Chapter 18

The higher Nilus swellsThe more it promises; as it ebbs, theseedsmanUpon the slime and ooze scatters his grain,And shortly comes to harvest.Shakespeare,Antony and Cleopatra, act ii. sc. 7.

The higher Nilus swellsThe more it promises; as it ebbs, theseedsmanUpon the slime and ooze scatters his grain,And shortly comes to harvest.

The higher Nilus swells

The more it promises; as it ebbs, theseedsman

Upon the slime and ooze scatters his grain,

And shortly comes to harvest.

Shakespeare,Antony and Cleopatra, act ii. sc. 7.

‘Sensual’ is employed now only in an ill meaning, and implies ever a predominance of sense in quarters where it ought not so to predominate. Milton, feeling that we wanted another word affirming this predominance where no such fault was implied by it, and that ‘sensual’ only imperfectly expressed this, employed, I know not whether he coined, ‘sensuous,’ a word which, if it had rooted itself in the language at once, might have proved of excellent service. ‘Sensuality’ has had always an ill meaning, but not always the same ill meaning which it has now. Any walking by sense and sight rather than by faith was ‘sensuality’ of old.

Hath not the Lord Jesus convinced thysensualheart bysensualarguments? If thy sense were not left-handed, thoumightest with thy right hand bear down thine infidelity; for God hath given assurance sufficient by his Son to thy verysense, if though wert not brutish (1 Johni. 1).—Rogers,Naaman the Syrian, p. 493.There cannot always be that degree ofsensual, pungent, or delectable affections towards religion as towards the desires of nature and sense.—BishopTaylor,Life of Christ, part ii. § 12.Far as creation’s ample range extends,The scale ofsensual, mental powers ascends.Pope,Essay on Man, b. i.I do take him to be a hardy captain; but yet a man more meet to be governed than to govern; for all his enterprizes be made upon his ownsensuality, without the advice and counsel of those that been put in trust by the King’s Majesty.—State Papers, 1538, vol. iii. p. 95.He who might claim this absolute power over the soul to be believed upon his bare word, yet seeing thesensualityof man and our woful distrust, is willing to allow us all the means of strengthening our souls in his promise, by such seals and witnesses as confirm it.—Rogers,Naaman the Syrian, p. 483.A great number of people in divers parts of this realm, following their ownsensuality, and living without knowledge and due fear of God, do wilfully and schismatically abstain and refuse to come to their own parish churches.—Act of Uniformity, 1662.

There cannot always be that degree ofsensual, pungent, or delectable affections towards religion as towards the desires of nature and sense.—BishopTaylor,Life of Christ, part ii. § 12.

Far as creation’s ample range extends,The scale ofsensual, mental powers ascends.

Far as creation’s ample range extends,

The scale ofsensual, mental powers ascends.

Pope,Essay on Man, b. i.

I do take him to be a hardy captain; but yet a man more meet to be governed than to govern; for all his enterprizes be made upon his ownsensuality, without the advice and counsel of those that been put in trust by the King’s Majesty.—State Papers, 1538, vol. iii. p. 95.

He who might claim this absolute power over the soul to be believed upon his bare word, yet seeing thesensualityof man and our woful distrust, is willing to allow us all the means of strengthening our souls in his promise, by such seals and witnesses as confirm it.—Rogers,Naaman the Syrian, p. 483.

A great number of people in divers parts of this realm, following their ownsensuality, and living without knowledge and due fear of God, do wilfully and schismatically abstain and refuse to come to their own parish churches.—Act of Uniformity, 1662.

Servant.A wooer, follower, admirer, lover, not of necessity an accepted one, was a ‘servant’ in the chivalrous language of two or three centuries ago.

Valentine.Madam and mistress, a thousand good morrows.Silvia.Sir Valentine andservant, to you two thousand.Shakespeare,Two Gentlemen of Verona, act ii. sc. 1.’Tis more than I know if Mr. Freeman be myservant.... I cannot brag much that he makes any court to me.—Letters from Dorothy Osborne, Lett. 22 (ed. 1889).

Valentine.Madam and mistress, a thousand good morrows.Silvia.Sir Valentine andservant, to you two thousand.

Valentine.Madam and mistress, a thousand good morrows.

Silvia.Sir Valentine andservant, to you two thousand.

Shakespeare,Two Gentlemen of Verona, act ii. sc. 1.

’Tis more than I know if Mr. Freeman be myservant.... I cannot brag much that he makes any court to me.—Letters from Dorothy Osborne, Lett. 22 (ed. 1889).

Servility.Thesubjectiveabjectness and baseness of spirit of one who is a slave, or who acts as one, is always implied by this word at the present; while once it did but express theobjectivefact of an outwardly servile condition in him of whom it was predicated, leaving it possible that in spirit he might be free notwithstanding.

Suchservilityas the Jews endured under the Greeks and Asiatics, have they endured under the Saracen and the Turk.—Jackson,The Eternal Truth of Scriptures, b. i. c. 26.We are no longer under theservilityof the law of Moses, but are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.—H. More,The Grand Mystery of Godliness, b. viii. c. 6.The same [faith] inclined Moses to exchange the dignities and delights of a court for a state of vagrancy andservility.—Barrow,Sermon 3, On the Apostles’ Creed.

Suchservilityas the Jews endured under the Greeks and Asiatics, have they endured under the Saracen and the Turk.—Jackson,The Eternal Truth of Scriptures, b. i. c. 26.

We are no longer under theservilityof the law of Moses, but are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.—H. More,The Grand Mystery of Godliness, b. viii. c. 6.

The same [faith] inclined Moses to exchange the dignities and delights of a court for a state of vagrancy andservility.—Barrow,Sermon 3, On the Apostles’ Creed.

