Our knowledge of the northern literature is se scanty, that of words undoubtedly Teutonick, the original is not always to be found in any ancient language; and I have therefore inserted Dutch or German substitutes, which I consider not as

BANISH, religare, ex banno vel territorio exigere in exilium agere. G. bannir. It. bandire, bandeggiare. H. bandir. B. bannen. Ævi medii scriptores bannire dicebant. V. Spelni. in Bannum & in Banleuga. Quoniam verò regionum urbiumq; limites arduis plerumq; montibus, altis fluminibus, longis deniq; flexuosisq; angustiffimarum viarum amfractibus includebantur, fieri potest id genus limites ban dici ab eo quod Βαννάται & Βάννατρος Tarenti nis olim, sicuti tradit Hesychius, vocabantur ei λožòı xai più ¡durevsïs ödor,“ obliquæ ac minimè in rectum tendentes viæ." Ac fortasse quoque huc facit quod Baves, eodem Hesychio teste, dicebant ögn sgayyan montes arduos.

EMPTY, emtie, vacuus, inanis. A. S. Emzig Nesció an sint ab ἐμέω vel εμεζαίω. Vomo, evomo, vomitu evacuo. Videtur interim etymologiam hane non obscurè firmare codex Rush. Mat. xii. 22. ubi antiquè scriptum invenimus gemoezed hiz emerig. "Invenit eam va

cantem.'

HILL, mons collis. A. S. hyll. Quod videri potest abscissum ex κολώνη vel κολωνός. Collis, tumulus, locus in plano editior. Hom. II. b. v. 811. es de ris xeorágaits πόλεος ἀιπεῖα κολώνη. Ubi authori brevium scholiorum κολώνη exp. τόπος εις ύψος ἀνήκων, γεώλοφος ἐξοχή. NAP, to take a nap. Dormire, condormiscere. Cym. heppian. A. S. hnæppan. Quod postremum videri potest desumptum ex xvepas obscuritas, tenebræ nihil enim æque solet conciliare somnum, quàm caliginosa profunda noctis obscuritas.

STAMMERER, Balbus, blæsus. Goth. STAMMS. A. S. rzamen szanup. D. stam. B. stameler. Su. stamma. Isl. stamr. Sunt a σωμυλειν vel σωμύλλειν, nimia loquacitate alios offendere; quod impeditè loquentes libentissimè garrire soleant; vel quòd aliis nimii semper videantur, etiam parcissimè loquentes.

radical, but parallel, not as the parents, but sisters of the English.

The words which are represented as thus related by descent or cognation, do not always agree in sense; for it is incident to words, as to their authors, to degenerate from their ancestors, and to change their manners when they change their country. It is sufficient, in etymological enquiries, if the senses of kindred words be found such as may easily pass into each other, or such as may both be referred to one general idea.

The etymology, so far as it is yet known, was easily found in the volumes, where it is particularly and professedly delivered; and, by proper attention to the rules of derivation, the orthography was soon adjusted. But to collect the Words of our language was a task of greater difficulty: the deficiency of dictionaries was immediately apparent; and when they were exhausted, what was yet wanting must be sought by fortuitous and unguided excursions into books, and gleaned as industry should find, or chance should offer it, in the boundless chaos of a living speech. My search, however, has been either skilful or lucky; for I have much augmented the vocabulary.

As my design was a dictionary, common or appellative, I have omitted all words which have relation to proper names; such as Arian, Socinian, Calvinist, Benedictine, Mahometan; but have retained those of a more general nature, as Heathen, Pagan.

Of the terms of art I have received such as could be found either in books of science or tech

nical dictionaries; and have' often inserted, from philosophical writers, words which are supported perhaps only by a single authority, and which, being not admitted into general use, stand yet as candidates or probationers, and must depend for their adoption on the suffrage of futurity.

The words which our authors have introduced by their knowledge of foreign languages, or ignorance of their own, by vanity or wantonness, by compliance with fashion or lust of innovation, I have registered as they occurred, though commonly only to censure them, and warn others against the folly of naturalizing useless foreigners to the injury of the natives.

I have not rejected any by design, merely because they were unnecessary or exuberant; but have received those which by different writers have been differently formed, as viscid, and viscidity, viscous, and viscosity.

Compounded or double words I have seldom noted, except when they obtain a signification. different from that which the components have in their simple state. Thus highwayman, woodman, and horsecourser, require an explanation; but of thieflike, or coachdriver, no notice was needed, because the primitives contain the meaning of the compounds.

Words arbitrarily formed by a constant and settled analogy, like diminutive adjectives in ish, as greenish, bluish; adverbs in ly, as dully, openly; substantives in ness, as vileness; faultiness; were less diligently sought, and many sometimes have been omitted, when I had no authority that invited me to insert them; not that they are not

genuine and regular offsprings of English roots, but because their relation to the primitive being always the same, their signification cannot be mistaken.

The verbal nouns in ing, such as the keeping of the castle, the leading of the army, are always neglected, or placed only to illustrate the sense of the verb, except when they signify things as well as actions, and have therefore a plural number, dwelling, living; or have an absolute and abstract signification, as colouring, painting, learning.

as

The participles are likewise omitted, unless, by signifying rather habit or quality than action, they take the nature of adjectives; as a thinking man, a man of prudence; a pacing horse, a horse that can pace: these I have ventured to call participal adjectives. But neither are these always inserted, because they are commonly to be understood without any danger of mistake, by consulting the verb.

Obsolete words are admitted when they are found in authors not obsolete, or when they have any force or beauty that may deserve revival.

As composition is one of the chief characteristicks of a language, I have endeavoured to make some reparation for the universal negligence of my predecessors, by inserting great numbers of compounded words, as may be found under after, fore, new, night, fair, and many more. These, numerous as they are, might be multiplied, but that use and curiosity are here satisfied, and the frame of our language and modes of our combination amply discovered.

Of some forms of composition, such as that by

which re is prefixed to note repetition, and un to signify contrariety or privation, all the examples. cannot be accumulated, because the use of these particles, if not wholly arbitrary, is so little limited, that they are hourly affixed to new words as occasion requires, or is imagined to require them.

There is another kind of composition more frequently in our language than perhaps in any other, from which arises to foreigners the greatest difficulty. We modify the signification of many verbs by a particle subjoined; as to come off, to escape by a fetch; to fall on, to attack; to fall off, to apostatize; to break off, to stop abruptly; to bear out, to justify; to fall in, to comply; to give over, to cease; to set off, to embellish; to set in, to begin a continual tenour; to set out, to begin a course or journey; to take off, to copy; with innumerable expressions of the same kind, of which some appear wildly irregular, being so far distant from the sense of the simple words, that no sagacity will be able to trace the steps by which they arrived at the present use. These I have noted with great care; and though I cannot flatter myself that the collection is complete, I believe I have so far assisted the students of our language, that this kind of phraseology will be no longer insuperable; and the combinations of verbs and particles, by chance omitted, will be easily explained by comparison with those that may be found.

Many words yet stand supported only by the name of Bailey, Ainsworth, Philips, or the contracted Dict. for Dictionaries subjoined; of these