HOUSHHOLD WORDS: THEIR ETYMOLOGY. 



JAMES DAVIE BUTLEE, LL. D. 



All men are born etvmolo<?ists. One of tlie Mainmoth Cave 



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traditions points this way. When the guide exliibits stalactites 

 and visitors ask why he calls those stone icicles by that name 

 he is said to answer, "Because thev stav there tiffht," and re- 

 garding the counter concretions built up from drops which have 

 fallen on the floor he will say, "These we call stalagmites be- 

 cause they might stay but did not." This tradition has some 

 grain of truth. I was telling it long ago to the negro who led 

 me through the wondrous cavern just where a stalactite from 

 above and a stalagmite from below had blended in a sturdy pil- 

 lar. Pointing to this curious creation my mentor said, "Here 

 is something which I shall call a stay-mighty-tight." I could 

 not enough admire this brand-new and new-born vocable which 

 has no doubt done yeoman service ever since. It proves that 

 wherever there is a folk there will be folk etymology. 



The present paper will not trj^ to set forth the varied phases 

 of etymology whether popular or scientific. Xor will it deal 

 W'ith principles, rules, and classes of change as shovvn in 

 Grimm's law, or in the treatises of Max jMiiller, Skeat, and 

 divers x\:nierican philologists. My purpose is merely to present 

 specimens of every-day words concerning the origin of which 

 there is now a general agreement. Brevity also obliges me 

 to be content with a fraction of that limited vocabulary. Hence 

 my range extends no further than what I term household words 

 and to a small section of these, mainly those whose etymologic-al 

 meaning was long hid from my own eyes. 



The atoms which it is my task to combine are chaotic, and 

 my fear is that in twisting this rope of sand I shall throw dust 

 in the eyes of all around me. 



