APPENDIX I.

On the Etymology of some Words in the 'Lycidas.'

Rime (1. 11). It is, or ought to be, now generally known that the common spelling of this word (rhyme) owes its origin to a pedantic formation from ῥυθμόν, made by those who claimed for it a Greek derivation, but that it is really the O.E. rim, 'number,' H.G. reim, Dutch rijm, &c., and that the true orthography is rime. Dr. Latham, in his new edition of Johnson's Dictionary, makes it a main ground of objection to this statement, that the Teutonic forms themselves may have been originally connected with ῥυθμόςa question obviously irrelevant to the matter in hand, which is simply to discover how and whence the word first came into our language. Nor is this a difficult task, since the older authorities all combine to prove that it was an English word from the first; for instance, in Havelok, the Ormulum, Shoreham, Hoccleve, and Horn (see Stratmann's Old English Dictionary), the spelling is always rîm or rime. We find indeed in Chaucer, Spenser, &c., a variant form ryme, but this is really of no importance, since i and y were constantly interchanged, as fire and fyre, time and tyme, &c.; and ryme may have been so spelt for the special reason of distinguishing it from rime, 'hoar-frost.' This evidence from the earlier orthography ought to be decisive; nor does an examination of the meaning and uses of the word throw much additional light upon the matter. We know that it was at first a general term for 'verse' (as in the present line), and that after the introduction of blank verse in the 16th century it was applied to 'rhyming' poetry for the sake of distinction. But the general primary sense would be compatible with a derivation from ῥυ μός as well as with one from rîm, since in both words the measured intervals' (numeri) of the verse form the leading idea. I had been unable to discover the exact date of the introduction of the h into the word rhyme, but since writing the first draft of this note my attention has been directed to a letter from Mr. F. J. Furnivall in Notes and Queries, Nov. 29, 1873, in which he cites a line from Daniel in 1595, 'Railing rhymes were sowed,' as the earliest instance of the false mode of spelling. If this be so, the case is complete in favour of rime (or ryme), and no one ought to hesitate about writing the word in one or other of these two ways. Another argument against the derivation from ῥυθμός is the parallel case of the Italian rima, which, like rime, meant poetry in general. Cf. Ariosto, Orl. Fur. I. ii., 'cosa non detta in prosa mai ne in rima,' whence Milton took his line P. L. i. 16. This, Diez truly observes, could never have come from ῥυ μός, though he is wrong when he goes on to say that the Italian equivalent must be 'rimmo' or 'remmo, because, as a matter of fact, it happens to be 'ritmo.' But when H. Wedgwood (Dict. Etym. s. v. Rhyme) objects to the former assertion of Diez on account of the analogy of the French rime from the older form rithme, he seems to overlook an important difference between the two languages in their respective methods of derivation from the Latin. When the original word has two consonants coming together in successive syllables, the Italian either retains the first (changing aspirates to mutes), as in ritmo, atmosfera, &c., or else assimilates it to the second, as in ammirare from admirare, &c. ; while in modern French the former consonant usually disappears with compensation, as in route, soumis, avocat (true French avoué), from rupta, submissus, advocatus. Hence rhythmus would naturally pass through rithme into rime, whereas in Italian it could only produce ritmo (or else rimmo or remmo), but not rimo, still less rima. There is, however, no reason for doubting that both rima and the French rime are cognate with the Teutonic forms rîm, reim, &c., above mentioned.

Guerdon (1.73). The received etymology of this word is the O.H.G. widarlôn, O.E. widerlean, which became in Low Latin widerdonum, by association with donum, 'a gift,' since the word originally meant 'a reward in return for services.' Burguy, in his Grammaire de la Langue d'Oil, gives the various forms gueredon, geredon, werdon, and werredon, also the verbs guerredoner and re-werdoner; and quotes a sentence from the Sermons of S. Bernard, 'Li granz rewerdoneres est venuz,' i.e. 'Le grand rémunérateur est venu.' Another derivation, at first sight very plausible, is given by Ménage, who refers the origin of the word to the Old German Werdung, which took the form. Werdunia in Low Latin, and meant pretii æstimatio. The existence of this latter word is shown by a passage which he quotes from Vossius, De Vitiis Sermonis Latini (B. ii. c. 20), where instances occur both of Werdunia and of a compound Cinewerdunia, which Ducange also gives in his Glossary, though Werdunia itself is not to be found there. The first part of this compound is of doubtful import and derivation. Chevallet has suggested what is really the same etymology, for he derives guerdon from Werd (Modern German Werth), meaning 'price' or 'value;' but this is rejected by Scheler (Dict. d'Etymologie Française, 1863), who pronounces the derivation from widarlôn to be 'audessus de toute contestation.' It is true that guerdon might come from Werdung according to the rule by which the letter w was regularly replaced by g or gu in those Teutonic words which the Franks introduced into Gaul (see Max Müller, Lectures on the Science of Language, 2nd Series, p. 265); but by the same rule it might equally well be derived from widarlôn, and that it was so derived seems to be a well-established historical fact. The really fatal objection to Ménage's theory is the existence of the Italian word guiderdone, which could not possibly have had its origin in Werdung, though it would naturally be produced from widarlôn by the change of w into gu above mentioned. The older spelling guerre-don no doubt arose from the idea that the term had something to do with remuneration for service in war.