[Shed.This verb was once in common use in the sense of to separate, divide, or part. This ‘shed’ is the representative of the O.E. ‘sceādan’ (scādan), the equivalent of the modern German ‘scheiden.’ With these words is connected the modern geographical term ‘watershed,’ i.e. water-divider. ‘To shed’ is still used in the North in the sense of to divide or separate (Halliwell). From this verb comes the word ‘sheeding,’ the name of a territorial division in the Isle of Man. Probably our modern ‘shed,’ to scatter, pour, may be the same word as ‘shed,’ to separate, with a development of meaning, but the relation of the two words has not been satisfactorily made out yet.]

They say also that the manner of making theshed[διακρίνεσθαι] of new-wedded wives’ hair with the iron head of ajavelin came up then likewise.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 22.They were never so careful to comb their heads as when they should to the battle; for then they did noint their selves with sweet oils, and didshedtheir hair.—Id.,ibid.p. 45.

They say also that the manner of making theshed[διακρίνεσθαι] of new-wedded wives’ hair with the iron head of ajavelin came up then likewise.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 22.

They were never so careful to comb their heads as when they should to the battle; for then they did noint their selves with sweet oils, and didshedtheir hair.—Id.,ibid.p. 45.

Sheer.It is curious that Christopher Sly’s declaration that he was ‘fourteen pence on the score forsheerale’ (Taming of the Shrew, Induction, sc. 2) should have given so much trouble to some of the early commentators upon Shakespeare. ‘Sheer,’ which is pure, unmixed, was used of things concrete once, although mostly of things abstract now.

They had scarcely sunk through the uppermost course of sand above, when they might see small sources to boil up, at the first troubled, but afterward they began to yieldsheerand clear water in great abundance.—Holland,Livy, p. 1911.Thousheer, immaculate, and silver fountain,From whence this stream through muddy passagesHath held his current.Shakespeare,King Richard II., act v. sc. 3.Thou never hadst in thy house, to stay men’s stomachs,A piece of Suffolk cheese, or gammon of bacon,Or any esculent, butsheerdrink only,For which gross fault I here do damn thy license.Massinger,A New Way to pay Old Debts, act iv. sc. 2.

Thousheer, immaculate, and silver fountain,From whence this stream through muddy passagesHath held his current.

Thousheer, immaculate, and silver fountain,

From whence this stream through muddy passages

Hath held his current.

Shakespeare,King Richard II., act v. sc. 3.

Thou never hadst in thy house, to stay men’s stomachs,A piece of Suffolk cheese, or gammon of bacon,Or any esculent, butsheerdrink only,For which gross fault I here do damn thy license.

Thou never hadst in thy house, to stay men’s stomachs,

A piece of Suffolk cheese, or gammon of bacon,

Or any esculent, butsheerdrink only,

For which gross fault I here do damn thy license.

Massinger,A New Way to pay Old Debts, act iv. sc. 2.

Shelf.‘To shelve’ as to shoal, still remains; but not so, except in mariners’ charts, ‘shelf’ as = shallow or sandbank. This ‘shelf’ is quite a distinct word from the ‘shelf’ (of a cupboard).

I thought fit to follow the rule of coasting maps, where theshelvesand rocks are described as well as the safe channel.—Davenant,Preface to Gondibert.God wisheth none should wreck on a strangeshelf;To Him man’s dearer than t’ himself.Ben Jonson,The Forest, iii.The watchful hero felt the knocks, and foundThe tossing vessel sailed on shoaly ground.Sure of his pilot’s loss, he takes himselfThe helm, and steers aloof, and shuns theshelf.Dryden,Virgil’s Æneid, b. v.

I thought fit to follow the rule of coasting maps, where theshelvesand rocks are described as well as the safe channel.—Davenant,Preface to Gondibert.

God wisheth none should wreck on a strangeshelf;To Him man’s dearer than t’ himself.

God wisheth none should wreck on a strangeshelf;

To Him man’s dearer than t’ himself.

Ben Jonson,The Forest, iii.

The watchful hero felt the knocks, and foundThe tossing vessel sailed on shoaly ground.Sure of his pilot’s loss, he takes himselfThe helm, and steers aloof, and shuns theshelf.

The watchful hero felt the knocks, and found

The tossing vessel sailed on shoaly ground.

Sure of his pilot’s loss, he takes himself

The helm, and steers aloof, and shuns theshelf.

Dryden,Virgil’s Æneid, b. v.

Shrew.There are at the present no ‘shrews’ save female ones; but the word, like so many others which we have met with, now restrained to one sex, was formerly applied to both. It conveyed also of old a much deeper moral reprobation than now or in the Middle English it did. Thus Lucifer is a ‘shrew’ inPiers Plowman, and two murderers are ‘shrews’ in the quotation from Chaucer which follows.

And thus accorded ben theseschrewestwaynTo sle the thridde, as ye han herd me sayn.Chaucer,The Pardoneres Tale.If Y schal schewe me innocent, He schal preve me aschrewe[pravumme comprobabit, Vulg.].—Jobix. 20.Wiclif.I know none more covetousshrewsthan ye are, when ye have a benefice.—Foxe,Book of Martyrs; Examination of William Thorpe.

And thus accorded ben theseschrewestwaynTo sle the thridde, as ye han herd me sayn.

And thus accorded ben theseschrewestwayn

To sle the thridde, as ye han herd me sayn.

Chaucer,The Pardoneres Tale.

If Y schal schewe me innocent, He schal preve me aschrewe[pravumme comprobabit, Vulg.].—Jobix. 20.Wiclif.

I know none more covetousshrewsthan ye are, when ye have a benefice.—Foxe,Book of Martyrs; Examination of William Thorpe.

The weakness of the world’s moral indignation against evil causes a multitude of words which once conveyed intensest moral reprobation gradually to convey none at all, or it may be even praise. ‘Shrewd’ and ‘shrewdness’ must be numbered among these.

An ant is a wise creature for itself; but it is ashrewdthing in an orchard or garden.—Bacon,Essay 23.Is heshrewdand unjust in his dealings with others?—South,Sermons, 1737, vol. vi. p. 106.Forsothe the erthe is corupt before God, and is fulfilled withshrewdness[iniquitate, Vulg.].—Gen.vi. 12.Wiclif.The prophete saith: Fleeschrewednesse[declineta malo, Vulg.], and doo goodnesse; seeke pees, and folwe it.—Chaucer,The Tale of Melibeus(Morris, iii. p. 187).

