TO BLEED.

Te belijden; q.e. to let out, to bring out, to conduct, to lead out, to draw out, to pass out, to carry out, to part from, to go from, as used in either an active or deponent sense. The word has no relation to blood, as usually supposed, a bit more than to any other matter. We say, to bleed a man's pocket or purse, in the sense of to draw from or out of a man's pocket or purse. He bleeds freely, is, he parts with what is his freely. He bleeds at the nose, is, he lets out at the nose. To bleed a horse, is, to draw or let out from a horse. In one case his means or money is inferred, in the other his or its blood, by the nature of that which the expressions tend to when used. Te belijden sounds to bleed, when the infinitive termination en is dropped, as in our present form of dialect: ij sounding ee. Belijden has also the meaning of to confess, and of to take confession, and is then to let out and to draw out, as is done when any one makes or takes confession. From lijden, to pass on, to go by, we have our to lead, still used by the Scotch in the sense of to carry out or draw. To lead dung into the field, is the phrase in Scotland for to carry out or draw out dung into the field. Lead makes led

in the past participle, and bleed makes bled. To lead a horse, is, to pass him on; to lead a bad life, is to carry on a bad life. Belijden as above explained is as the completive be and lijden, to pass on or by, to carry on or out, to draw.

BLIND.

As the Dutch blind, blend, in the same sense; and grounded in the thema li, lie, lio, lu, light, as noticed in a preceding article: and blind seems to be as the participle present of be-li-en in the import of belight, to light, and thus as belighting [lighting powerfully] and so overpowering sight for

VOL. II.

Τ

period, and during that period causing blindness [extinction of vision]. Don't we say, the light was so powerful that it put my eyes out?-and does not a flash of lightning overpower the sight [blind one] for a moment? And blind is not as a continued state of cecity, but as cecity indefinitely felt and expressed. Our to blend, as well as the French blanc white] and the Italian bianco, belong here; but of this elsewhere.

LOVE APPLE.

I

As the well-known fruit the Spanish tomata. take it to be the translation of its French appellation pomme d'amour, and that to be a sound travesty of the Italian pomo d'oro, the name by which this fruit is known in Italy. Why the fruit should be called pomo d'oro, q. e. golden apple, is evident; but for why it should be called pomme d'amour, q. e. love apple, we have no rational foundation than that of some accidental corruption and consequent misrepresentation of the true term for it.

BLOOD.

an

In Dutch bloed, is the same word, in point of source, as flood, in Dutch vloed, from vloeden, vloeien, to flow; and thus as that which flows [runs] throughout the channels of the living body; the thema of vloeien is vlo-en, to flow, to go on. Blood and blade, in the sense of a vain man, ostentatious pretender to courage or bravery, are one word; and grounded in vla-en, in the import of to strip, to flay, to divest, to bare; whence the old Dutch term blaut, the modern bloot [naked, bare], as well as bloo, blooe, blood, worthless, inefficient, trumpery, as that which is bare of, or deficient in the due qualities belonging to its sort; so that a blood and a blade are a same term for a worthless person, one who with the over-strained

pretensions to valour and worth has, in fact, none of either in him. Our to fly, to flee, fleet, to float, flight [formerly flyte, in Dutch vlugt], &c., evidently belong here. Vli-en, vla-en, vlo-en, are

one thema.

"You'll find yourself mistaken, Sir, if you'll take upon you to judge of these BLADES by their garbs, looks, and outward appearance."-L'ESTRANGE.

"The news put divers young BLOODS into such a fury, as the ambassadors were not, without peril, to be outraged.'

BREAST.

BACON.

In German brust; in both forms the metathesis of the Dutch barst, borst, in the same sense; and either as the præterite of borren, to bubble up, to boil up, as water from a spring; and thus as that which is swoln up, raised up, swelled out; or else grounded immediately in the thema ro-en, to rise, to mount, to become higher.

BEER.

The Dutch bier [properly bier ;] q. e. foamer, fermenter, blower. Bien, is to blow up or send up froth [bubbles], to form scum or froth. So that beer is as fermenting liquor; or that which becomes fit for use by passing through a state of fermentation.

BEE.

The same word with the Dutch bije, bie, in the same sense, and the ellipsis of bie-vlieg; q. e. piercing-fly, and thus fly with a sting or prickle; bie being as the participle present of bi-en, pi-en, to prick, to pierce, to sting, and also to suck or sip, and thus including the characteristics of to prick and to sip or suck, as those which principally distinguish the fly or insect called bee.

FIDDLE.

The Dutch vedel, veel, a corruption of the Italian viola, grounded in the Dutch viool, fiool, the GræcoLatin phiala, a flask or bottle with a double belly [of which the hour-glass gives no unapt idea in point of shape], and which bottle is still used in some parts of the continent, especially for the Hungarian wines. It is, in fact, a bottle considerably contracted about the middle, and bellying out at the upper, but more manifestly at the lower portion; of which characteristic form the violin or fiddle is in a conspicuous degree its representative, and from which this has in course of time acquired its denomination.

BEAST.

As the Dutch beest, originally a feminine noun; grounded in be-en, to be, whence the Dutch ik ben, I am, I be, which be was formerly spelt by us ben, as with the Dutch. In the above gender the term simply implied a being, a creature. But in the neuter gender, in which the word is now used, viz. het beest [the beast] it is the representative of a collective sense, and as if it were gebeest [the beast kind or race], just as gedierte means the animal race; while dier implies singly animal, creature. The prefix ge of the Dutch is a collective or combining preposition, and answers to the Latin cum, con, co, in composition, as has been before said. Beest retains the feminine gender only in the phrase de beest spelen, to act or behave like a beast, to storm, to rave, as a being without reason. So that beast is as one endowed with mere existence, and no more, and thus impliedly exclusive of all other qualification. JOHNSON derives the word from the French bête, as the Latin bestia; but bestia is no other than beest with the Latin feminine termination.

"Remembrest thou that thou ar'te a man? B. Why shulde I not remembre that [quoth I]? P. Mayst thou not tell me than [quoth she] what thing is man? Askest thou not me [quoth I] whether that I be a resonable mortall BEST*? I wote well and confesse that I am it."-CHAUCER.

BRED.

Educated, prepared by instruction, made ready; as when we say, he is a well-bred man, and mean, he is as one well instructed in the duties which befit his station in society; one properly prepared for social intercourse; of which phrase an ill-bred man is the reverse. Wie hel bereed; q. e. as one thoroughly prepared [made ready, instructed, trained]. The term is referred by JOHNSON to the verb to breed, but falsely and absurdly. To breed, is to generate, to procreate, to produce from self; and will the being well generated or procreated, make any one aware of that which is implied by the phrase a well-bred man? Will the being generated or procreated in any way, or by any person, make a man that which is meant by well-bred? Reason and experience belie such source for the term; but which is duly accounted by that above given. To breed up young persons, the tutor or schoolmaster does, is not to generate them, but to educate them; and to breed is, then, as te bereeden, to prepare [educate]. He was bred up a tailor, is not he was generated, or procreated, a tailor; but, he was educated [made ready] to be a tailor. A well-bred horse is a duly trained [prepared] horse. When a person is entrusted with the breeding of your children, it is not the generating them, but the preparing or educating them, that is entrusted to him. Good breeding is good education [preparation] not good generating. Bereed, the participle past of bereeden, to make ready, to

as

* Beast, being; and thus as we should now say, a mortal being endowed with reason.