection, and in the allotment of space to subject." 
 — Bent's Literary Advertiser. 
 
 " A useful contribution to our literature in a department where, we are perhaps most 
 deficient." — The Bookseller. 
 
 " We are glad to welcome Mr. Charnock as an agreeable contributor to our stock of 
 archieologieal knowledge. The work will be studied with profit and pleasure, and laid 
 down by the student without fatigue, and with a feeling of regret that there is not more of 
 it." — Freemasons' Magazine. 
 
 " A great amount of dUigent research has been bestowed .upon its compilation." — 
 Brighton Examiner. 
 
 " A very useful and trustworthy volume." -Kentish Observer. 
 
 "The author has not confined himself to the names of English places, but points out the 
 etymology of foreign towns of note, and elucidates the meaning of the names given to 
 seas, channels, mountains, &c. Whether these names be derived from any peculiarity in 
 the geological formation of the district, from the names of men, from Oriental languages or 
 plain Saxon, the whole is carefully explained. The author has consulted a large number 
 of authorities." — Windsor Express. 
 
 " Great in Indian terms."— Dorset County Chronicle. 
 
 " Much obscurity has from time to time been thrown upon names which have been most 
 grossly corrupted, and hence much confusion has been occasioned, perplexing the inquirer, 
 and rendering obscure what will be found, by this volume, both plain and simple."— />ore- 
 caster Gazette. 
 
 " Mr. Charnock has produced a book which, divested of the dulness of 'word-books ' in 
 general, whilst exhibiting in an eminent degree a scholar-like acquirement, and an acute- 
 ness of research and discrimination, and no slight knowledge of many tongues, presents a 
 good deal of pleasant reading and many historical, descriptive, and anecdotal remarks. In 
 this respect, of all etymological dictionaries, a topographical one no doubt affords a more 
 ample field for an easy, discursive, and generally interesting treatment of the subject than 
 any other branch of philological learning. Granting this, Mr. Charnock has executed his 
 task in all the foregoing respects with a method, correctness, amplitude, and carefulness 
 which entitle his work to the commendation and encouragement of all those who take an 
 interest in philological research. The author does not confine himself to Great Britain ; 
 other countries in all quarters of the world come in for a fair share of his labours, and 
 we find researches in upwards of seventy languages and dialects, amongst which the Anglo- 
 Saxon seems to have been the subject of intimate study. An additional value is given to 
 the work by the pronunciation of the names being added when necessary, and by the clear- 
 ness of the detail, which renders it useful even to those who have no great knowledge of 
 languages, whilst at the same time it is not cumbered with a redundancy of words."— im- 
 coln Times. 
 
 Preparing for Publication. 
 
 MANORIAL CUSTOMS, TENURES, SERVICES, 
 GRANTS, etc., in the County of Essex. 
 
 A GLOSSARY OF PROVINCIAL WORDS used in the 
 
 County of Essex. 
 
 THE ETYMOLOGY OF CORNISH SURNAMES. 
 
 THE BASQUE, and its connexion with other Languages. 
 
 ^h
 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below 
 
 JAN 6 1950 
 
 NOV 2 19&9 
 
 gov 161969 
 
 lSurl ^ 2? '90 
 
 2 7 
 
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