Felon (1. 91). The derivation from fell, given in the note, is no doubt the true one. This is probably connected with the Gaelic feall, 'wicked,' for examples of which see H. Wedgwood's Dict. of Etymology, s. v. felon. Du Cange says that 'felo' = 'perfidus,' 'rebellis,' 'crudelis,' &c., from A.S. fell. Chaucer, in the Romaunt of the Rose, takes pains to establish this connexion in the lines'Daunger that is so feloun Felly purposeth thee to werrey, which is full cruel, the sooth to say.' Cf. Lyndsay, Monarchie, 'that felloun flood;' Pope, Odyssey, iv. 712, 'his felon hate.' From this general sense of 'wickedness,' felony became a recognised legal term for the higher class of crimes; and since such were formerly punished by the forfeiture of land and goods, felon was erroneously supposed to be a compound of fee and lon, i.e. the price of a feof or beneficiary estate (Spelman in Blackstone's Commentary). The Italian fello and the French felle, 'cruel,' are doubtless traceable to the same root.

Wanton (1. 136). Authorities differ as to the origin of this word. H. Wedgwood (Dict. of Etymology, s. v.) considers it to be a compound of the O.E. negative prefix wan (as in wan-hope = 'despair') and togen, the past part. of teon (G. ziehen), 'to draw.' Its meaning would therefore be 'untrained,' and hence 'irregular in conduct. This theory is made very probable by the existence of an intermediate form wantowen, of which Wedgwood quotes an instance from a Sermon on Miracle Plays We waxen wantowen or idil.' He also notes the expressions 'untowen,' 'wel itowen,' 'ful itowen,' in the Ancren Riwle, a treatise of the 13th century on the Rules of Monastic Life. But the meaning of the last word is not, as he gives it, 'fully educated, but 'undisciplined' or 'illeducated,' from the O.E. ful = 'foul.' (See the Ancren Riwle, edited by the Rev. J. Morton for the Camden Society, pp. 108, 140, 244, 368.) An alternative derivation is that given by Webster and others, from a Welsh adjective gwantan, 'roving,' 'fickle,' which is referred to the verb gwanta, 'to separate' (probably cognate with chwant, 'lust,' Greek χαίνω, Lat. hi-o, hisco, &c.). The precise similarity both in form and meaning between gwantan and wanton would no doubt go very far towards establishing a common origin; we cannot, however, certainly say which is the older of the two, and there is a bare possibility that the Welsh may have borrowed the word from our language. But supposing that gwantan was the earlier form, and that from it wanton was derived, its resemblance to the real English word wantowen might very well give rise to the theory which Wedgwood adopts, especially if at any time after its introduction wanton got to be spelt wantoun or wantown. All this, however, is purely hypothetical; the existence of a form wan-togen would, if proved, be almost conclusive in favour of the first-named derivation. We may observe that Edward Müller in his Etymologisches Wörterbuch der englischen Sprache (1867), accepts the theory propounded by Webster.

Herse (1. 151). This word was employed in three distinct senses, of which the last now alone remains in use. These are (1) the funeral monument (Spenser, F. Q. II. viii. 16); (2) the coffin, as in Shaksp. I K. Henry VI. i. 1, where 'a wooden coffin' is presently spoken of as 'King Henry's hearse; (3) the funeral carriage. Richardson, wrongly supposing this last to be the primary meaning, derives the word from the O.E. hyrstan, 'to decorate' (see also Horne Tooke's Diversions of Purley). It really comes from the French herce, Low Latin hercia (herpex), 'a harrow' (Ducange, Glossary, s. v.), and originally meant a triangular frame for candles, placed at the head of the corpse. Thus