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THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



ON THE SPELLING OF EUONYMUS. 



BY CHARLES RICE. 



Some time ago the writer was asked 

 to give his views regarding the proper 

 spelling of botanical names beginning 

 with "Eu" before a vowel, such as 

 Euonymics, in which some authorities 

 spell the first syllable "Ev" {Eiwiymus) . 

 It was not considered worth while at that 

 time to preserve a copy of the reply, but, 

 at the suggestion of the Editor of this 

 JouRNAiv, the substance of the reply is 

 here reproduced in a somewhat extended 

 form. 



The syllable "eu" is the Greek prefix 

 eu, the stem of the adjective ei'/s and of 

 the adverb eii, meaning "good." When 

 this forms the first part of a compound, 

 the second part of which begins with a 

 vowel, it is pronounced in modern Greek 

 like the first syllable of the English word, 

 "evening," and some of the modern 

 Romanic languages, in order to preserve 

 this pronounciation, employ the spelling 

 "ev," for instance, "evonimo," Italian 

 for "Euonymus." We have reason to 

 believe, however, that the syllable eii 

 was pronounced as a dipthong, or rather 

 as two distinct vowels, by the ancient 

 Greeks as well as by the Romans, pro- 

 bably somewhat like the Spanish "eu" 

 in "Europa". 



The Romans originally had but o?ie 

 sign or letter for both the vowel 71 and 

 the consonant v, namely : V. Eater on 

 the form U was used. In the oldest ex- 

 isting manuscripts both forms occur, 

 often with slight variations in shape, ac- 

 cording to the custom of the time, or the 

 country of the writer. In some manu- 

 scripts both forms occur promiscuously, 

 either for the vowel 21, or for the conson- 

 ant V. W^ith the art of printing, the 

 choice of the forms U (u) or V (v) appears 

 to have been left mainly to the discretion 

 or convenience of the compositor. We 

 find this already in the earliest printed 

 books, for instance, in Gutenberg's 42- 



line bible (ab. 1455), Schoefier's Psalter 

 (1457), etc., and for a long time after- 

 wards. Thus we may meet, for example, 

 the word "vivus" (alive) spelled in any 

 of the following ways, even in one and 

 the same work : vivus, uivus, uiuvSv 

 viuus, viuvs, vivvs, uiuus, etc. 



The particular word which caused the 

 present inquiry was Euonymus. This is the 

 OxQ.&k.eudiiyinos derived from eu "good" 

 and onyma (aeolic form for ono7na,)' 

 "name," meaning "of good repute." 

 Tournefort supposes this appellative to be 

 meant ironically, since the plant is really 

 injurious to animals. But this is a doubtful 

 interpretation. Theophrastus (died 285 

 before Christ) already has the word as an 

 adjective to denote the common European 

 spindle-tree {to eudnymon dendrou,-pro\iQr~ 

 ly "the well-reputed tree"). The works 

 of botanists and herbalists printed in the 

 15th, i6th, and 17th centuries show both 

 spellings, "iS'z^c^zywz^.y" and "'Evonymns,'"' 

 promiscuously. For instance, in the 

 Historia Generalis Piantariim complied 

 for and published by Guil. Rovillius (2 

 vols. fol. Eugduni, 1587), the shrub is 

 described in Vol. I, pg, 370. In the title 

 it is printed "Evonymus," but in the 

 text of the article "Euonymus." Bauhi- 

 nus in his Pinax Theatri Botanici, pg. 

 288, or at least his printer, also used 

 both forms promiscuously. The author- 

 ity from which Einne (in his Systema 

 Naturce ed. I, 1735), took the name, is 

 Tournefort' s histitutiones Rei Herbarice 

 (1716; pg. 617). In this work it is spell- 

 ed "Evonymus)" even in quotations from 

 works where the spelling "Euonymus" 

 occurs, and Einne adopted Tournefort's 

 spelling. But in Linne's first special 

 botanical work, the Hortus Cliffordianus^ 

 (1737; see, however, regarding the date, 

 O. Kuntze, Revisio ^'lQ.,^^'g. CXXXIV), 

 we find it spelled "Euonymus," and this 

 work has been accepted as authority for 

 this form of the word by the Index 



