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one root. Sherd, shred, shore, shire, are other effluents from this 

 same stem. So also the word *' sheriff,'' that is, shire-graf,'^ or shire- 

 gerefa, the initial guttural being dropt, as less consonant with the 

 genius of our language, just as we say " like" for the German "^-leich," 

 "luck" for "</ -luck," and "y-clept" for "^fd-clept." In some parts of 

 England they speak not only of " sheriffs,'' or shire-reeves, but also of 

 borough-reeves, forest-reeves, turnpike-reeves, port-reeves, and bridge-reeves, 

 denoting by these terms the persons who take charge of these places. 

 From the other form, '' sceadan," to divide, we have one English 

 word ''scatter," and also the term ''watershed." Thus the word 

 Science involves the idea of separating or distinguishing. 



And this is not the only remarkable instance of the analogy between 

 knowing and discerning. The same idea lies at the root of the term 

 '* Wisdiom.." The numerous class of words, such as '* Wit," " Wot," 

 " Wise," which flow from the Saxon " Witan," to know, are closely 

 connected with " Widoiv," a woman separated by death from her 

 husband, as videref is with vidua, which signifies not merely what we 

 call a widow, but a woman separated from her husband by any circum- 

 stances, and is even applied to an unmarried woman living alone, the 

 "vid" being exactly the same as that in " diivideie," to separate into 

 two different parts. The same idea is also latent in another class of 

 words signifying knowledge, such as Dis-cern-ment, Dis-cri-mination, 

 Dis-cre-tion, Cri-ticism, and others, all flowing from the Latin Cer-no, or 

 its Greek form Kpiv^, having a primary signification " to sift," and a 

 secondary " to judge." Thus the term KpirriQ Critic, means " the sifter" 

 or "judge," and Cri-men the sifting or trial, and disc^rno is exactly the 

 same as dividere. 



One more instimce of this connexion between dividing and knowing, J 

 we have in the Latin " putare," which originally meant to "cut" or 



* The term " graf, (probably connected with the Saxon " reafan," to sieze,) is retained by 

 us in the words " raar-^raye," " land-grave," &c. In the north of England also, the super- 

 intendent of a coal-pit is called a " grieve." The terras " reeve," " earl," and •' count," are 

 respectively the Saxon, Danish, and Norman expressions for the same title. 



+ The vi in ri-dere is really another form of duo, two, and is found in its original sense in 

 «i-ginti (i.e. two tens,) and in a bad sense in ve-jov, t'C-cors — t't'-(he)-mens, re-sanus, and 

 t^e-grandis. Thus ri-dere is literally " to divide into two parts, for the sake of seeing clearly." 

 The analogy between vidua and widere, is precisely similar to that between wi-dow and the 

 Saxon wi-tan. 



t We may also notice the similarity between the Greek verbs Sarivai to know, and 

 dail^tiv to divide, and compare the words ^idaxt], discere, and docere. The same species 

 of metaphors finds a place in our use of the words " acute,' " sharp," " keeu," &c. Another 

 curious analogy is found in the connexion of the terms for an eye, acies, oculus, and tlie 

 German auge with a root signifying sharp (Lat, ac, Grk. ok in o^vg). Our own word " eye" 

 is formed from the German auye, by the common interchange of y and g, seen in Da^ from 

 Ta^, Way from Wejr, Say from Saj/en,&c. 