An ant is a wise creature for itself; but it is ashrewdthing in an orchard or garden.—Bacon,Essay 23.

Is heshrewdand unjust in his dealings with others?—South,Sermons, 1737, vol. vi. p. 106.

Forsothe the erthe is corupt before God, and is fulfilled withshrewdness[iniquitate, Vulg.].—Gen.vi. 12.Wiclif.

The prophete saith: Fleeschrewednesse[declineta malo, Vulg.], and doo goodnesse; seeke pees, and folwe it.—Chaucer,The Tale of Melibeus(Morris, iii. p. 187).

Siege.A ‘siege’ is nowthe sitting downof an army before a fortified place with the purpose of taking it; and has no other meaning but this. It had once the double meaning, abstract and concrete, of the French ‘siège,’ a seat.

Whanne mannus sone schal come in hismajesteand alle hise aungels with hym, thanne he schal sitte on thesegeof his majeste, and alle folkis schulen be gaderid bifor hym.—Matt.xxv. 31.Wiclif.A statelysiegeof soveraine majestye;And thereon sat a woman gorgeous gay.Spenser,Fairy Queen, ii. 7, 44.Besides, upon the verysiegeof justiceLord Angelo hath to the common earProfessed the contrary.Shakespeare,Measure for Measure, act iv. sc. 2.

Whanne mannus sone schal come in hismajesteand alle hise aungels with hym, thanne he schal sitte on thesegeof his majeste, and alle folkis schulen be gaderid bifor hym.—Matt.xxv. 31.Wiclif.

A statelysiegeof soveraine majestye;And thereon sat a woman gorgeous gay.

A statelysiegeof soveraine majestye;

And thereon sat a woman gorgeous gay.

Spenser,Fairy Queen, ii. 7, 44.

Besides, upon the verysiegeof justiceLord Angelo hath to the common earProfessed the contrary.

Besides, upon the verysiegeof justice

Lord Angelo hath to the common ear

Professed the contrary.

Shakespeare,Measure for Measure, act iv. sc. 2.

Sight.The use of ‘sight’ to signify a multitude, a great quantity (that is, to see), has now a touch of vulgarity about it, which once it was very far from possessing.

A noblesighteof bookes (nobilissimam librorum bibliothecam).—Harleian translation of Higden, vi. 239. (Rolls Series, No. 41.)Ye are come unto the mounte Sion, and to the citie of the livinge God, the celestiall Jerusalem, and to an innumerablesightof angels.—Heb.xii. 22.Tyndale.Clodius was ever about him in every place and street he went, having asightof rascals and knaves with him.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 722.

A noblesighteof bookes (nobilissimam librorum bibliothecam).—Harleian translation of Higden, vi. 239. (Rolls Series, No. 41.)

Ye are come unto the mounte Sion, and to the citie of the livinge God, the celestiall Jerusalem, and to an innumerablesightof angels.—Heb.xii. 22.Tyndale.

Clodius was ever about him in every place and street he went, having asightof rascals and knaves with him.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 722.

A deep conviction of men that he who departs from evil will make himself a prey, that none will be a match for the world’s evil who is not himself evil, has brought to pass the fact that a number of words, signifying at first goodness, signify next well-meaning simplicity; the notions of goodness and foolishness, with a strong predominance of the last, for a while interpenetrating one another in them; till at length the latter quite expels the former, and remains as the sole possessor of the word. I need hardly mention the Greek ἄκακος, εὐήθης, εὐήθεια: while the same has happened in regard of the O.E. ‘sǽlig,’ which (the same word as the German ‘selig’) has successively meant, (1) blissful, (2) innocent, harmless, (3) weakly foolish.

Oh God, quod she, so worldlyselynesse,Which clerkes callen fals felicite,Imedled is with many a bitternesse.Chaucer,Troylus and Cryseyde(Morris, p. 258).Oselywoman, ful of innocence.Chaucer,Legend of Fair Women, 1252.This Miles Forest and John Dighton about midnight (thesillychildren lying in their beds) came into the chamber, and suddenly lapped them up among the clothes.—SirT. More,History of King Richard III.

Oh God, quod she, so worldlyselynesse,Which clerkes callen fals felicite,Imedled is with many a bitternesse.

Oh God, quod she, so worldlyselynesse,

Which clerkes callen fals felicite,

Imedled is with many a bitternesse.

Chaucer,Troylus and Cryseyde(Morris, p. 258).

Oselywoman, ful of innocence.

Chaucer,Legend of Fair Women, 1252.

This Miles Forest and John Dighton about midnight (thesillychildren lying in their beds) came into the chamber, and suddenly lapped them up among the clothes.—SirT. More,History of King Richard III.

The etymology of ‘sincerus’ being uncertain, it is impossible to say what is the primary notion of our English ‘sincere.’ These words belong now to an ethical sphere exclusively, and even there their meaning is not altogether what once it was; but the absence of foreign admixture which they predicate might be literal once.

The mind of a man, as it is not of that content or receipt to comprehend knowledge without helps and supplies, so again, it is notsincere, but of an ill and corrupt tincture.—Bacon,Of the Interpretation of Nature, c. xvi.The Germans are a people that more than all the world, I think, may boastsincerity, as being for some thousands of years a pure and unmixed people.—Feltham,A brief Character of the Low Countries, p. 59.

The Germans are a people that more than all the world, I think, may boastsincerity, as being for some thousands of years a pure and unmixed people.—Feltham,A brief Character of the Low Countries, p. 59.

Skeleton.Now the framework of bones as entirely denuded of the flesh; but in early English, and there in stricter agreement with the meaning of the word in Greek, thedriedmummy.

Scelet; the dead body of a man artificially dried or tanned for to be kept or seen a long time.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals; An Explanation of certain obscure Words.

