WEIGH OR WAY. 33 



The question whether or not a vessel "hove to" should 

 be considered as under wa}^ came up in the Marine Conference 

 at Washington in 1889. The purpose was to decide whether 

 or not a vessel under such circumstances should be allowed 

 the privileges of a vessel not under control. It was said that 

 the United States courts hold that a vessel " hove to " is not 

 under way, and is, therefore, entitled to such privileges, while 

 the English courts hold the contrary. In other words, the 

 English are construing under iveigli and the Americans under 

 7i'ar, the former stretching the meaning of the phrase " under 

 control," and the latter confining it, to the true meanings of 

 the expressions they respectively have in mind. 



FAIR OR FARE. 



Our dictionaries give the terms /afr zveathcr, fair ivind 

 a.nd /airway, and leave us to infer thit the first component 

 is the adjective /air, Icelandic /agr, Anglo-Saxon /aeger, 

 bright, beautiful, used in the general sense of clear or open. 

 When we recall the sea terms applied to bad weather, such as 

 /oul , greasy, thick and dirty, /lir seems their appropriate 

 opposite to designate what is called also good iveathcr, French 

 beau temps, Italian bcl tempo. But compare the following 

 English, Icelandic, Old Flemish and German words : 



Fair weatiier : O. Flem. vaerwcder, weather fit for sailing, 

 for faring. 



Fair 7vind : Ger. Fahricind, a wind for faring, a favor- 

 able wind. 



Fainvay : Eng. 7vayfarer : Icel. farveger, track; O. Flem. 

 vacrivech, highway ; Ger. Fa/inveg, Faiugang, carriage way, 

 Fahrbaiin , fairway, Fahrleise, wheel rut ; Fahnvasser, O. 

 Flem. vaerwater, navigable water, channel, fairway. 



Moreover, in all these languages fare is a favorite nautical 

 term, as in Icel. ferja, Ger. Fall re, O. Flem. vaerschip, Eng. 

 ferry: O. Flem. varen voor ivint, to sail before the wind; 



