( 433 ) 



The sl;ii'iiii,i;-|)oiii( is ibriiKMl hy llu; coiisideralioii, that, for the sake 

 of clearness, diJiereut iiotiuiis sliould be rendered by dilïereiil words, 

 and that, in the ehoiee of terms, — as long- as there is a choice — 

 e\'ei'ytiiing that might give rise to ambignity, siionld be avoided. 



Th(,' disiinct ditference which in natnre exists between excbisively 

 sedimentary slate, nietamor[)hosed in a relatively slight measure and 

 the liner or coarser crystalline, more or less distinctly foliated meta- 

 morphosed rocks, [)artly of sedimentary, however also partly of 

 eruptive origin, is greatly discounted by the application of the term 

 h'l also to the latter, although the term "crystalline" be added. This 

 explains [)artly, how the word sclticfcr could iiitrodnce itself into 

 the Dutch terminology, though in a meaning that is far from being 

 a lixed one; the want was felt of another presentive word. A bad 

 choice, however, was made with the ^vord schlcfci-^), as the latter, 

 by taking up a i)lace by the side of the word /ei, must necessarily 

 assume a more limited meaning in our language, since in the 

 language from which it \\as borroweti, it occurs in diiferent widely- 

 diverging combinations '). The consequence of this is an absurd state 

 of things, which is not to l)e improved l)y reintroducing the disused 

 scheve rdey 11^), which has been tried in the shorter form oï schever'^). 

 In oi'dei' to prevent a [tossible confusion of ideas, which lies concealed 

 in the analogy with the (ierman cognate word, this word seems to be less 

 fitted. The corresponding English shicer, which has maintained itself 

 among miners in the meaning of ''Hake of stone, shale, slaty debris^)", 

 does not occur as a scienlilic term") and could not as such be put 

 side t)y side with s/uile and slate. 



The solution of the problem is considei-ably simplified by the circum- 

 stance that the English shale is etymologically identical with the Dutch 

 scha/ie, a word not used in the nortli of Holland. Whilst the English shale 

 as a secondar\- foi*ni of .sw/A^ and shi'll may be directlv reduced to 



^) Already used in most Dulcli ilicliouiu'ies. 



~) As is well known also the Danisli-Nofwegian sklfer, tlie Swedish skiffer is 

 used to denote the English terms shale as well as slate and schist. 



■^) Plaxïijn, cf. E. Verwijs and J. Verdam, Middelned. Woordb., IV, 336—337 ; 

 VII, 224; .1. II. \V. Grimm, Deulsch. W('irtb. IX, l.^'sq.' Kiuaen gives the word in 

 the sense of 1". srJialie, 2'. slcatnl)., i. e. the word used in tlleves for hiü'm silex 

 (comm. of Prof. J. VV. Muller). 



^) See also Kluoe, Etym. Wörtl). d. deutsch. Spr. 337; Grimm, 1. c., E. Muller, 

 Etym. Wiirib. d. engl. Spr. II, 378. 



-) Wright, Eng. Dial. Diet. V, 392. 



") Cf. Arch. Geikie, Text Book of Geology, Jas. Geikie, Struct, a. Field Geology ; 

 Teall, British Petrography. 



29* 