Smug.One of many words which have been spoilt for poetic use through being drawn into our serio-comic vocabulary. It still means neat, trim, being connected with the German ‘schmuck,’ trim, spruce; but seeks to present the very neatness which it implies in a ridiculous ignoble point of view. Any such intention was very far from it once.

And here thesmugand silver Trent shall runIn a new channel, fair and evenly.Shakespeare,1 Henry IV., act iii. sc. 1.Twelve sable steeds,smugas the old raven’s wing,Of even stature and of equal pride,Sons of the wind, or some more speedy thing,To his fair chariot all abreast were tied.Beaumont,Psyche, ix. 176.I like thesmugnessof the Cathedral (Winchester), and the profusion of the most beautiful Gothic tombs.—Walpole,Letters, i. 442 (1755).

And here thesmugand silver Trent shall runIn a new channel, fair and evenly.

And here thesmugand silver Trent shall run

In a new channel, fair and evenly.

Shakespeare,1 Henry IV., act iii. sc. 1.

Twelve sable steeds,smugas the old raven’s wing,Of even stature and of equal pride,Sons of the wind, or some more speedy thing,To his fair chariot all abreast were tied.

Twelve sable steeds,smugas the old raven’s wing,

Of even stature and of equal pride,

Sons of the wind, or some more speedy thing,

To his fair chariot all abreast were tied.

Beaumont,Psyche, ix. 176.

I like thesmugnessof the Cathedral (Winchester), and the profusion of the most beautiful Gothic tombs.—Walpole,Letters, i. 442 (1755).

Snail.It is curious what different objects men will be content for long to confuse under a common name. Thus in some provincial dialects of Germany they have only one name, ‘padde’ (compare our ‘paddock’), for frog and toad. So too ‘snail’ (cochlea) and ‘slug’ (limax) with us were both to a comparatively recent period included under the former name. ‘Slug’ indeed, in the sense of slothful, is an old word in the language; but only at the end of the seventeenth or beginning of the eighteenth century was it transferred to that familiar pest of our gardens which we now call by this name. Indeed up to the present day in many of our provincial dialects slugs and snails are invariably both included under the latter name; the snail proper being sometimes distinguished from the other as the ‘shell-snail’ (see Holland’sPlutarch, p. 212). See an interesting discussion in the Philological Society’sTransactions, 1860-1, pp. 102-106.

There is much variety even in creatures of the same kind. See these twosnails. One hath a house, the other wants it;yet both are snails, and it is a question whether case is the better. That which hath a house hath more shelter, that which wants it hath more freedom.—BishopHall,Occasional Meditations.Snails, a soft and exosseous animal, whereof in thenakedand greater sort, as though she would requite the loss of a shell on their back, nature near the head hath placed a flat white stone. Of the great greysnailsI have not met with any that wanted it.—SirT. Browne,Vulgar Errors, b. iii. c. 13.

Snails, a soft and exosseous animal, whereof in thenakedand greater sort, as though she would requite the loss of a shell on their back, nature near the head hath placed a flat white stone. Of the great greysnailsI have not met with any that wanted it.—SirT. Browne,Vulgar Errors, b. iii. c. 13.

Snub.To check or cut short; now never used save in a figurative sense and in familiar language; but this was not always so.

If we neglect them [the first stirrings of corruption] but a little, out of a thought that they can do no great harm yet, or that we shall have time enough tosnubthem hereafter, we do it to our own certain disadvantage, if not utter undoing.—Sanderson,Sermons, 1671, vol. ii. p. 241.

It is not an honourable fact that ‘soft’ and ‘softness’ should now be terms of slight, almost of contempt, when ethically employed; although indeed it is only a repetition of what we find in χρηστός, εὐήθης, ‘gutig,’ ‘bonhomie,’ and other words not a few.

That they speak evil of no man, that they be no fighters, butsoft[ἐπιεικεῖς], showing all meekness unto all men.—Titusiii. 2.Tyndale.The meek orsoftshall inherit the earth; even as we say, Be still and have thy will.—Tyndale,Exposition on the Fifth Chapter of Matthew.Let yoursoftness[τὸ ἐπιεικὲς ὑμῶν] be known unto all men.—Phil.iv. 5.Cranmer.

That they speak evil of no man, that they be no fighters, butsoft[ἐπιεικεῖς], showing all meekness unto all men.—Titusiii. 2.Tyndale.

The meek orsoftshall inherit the earth; even as we say, Be still and have thy will.—Tyndale,Exposition on the Fifth Chapter of Matthew.

Let yoursoftness[τὸ ἐπιεικὲς ὑμῶν] be known unto all men.—Phil.iv. 5.Cranmer.

Sonnet.A ‘sonnet’ now must consist of exactly fourteen lines, neither more nor less; and these with a fixed arrangement, though admitting a certain relaxation, of the rhymes; but ‘sonnet’ used often to be applied toanyshorter poem, especially of an amatory kind.

He [Arion] had a wonderful desire to chaunt asonnetor hymn unto Apollo Pythius.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 343.If ye will tell us a tale, or play a jig, or show us a play and fine sights, or singsonnetsin our ears, there we will be for you.—Rogers,Naaman the Syrian, p. 492.

He [Arion] had a wonderful desire to chaunt asonnetor hymn unto Apollo Pythius.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 343.

If ye will tell us a tale, or play a jig, or show us a play and fine sights, or singsonnetsin our ears, there we will be for you.—Rogers,Naaman the Syrian, p. 492.

He only is a ‘sot’ now whose stupor and folly is connected with, and the result of, excessive drink; butanyfool would once bear this name.

