in the Composition of Nouns and Adjectives. 81 
cessary (we might think) to the very essence of the word. Thus, 
the Greek «xoo:, Latin viginti, Bol. Bizar1, lost the letter which 
gave it any signification ;—as if we were to drop the first two 
letters of twenty (twain-tig), and pronounce the word “ enty.” 
A similar accident seems to have befallen the Greek eazegos. The 
oldest Latin form appears to have been vesperugo, as in PLautus, 
« Nec jucule, neque Vesperugo, nec vergilize occidunt.” 
gue, 9 
And that this was its common name, even in the Augustan age, 
is evident from the following passage of Virruvius, an author 
notorious for his attachment to the vulgar tongue: “ The star 
of Venus appearing in the sky after sunset is called Vesperugo : 
at other times, when it precedes the sun, and. rises before day- 
break, it is called Lucifer *.” As it was, therefore, when acting 
as the harbinger of light, called Pacgogos and Lucifer, it may be 
fairly inferred that its name, whilst acting as a precursor of dark- 
ness, should have something of an appropriate signification. In 
ve and sperugo we have such a meaning. For sperugo may well 
be derived from the old verb specere to see, used by augurs even 
in Varro’s time, as in the expression “ specere avem,” to view a 
bird. Specio became obsolete at an early period, being super- 
seded by its own frequentative specto. It left, however, innu- 
merable traces of its former existence in all the languages of 
western Europe. Even spes and spero, with their numerous 
progeny, are derived from specio. For spes signifies a looking 
forward ; nor could Cicero himself give a better definition of 
spes, than by using a compound noun of specto: “ Si spes sit ex- 
pectatio boni.” “If hope be the looking out for some advan- 
tage.” Even the difference of the quantity between the e of 
spero and that of vesperus, presents no difficulty. For (without 
adverting to the cognate word prosperus), in the two words spe- 
cula, a watch-tower, derived immediately from specio, and specula, 
* Lib. ix. cap. 4. 
VOL. XIII. PART I. soy 
