80 Rev. Mr Witutams on the Force of the prefix Ve or Ve 
etymologist is enabled to discover the first meaning of a word, 
and they are to him what an ewperimentum crucis is to the natu- 
ral philosopher. This Varronian interpretation will justify us in 
translating Juvenat’s “ vetula vesica beat” a rich old lady’s 
purse. 
Vespa, a wasp, literally a small conz or cgaZ*. ARISTOTLE, 
in his description of ¢yxe¢, says: “ There are two kinds of Yonxes : 
of these the wild ones are scarce, larger, longer, and more darkly 
coloured than the others, also variegated, all having stings, and 
being very fierce. A wound inflicted by them is more painful 
than that inflicted by the others, as their sting is proportionally 
larger.” This kind is evidently our hornet, which the Latins 
called crabrones. AnristoTLe then proceeds to describe the 
smaller species, which he calls jmege/ego, more familiar with man, 
which is undoubtedly our wasp, vesphaa, softened into vespa. 
Vesperus, and vesperugo, both the evening star and evening- 
tide, literally the time when objects become indistinct, as the 
night is coming on+. No etymologist whose works have been 
read by me, has attempted an explanation of this important 
word. They have been satisfied with referring us to the Greek 
zomegoc, aS if the Greek were not the same word, deprived of 
the digamma. What could have induced the Greeks to carry 
their hostility to this and other letters, is a difficult question. 
But it is certain that they did so, even in cases where it was ne- 
et potius marsupium domini exinaniunt quam implent.".—De Re Rust. lib. iii. 
cap. 17. 
* sont, from cPué or derPak, cut in two, corresponding with the Latin Jnsecta.— 
De Animalibus, lib. ix. cap. 28. 
+ Specio, specere, spes, spero, old German, spehan, English, spy, Ital. sprare, 
Span. espiar, French, espier, and many other forms, all signify fo see. Even the 
Scottish spaewif? corresponds with the old English word seer. 
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