In Egypt oft has seen thesotbow down,And reverence some deified baboon.Oldham,Eighth Satire of Boileau.I do not here speak of a legal innocence (none butsotsand Quakers dream of such things), for as St. Paul says, ‘By the works of the law shall no flesh living be justified;’ but I speak of an evangelical innocence.—South,Sermons, vol. ii. p. 427.He [Perseus] commanded those poor divers to be secretly murdered, that no person should remain alive that was privy to thatsottishcommandment of his.—Holland,Livy, p. 1177.A leper once he lost, and gained a king,Ahaz hissottishconqueror, whom he drewGod’s altar to disparage and displaceFor one of Syrian mode.Milton,Paradise Lost, i. 471.Sottishnessand dotage is the extinguishing of reason in phlegm or cold.—H. More,Grand Mystery of Godliness, b. viii. c. 14.

In Egypt oft has seen thesotbow down,And reverence some deified baboon.

In Egypt oft has seen thesotbow down,

And reverence some deified baboon.

Oldham,Eighth Satire of Boileau.

I do not here speak of a legal innocence (none butsotsand Quakers dream of such things), for as St. Paul says, ‘By the works of the law shall no flesh living be justified;’ but I speak of an evangelical innocence.—South,Sermons, vol. ii. p. 427.

He [Perseus] commanded those poor divers to be secretly murdered, that no person should remain alive that was privy to thatsottishcommandment of his.—Holland,Livy, p. 1177.

A leper once he lost, and gained a king,Ahaz hissottishconqueror, whom he drewGod’s altar to disparage and displaceFor one of Syrian mode.

A leper once he lost, and gained a king,

Ahaz hissottishconqueror, whom he drew

God’s altar to disparage and displace

For one of Syrian mode.

Milton,Paradise Lost, i. 471.

Sottishnessand dotage is the extinguishing of reason in phlegm or cold.—H. More,Grand Mystery of Godliness, b. viii. c. 14.

[Sparkle.It is probable that ‘to sparkle’ in the sense of to scatter is not the same word as our modern ‘sparkle,’ the diminutive of ‘spark,’ a small particle of fire. I think that it is almost certain that the ‘sparkle’ in the passages given below is a later form of ‘sparple,’ to scatter, see Trevisa, v. 287 (Rolls Series), andPromptorium. The Middle English ‘sparplen’ is the same word as the French ‘esparpiller,’ to scatter, disparkle asunder (see Cotgrave); compare also Italian ‘sparpagliare’ (Florio).For the etymology of ‘sparple’ see Mayhew-Skeat,Dict. of Middle English(s. v. ‘disparplen’). For a late use of ‘disparple,’ to scatter, see Davies,Suppl. Gloss.]

The Lansgrave hathsparkledhis army without any further enterprise.—State Papers, vol. x. p. 718.Cassandra yet there sawe I how they haledFrom Pallas’ house, withspercledtresse undone.Sackville,Induction to a Mirrour for Magistrates.And awhile chawing all those things in his mouth, he spitteth it upon him whom he desireth to kill; who beingsparkledtherewith, dieth by force of the poison within the space of half an hour.—Purchas’s Pilgrims, part ii. p. 1495.

The Lansgrave hathsparkledhis army without any further enterprise.—State Papers, vol. x. p. 718.

Cassandra yet there sawe I how they haledFrom Pallas’ house, withspercledtresse undone.

Cassandra yet there sawe I how they haled

From Pallas’ house, withspercledtresse undone.

Sackville,Induction to a Mirrour for Magistrates.

And awhile chawing all those things in his mouth, he spitteth it upon him whom he desireth to kill; who beingsparkledtherewith, dieth by force of the poison within the space of half an hour.—Purchas’s Pilgrims, part ii. p. 1495.

Specious.Like the Latin ‘speciosus,’ it simply signified beautiful once; it now means always presenting a deceitful appearance of that beauty which is not really possessed, and is never used in any but an ethical sense.

This prince hadde a dowter dere, Asneth was her name,A virgine fulspecious, and semely of stature.Metrical Romance of the Fourteenth Century.And they knew him, that it was he which sate for alms at theSpeciousGate of the temple.—Actsiii. 10. Rheims.His mind as pure and neatly keptAs were his nurseries, and sweptSo of uncleanness or offenceThat never came ill odour thence;And add his actions unto these,They were asspeciousas his trees.Ben Jonson,Epitaph on Master Vincent Corbet.Which [almug-trees], if odoriferous, made that passage as sweet to the smell asspeciousto the sight.—Fuller,Α Pisgah Sight of Palestine, b. iii. c. 2, § 5.

This prince hadde a dowter dere, Asneth was her name,A virgine fulspecious, and semely of stature.

This prince hadde a dowter dere, Asneth was her name,

A virgine fulspecious, and semely of stature.

Metrical Romance of the Fourteenth Century.

And they knew him, that it was he which sate for alms at theSpeciousGate of the temple.—Actsiii. 10. Rheims.

His mind as pure and neatly keptAs were his nurseries, and sweptSo of uncleanness or offenceThat never came ill odour thence;And add his actions unto these,They were asspeciousas his trees.

His mind as pure and neatly kept

As were his nurseries, and swept

So of uncleanness or offence

That never came ill odour thence;

And add his actions unto these,

They were asspeciousas his trees.

Ben Jonson,Epitaph on Master Vincent Corbet.

Which [almug-trees], if odoriferous, made that passage as sweet to the smell asspeciousto the sight.—Fuller,Α Pisgah Sight of Palestine, b. iii. c. 2, § 5.

Spice.We have in English a double adoption of the Latin ‘species,’ namely ‘spice’ and ‘species’.‘Spice,’ the earlier form (Old French ‘espice’), is now limited to certain aromatic drugs, which, as consisting of variouskinds, have this name of ‘spices.’ But ‘spice’ was once employed as ‘species’ is now.

Absteyne you fro al yvelspice[ab omnispeciemalâ, Vulg.]—1 Thess.v. 22.Wiclif.Thespicesof envye ben these.—Chaucer,The Persones Tale(Morris, p. 304).Justice, although it be but one entire virtue, yet is described in two kinds ofspices. The one is named justice distributive, the other is called commutative.—SirT. Elyot,The Governor, b. iii. c. 1.

Absteyne you fro al yvelspice[ab omnispeciemalâ, Vulg.]—1 Thess.v. 22.Wiclif.

