GERMAN EPIGE The Translations are said to be THE REPOSE OF You wish for age, and yet Many have died in Some folks ther Yet always 'Tis quite a Yet they Mar DF AGE. aper you noticed into the word pass, that passes, i.e. suffers ge. Etymology is very this respect. People are rigin and primitive sense of in common use. A work, whom no one would suspect pen, I mean the infarecently fallen into my hands, employed his The way to things by words, and to Paul of the I believe, short extract being a sketch of an attempt at ancient Celtic." A more learned very rarely to be met with, I from it. ingenious book has rarely appeared; and as for the entertainment of your readers, make "Oyez, oyez, oyez-The Proclamation in a justice. Oy, Ey, is. Now is justice. hear, but signifies, this is the time appointed for Court of Justice is not from the Norman oyez, Parliament A Meeting or Assembly in order to pass laws. A Legislative Convention. Par-ley-mot*. Parliament, in the sense it is In the certainty that Ey had, among a number of other significaCeltic paragogic makes it Ley Leyt: thence we have our Courtvariations Law, Lex, Loi, and in Italian Legge. The common tions, that of Law; the added prepositive L makes it Ley, and with Leer, which is strictly a Court of Law; it is the radical to the Lit de lost to them, the sense of this word is, among others, now out of Justice of the French, whose ancient language being obliterated or ench, is palpably nonsense. ats to the times preceding Comans, who abrogated that as afterwards restored by our nt degrees at different periods. com-mot was an assembly of the whole of all the inhabitants of a district, con> deliberate on the public affairs, and to laws, which were thence called the Malmu e Laws, and not from an imaginary Malmutius, no more than the Martian Laws were from one Martius; it should be Campus Martius, the same, as the Mallom-mot, or Shire-gernot. On the indiction of such a National Assembly, it was the custom to sacrifice, without mercy, the person who appeared at it, the last; which was done as a terror to the tardy, and a warning to obey the summons. Thence came the expression of having the Mell, or being immolated; thence the vulgar proverb of the Evil (spirit i. e. D'evil*) take the hindmost. This severity was, however, at length softened to a defamatory punishment, which was, in the face of the assembly to carry a dog, and to kiss his posteriors. This shame was held little inferior to death itself. Thence memory; thence that barbarous pleonasm tenir un lit de Justice, to hold a Law of Justice. Holding a Bed of Justice is still more ridiculous, unless for her to take a nap on it. * Devil from Alaßoλes, is absolutely not even a Greek word: for surely to derive it from daßoλn, Calumny, as Dr. South and others have done, is an inadmissible violence to the sense. Calumny is undoubtedly part of the Devil's character, but would hardly give him the name. Devil is a contraction of the two primitive words The and Evil, D'evil; D being notoriously often used for Th. It is antithetical to the word God, which is itself a contraction of Good. THE MALLOM-MOT; OR, UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE. MR. EDITOR-In a late Paper you noticed the corruption that has crept into the word pass, it being, in fact, the culprit that passes, i.e. suffers sentence, and not the Judge. Etymology is very curious and amusing in this respect. People are little aware of the origin and primitive sense of numberless words in common use. A work, written by a man, whom no one would suspect of having so employed his pen, I mean the infamous Cleland, has recently fallen into my hands, entitled, "The way to things by words, and to words by things, being a sketch of an attempt at the retrieval of the ancient Celtic." A more learned and ingenious book has rarely appeared; and as it is, I believe, very rarely to be met with, I shall, for the entertainment of your readers, make a short extract from it. "Oyez, oyez, oyez-The Proclamation in a Court of Justice is not from the Norman oyez, hear, but signifies, this is the time appointed for justice. Oy, Ey, is. Now is justice. "Parliament-A Meeting or Assembly in order to pass laws. A Legislative Convention. Par-ley-mot*. Parliament, in the sense it is * In the certainty that Ey had, among a number of other significations, that of Law; the added prepositive Z makes it Ley, and with variations Law, Lex, Loi, and in Italian Legge. The common Celtic paragogic t makes it Ley Leyt: thence we have our Courtleet, which is strictly a Court of Law; it is the radical to the Lit de Justice of the French, whose ancient language being obliterated or lost to them, the sense of this word is, among others, now out of derived from the French, is palpably nonsense. Our Parliament remounts to the times preceding the invasion of the Romans, who abrogated that custom, which was afterwards restored by our kings, in different degrees at different periods. "The Mallom-mot was an assembly of the whole nation, or of all the inhabitants of a district, convened to deliberate on the public affairs, and to pass laws, which were thence called the Malmu tine Laws, and not from an imaginary Malmutius, no more than the Martian Laws were from one Martius; it should be Campus Martius, the same, as the Mallom-mot, or Shire-gernot. On the indiction of such a National Assembly, it was the custom to sacrifice, without mercy, the person who appeared at it, the last; which was done as a terror to the tardy, and a warning to obey the summons. Thence came the expression of having the Mell, or being immolated; thence the vulgar proverb of the Evil (spirit i. e. D'evil*) take the hindmost. This severity was, however, at length softened to a defamatory punishment, which was, in the face of the assembly to carry a dog, and to kiss his posteriors. This shame was held little inferior to death itself. Thence memory; thence that barbarous pleonasm tenir un lit de Justice, to hold a Law of Justice. Holding a Bed of Justice is still more ridiculous, unless for her to take a nap on it. * Devil from Alaßoλes, is absolutely not even a Greek word: for surely to derive it from daßon, Calumny, as Dr. South and others have done, is an inadmissible violence to the sense. Calumny is undoubtedly part of the Devil's character, but would hardly give him the name. Devil is a contraction of the two primitive words The and Evil, D'evil; D being notoriously often used for Th. It is antithetical to the word God, which is itself a contraction of Good. that low expression lag last, &c. Thence the Dutch term of contumely Hounds foot, allusively to having been the footstool to a dogHound. Thence the French have their word honte to express shame: Thence the Italian word Vergogna — Fercagna carrying a dog. This custom of carrying the dog was especially inflicted on traitors, whose crime was not absolutely capital, and existed in Germany till very lately. There are traces of this custom to this day in Poland. "However the Mallom-mot entirely ceasing, the Parley-mot was probably found more convenient than such a tumultuary assembly*, and took place of it." P. 28-29, ETYMON. Chronicle. * This assembly was on the Commons either adjacent to the Caër (Town), or appropriated to that purpose by the people. Whether the Commons, as representatives of the nation, did not rather take their name from this meeting on the Commons, than from the Commonalty, a word in some measure derogatory from the supreme authority of such a meeting, I leave to the reader to judge; but the Common, or spot of ground itself, which undoubtedly derived its name from the Meeting or Community of Mallom or Mallow, was so invio、lably privileged, as never to be inclosed or cultivated as private property. Thence the word mallow became generalized and applied to grounds that lay unsown. The m, in the ancient British deflecting into ƒ, gave the word fallow. ON THE SUCCESS OF "THE HYPOCRITE" LAST THE friends of theatricals hail with much glee, Post. |