Thespicesof envye ben these.—Chaucer,The Persones Tale(Morris, p. 304).

Justice, although it be but one entire virtue, yet is described in two kinds ofspices. The one is named justice distributive, the other is called commutative.—SirT. Elyot,The Governor, b. iii. c. 1.

Spill.Nothing appears so utterly and irrecoverably lost as liquid poured upon the ground; and thus it has come to pass that ‘to spill,’ the Ο. E. ‘spillan,’ which had once the meaning of to waste, to squander, to consume, to destroy, and that in any way, is now restricted to this single meaning.

O litel child, alas! what is thi gilt,That never wroughtest synne as yet, parde?Why wil thyn harde fader han thespilt?Chaucer,The Man of Lawes Tale.If the colors ... be not well tempered or not well laid, or be used in excess, or never so little disordered and misplaced, they disfigure the stuff, andspillthe whole workmanship, taking away all beauty and good liking from it.—Puttenham,Art of English Poesy, b. iii. c. 1.Spillnot the morning, the quintessence of the day, in recreations.—Fuller,Holy State, b. iii. c. 13.

O litel child, alas! what is thi gilt,That never wroughtest synne as yet, parde?Why wil thyn harde fader han thespilt?

O litel child, alas! what is thi gilt,

That never wroughtest synne as yet, parde?

Why wil thyn harde fader han thespilt?

Chaucer,The Man of Lawes Tale.

If the colors ... be not well tempered or not well laid, or be used in excess, or never so little disordered and misplaced, they disfigure the stuff, andspillthe whole workmanship, taking away all beauty and good liking from it.—Puttenham,Art of English Poesy, b. iii. c. 1.

Spillnot the morning, the quintessence of the day, in recreations.—Fuller,Holy State, b. iii. c. 13.

Spinster.A name that was often applied to women of evil life, in that they were set to enforced labour of spinning in the Spittle or House of Correction (it is still called ‘TheSpinningHouse’ atCambridge), and thus were ‘spinsters.’ None of our Dictionaries, so far as I have observed, take note of this use of the word.

Many would never be indictedspinsters, were they spinsters indeed, nor come to so public and shameful punishments, if painfully employed in that vocation.—Fuller,Worthies of England: Kent.Geta.These women are still troublesome;There be houses provided for such wretched women,And some small rents to set ye a spinning.Drusilla.Sir,We are nospinsters, nor, if you look upon us,So wretched as you take us.BeaumontandFletcher,The Prophetess, act iii. sc. 1.

Many would never be indictedspinsters, were they spinsters indeed, nor come to so public and shameful punishments, if painfully employed in that vocation.—Fuller,Worthies of England: Kent.

Geta.These women are still troublesome;There be houses provided for such wretched women,And some small rents to set ye a spinning.Drusilla.Sir,We are nospinsters, nor, if you look upon us,So wretched as you take us.

Geta.These women are still troublesome;There be houses provided for such wretched women,And some small rents to set ye a spinning.

Geta.These women are still troublesome;

There be houses provided for such wretched women,

And some small rents to set ye a spinning.

Drusilla.Sir,We are nospinsters, nor, if you look upon us,So wretched as you take us.

Drusilla.Sir,

We are nospinsters, nor, if you look upon us,

So wretched as you take us.

BeaumontandFletcher,The Prophetess, act iii. sc. 1.

Spruce.The exploits of the Teutonic Knights against the Pruzzi, the stubborn heathen of Lithuania, made Prussia to be very familiar on the lips of men in the later Middle Ages (see Weigand,s. v.Preuszen). This Prussia, Sprutia very often in medieval Latin, appears now as ‘Pruce’ (so in Chaucer), and now as ‘Spruce’ (see Skeat’sDictionary); and in this latter form it survives in oursprucefir, which was brought from Northern Europe, insprucebeer, and inspruce, more vaguely applied to a certain neatness and smartness of outward appearance; one which it is implied had reached us from those quarters.

They were apparelled after the fashion of Prussia orSpruce.—Hall,Chronicle, Henry VIII.Norway in that age, thesprucestof the three kingdoms of Scandia, and best tricked up with shipping, sent her fleet of tall soldiers to Syria.—Fuller,Holy War, b. v. c. 22.

They were apparelled after the fashion of Prussia orSpruce.—Hall,Chronicle, Henry VIII.

Norway in that age, thesprucestof the three kingdoms of Scandia, and best tricked up with shipping, sent her fleet of tall soldiers to Syria.—Fuller,Holy War, b. v. c. 22.

Squander.The examples which follow will show that ‘to squander’ had once, if not a different, yet amuch wider use than it now, at least in our classical English, retains. In the northern dialects it is still used as equivalent to ‘disperse.’

He hath an argosy bound to Tripolis, another to the Indies; ... he hath a third at Mexico, a fourth for England, and other ventures he hath,squanderedabroad.—Shakespeare,Merchant of Venice, act i. sc. 3.The minister is not to come into the pulpit, as a fencer upon the stage, to make a fair flourish against sin, but rather as a captain into the field, to bend his forces specially against the strongest troops of the enemy, and tosquanderand break through the thickest ranks.—Sanderson,Sermon 2, ad Clerum.They charge, recharge, and all along the seaThey chase andsquanderthe huge Belgian fleet.Dryden,Annus Mirabilis, st. 67.

The minister is not to come into the pulpit, as a fencer upon the stage, to make a fair flourish against sin, but rather as a captain into the field, to bend his forces specially against the strongest troops of the enemy, and tosquanderand break through the thickest ranks.—Sanderson,Sermon 2, ad Clerum.

They charge, recharge, and all along the seaThey chase andsquanderthe huge Belgian fleet.

They charge, recharge, and all along the sea

They chase andsquanderthe huge Belgian fleet.

Dryden,Annus Mirabilis, st. 67.

Staple.A curious change has come over this word. We should now say, Cotton is the great ‘staple,’ that is, the established merchandize, of Manchester; our ancestors would have reversed this and said, Manchester is the great ‘staple,’ or established mart, of cotton. We make the goods prepared or sold the ‘staple’ of the place; they made the place the ‘staple’ of the goods. See Cowell,The Interpreter, s. v.

Men in all ages have made themselves merry with singling out some place, and fixing thestapleof stupidity and stolidity therein.—Fuller,Worthies of England: Nottinghamshire.Staple; a city or town, where merchants jointly lay up their commodities for the better uttering of them by the great; a public storehouse.—Phillips,New World of Words.

Men in all ages have made themselves merry with singling out some place, and fixing thestapleof stupidity and stolidity therein.—Fuller,Worthies of England: Nottinghamshire.

Staple; a city or town, where merchants jointly lay up their commodities for the better uttering of them by the great; a public storehouse.—Phillips,New World of Words.

Starve.This word, the O.E. ‘steorfan,’ the German ‘sterben,’ to die, is only by comparativelymodern use restricted to dyingby cold or by hunger; in this restriction of use, resembling the French ‘noyer,’ to killby drowning, while ‘necare,’ from which it descends, is to kill by any manner of death. But innumerable words are thus like rivers, which once pouring their waters through many channels, have now left dry and abandoned them all, save one, or, as in the present instance it happens, save two.

For wele or woo sche wol him not forsake:Sche is not wery him to love and serve,Theigh that he lay bedred til that hesterve.Chaucer,The Marchaundes Tale.But, if for me ye fight, or me will serve,Not this rude kind of battell, nor these armesAre meet, the which doe men in bale tosterve.Spenser,Fairy Queen, ii. 6, 34.

For wele or woo sche wol him not forsake:Sche is not wery him to love and serve,Theigh that he lay bedred til that hesterve.

For wele or woo sche wol him not forsake:

Sche is not wery him to love and serve,

Theigh that he lay bedred til that hesterve.

Chaucer,The Marchaundes Tale.

But, if for me ye fight, or me will serve,Not this rude kind of battell, nor these armesAre meet, the which doe men in bale tosterve.

But, if for me ye fight, or me will serve,

Not this rude kind of battell, nor these armes

Are meet, the which doe men in bale tosterve.

Spenser,Fairy Queen, ii. 6, 34.

State.Used often by our old writers for a raised dais or platform, on which was placed a chair or throne with a canopy (the German ‘Thronhimmel’) above it; being the chiefest seat of honour; thus in Massinger’sBondman, act i. sc. 3, according to the old stage-direction Archidamus ‘offers Timoleon thestate.’ But there is another use of ‘state’ not unfrequent in the seventeenth century, though altogether unknown in our own. A ‘state’ was a republic, as contradistinguished from a monarchy. This usage, which the States of Holland may have contributed to bring about, does not seem to have lasted very long.

But for a canopy to shade her head,Nostatewhich lasts no longer than ’tis stayed,And fastened up by cords and pillars’ aid.Beaumont,Psyche, can. xix. st. 170.Their majesties were seated as is aforesaid under their canopies orstates, whereof that of the Queen was somewhat lesser and lower than that of the King, but both of them exceeding rich.—History of the Coronation of King James II., 1687, p. 61.When he went to court, he used to kick away thestate, and sit down by his prince cheek by jowl. Confound thesestates, says he, they are a modern invention.—Swift,History of John Bull, part ii. c. 1.What say some others? A government ofstateswould do much better for you than a monarchy.—Andrewes,Sermon 6, Of the Gunpowder Treason.Dull subjects see too lateTheir safety in monarchal reign;Finding their freedom in astateIs but proud strutting in a chain.Davenant,The Dream.Those very Jews, who, at their very bestTheir humour more than loyalty expressed,Thought they might ruin him, they could create;Or melt him to a golden calf, astate.Dryden,Absalom and Achitophel, 66.

But for a canopy to shade her head,Nostatewhich lasts no longer than ’tis stayed,And fastened up by cords and pillars’ aid.

But for a canopy to shade her head,

Nostatewhich lasts no longer than ’tis stayed,

And fastened up by cords and pillars’ aid.

Beaumont,Psyche, can. xix. st. 170.

Their majesties were seated as is aforesaid under their canopies orstates, whereof that of the Queen was somewhat lesser and lower than that of the King, but both of them exceeding rich.—History of the Coronation of King James II., 1687, p. 61.

When he went to court, he used to kick away thestate, and sit down by his prince cheek by jowl. Confound thesestates, says he, they are a modern invention.—Swift,History of John Bull, part ii. c. 1.

What say some others? A government ofstateswould do much better for you than a monarchy.—Andrewes,Sermon 6, Of the Gunpowder Treason.

Dull subjects see too lateTheir safety in monarchal reign;Finding their freedom in astateIs but proud strutting in a chain.

Dull subjects see too late

Their safety in monarchal reign;

Finding their freedom in astate

Is but proud strutting in a chain.

Davenant,The Dream.

Those very Jews, who, at their very bestTheir humour more than loyalty expressed,Thought they might ruin him, they could create;Or melt him to a golden calf, astate.

Those very Jews, who, at their very best

Their humour more than loyalty expressed,

Thought they might ruin him, they could create;

Or melt him to a golden calf, astate.

Dryden,Absalom and Achitophel, 66.

Stationer.There was a time when ‘stationer,’ meaning properly no more than one who had hisstation, that is, in the market-place or elsewhere, included the bookseller and the publisher, as well as the dealer in the raw material of books. But when, in the division of labour, these became separate businesses, the name was restrained to him who dealt in the latter articles alone.

Stacyonere, or he that sellythe bokys, stacionarius, bibliopola.—Promptorium.I doubt not but that the Animadverter’sstationerdoth hope and desire that he hath thus pleased people in his book, for the advancing of the price and quickening the sale thereof.—Fuller,Appeal of Injured Innocence, p. 38.The right of the printed copies (which thestationertakes as his own freehold), was dispersed in five or six several hands.—Oley,Preface to Dr. Jackson’s Works.Quarles, Chapman, Heywood, Wither had applause,And Wild, and Ogilby in former days;But now are damned to wrapping drugs and wares,And cursed by all their brokenstationers.Oldham,A Satire.

Stacyonere, or he that sellythe bokys, stacionarius, bibliopola.—Promptorium.

I doubt not but that the Animadverter’sstationerdoth hope and desire that he hath thus pleased people in his book, for the advancing of the price and quickening the sale thereof.—Fuller,Appeal of Injured Innocence, p. 38.

The right of the printed copies (which thestationertakes as his own freehold), was dispersed in five or six several hands.—Oley,Preface to Dr. Jackson’s Works.

Quarles, Chapman, Heywood, Wither had applause,And Wild, and Ogilby in former days;But now are damned to wrapping drugs and wares,And cursed by all their brokenstationers.

Quarles, Chapman, Heywood, Wither had applause,

And Wild, and Ogilby in former days;

But now are damned to wrapping drugs and wares,

And cursed by all their brokenstationers.

Oldham,A Satire.

Now to stand with a certain pertinacity to one’s point, refusing to renounce or go back from it; but formerly to interpose between combatants and separate them, when they had sufficiently satisfied the laws of honour. Our present meaning of the word connects itself with the past in the fact that the ‘sticklers,’ or seconds, as we should call them now, often fulfilled another function, being ready to maintain in their own persons and by their own arms the quarrel of their principals, and thus to ‘stickle’ for it. [The word ‘stickle’ represents the Middle English ‘stightlen,’ to order, arrange; for an interesting account of its cognates see Skeat’sDictionary.]

Istyckyllbetwene wrastellers, or any folkes that prove mastries to se that none do other wronge, or I parte folkes that be redy to fyght.—Palsgrave.Betwixt which three a question grew,Which should the worthiest be;Which violently they pursue,And would notstickledbe.Drayton,Muses’ Elysium, Nymph. 6.The same angel [in Tasso], when half of the Christians are already killed, and all the rest are in a fair way of being routed,sticklesbetwixt the remainders of God’s hosts and the race of fiends; pulls the devils backwards by the tails, and drives them from their quarry.—Dryden,Dedication of Translations from Juvenal, p. 122.In ancient times they were wont to employ third persons assticklers, to see no treachery nor disorder were used, and to bear witness of the combat’s success.—Florio,Montaigne, ii. 27.The dragon wing of night o’erspreads the earth,And,stickler-like, the armies separates.Shakespeare,Troilus and Cressida, act v. sc. 9.Our former chiefs, likesticklersof the war,First fought to inflame the parties, then to poise;The quarrel loved, but did the cause abhor,And did not strike to hurt, but make a noise.Dryden,On the Death of Oliver Cromwell.

Istyckyllbetwene wrastellers, or any folkes that prove mastries to se that none do other wronge, or I parte folkes that be redy to fyght.—Palsgrave.

Betwixt which three a question grew,Which should the worthiest be;Which violently they pursue,And would notstickledbe.

Betwixt which three a question grew,

Which should the worthiest be;

Which violently they pursue,

And would notstickledbe.

Drayton,Muses’ Elysium, Nymph. 6.

The same angel [in Tasso], when half of the Christians are already killed, and all the rest are in a fair way of being routed,sticklesbetwixt the remainders of God’s hosts and the race of fiends; pulls the devils backwards by the tails, and drives them from their quarry.—Dryden,Dedication of Translations from Juvenal, p. 122.

In ancient times they were wont to employ third persons assticklers, to see no treachery nor disorder were used, and to bear witness of the combat’s success.—Florio,Montaigne, ii. 27.

The dragon wing of night o’erspreads the earth,And,stickler-like, the armies separates.

The dragon wing of night o’erspreads the earth,

And,stickler-like, the armies separates.

Shakespeare,Troilus and Cressida, act v. sc. 9.

Our former chiefs, likesticklersof the war,First fought to inflame the parties, then to poise;The quarrel loved, but did the cause abhor,And did not strike to hurt, but make a noise.

Our former chiefs, likesticklersof the war,

First fought to inflame the parties, then to poise;

The quarrel loved, but did the cause abhor,

And did not strike to hurt, but make a noise.

Dryden,On the Death of Oliver Cromwell.

Stomach.Already in classical Latin ‘stomachus’ had all the uses, courage, pride, indignation, ill-will, which ‘stomach’ may be seen in the following quotations to have once possessed, but which at this day have nearly or quite departed from it.

And sence we herde therof oure hert hath failed us, neither is there a goodstomachemore in eny man, by the reasone of youre commynge.—Josh.ii. 11.Coverdale.He was a manOf an unboundedstomach, ever rankingHimself with princes.Shakespeare,Henry VIII., act iv. sc. 2.Arius, discontented that one should be placed before him in honour, whose superior he thought himself in desert, became through envy andstomachprone unto contradiction, and bold to broach that heresy wherein the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ was denied.—Hooker,Ecclesiastical Polity, b. v. § 42.

And sence we herde therof oure hert hath failed us, neither is there a goodstomachemore in eny man, by the reasone of youre commynge.—Josh.ii. 11.Coverdale.

He was a manOf an unboundedstomach, ever rankingHimself with princes.

He was a man

Of an unboundedstomach, ever ranking

Himself with princes.

Shakespeare,Henry VIII., act iv. sc. 2.

Arius, discontented that one should be placed before him in honour, whose superior he thought himself in desert, became through envy andstomachprone unto contradiction, and bold to broach that heresy wherein the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ was denied.—Hooker,Ecclesiastical Polity, b. v. § 42.

[Stout.This word is now generally used in the sense of corpulent, less frequently in the sense of strong, robust. In provincial use ‘stout’ has sometimes the meaning of proud, and this is probably theoriginal meaning of the word. ‘Stout’ is the same word as the Old Frenchestout, bold, proud, which represents a Germanic basestolto-; compare modern Germanstolz, proud (see Kluge,s. v.). In the passages below the word retains its old meaning.]

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