1505.'] 



Contributicns to Englifli Synonymy. 



19 



There is an unclericjl fentiment and a 

 haifli metaphor of Stillriigfleet : 



" If any be given up to believe lies, 

 fome niuft be given up to tell them." 



It would havf been be'ter to omit the 

 prepofition up, which is here redundant. 



i. for/ij/'f is derived from a low.dutch 

 verb, collateral with the Englifh to fuck, 

 in comparilbn with tl.e infeparahle prepo 

 fition * for, which has a privative mean- 

 insf. To forfahe, th^n, fignifies originally 

 not tofeek, (V to defift from feeking ; and 

 fprfaken that which is f light no longer : — 



Ke frrfakes his miltrelii. — His miftreCs 

 is foifaken. — Laft fummer you came 

 every week to London ; but now yon 

 quite (orfake it. Thou didlf deliver us 

 from the hands of lawlels enemies, moil 

 hateful forfakersof God. 



Forfaken of all gtod ; vifiled no moie 

 by the virtues. Thefe are natural ex- 

 prcfllons. There is en the contrary, an 

 apparent ftraining in Dryden's meta- 

 pi.or : 

 When e'en the flying fails were feen no 



more, 

 Forfdken of all fight, the left the ihore ; 



but this arifes from the equivocal ufe of 

 the wcxA/ight, which here means a fpec- 

 tacle, a thmg feen, and not the lenl'e of 

 feeing. 



3. Leave feems to he derived from the go, to deiift, to delay. This veib feems 

 fame root as the high-dulch laufen, v.hich to have been antithetic wiih to tvielJ, and 

 means to run a--jjay : it is perhaps allied lo have been a term of the armourers : 



He that Is of an unthankful mind will 

 lesvehim in danger that dtlivcred him.— 

 The Thames leaves Buckinghamfliire 

 above Staines. — He left his fhielJ before 

 Troy. — He leaves a deal of property, 



i).. J'iflJ. Fiom go.U. money, by a vow- 

 el-change common \n Gothic verbs, comes 

 f^elJan, to pay in money, to produce in 

 value ; and hence ore to yield : — 



Strabo tells us, ihe mines at Carthage- 

 na yielded daily to the value of twenty- 

 five tliouiand lirachms. 



I the praife 



Yield thee, fo well thou haft this day pur- 

 vey'd. 



In the two preceding examples the pri- 

 mary 'and the metaphorical lenfe of this 

 verb are corre51ly applied : but it '\» not 

 e::fy to account for all the initances of its 

 employment. 



There is a want of the natural In this 

 exprefll 'n of Locke -. — 



" I.' yv u take the idea of white whicli 

 one parcel of fnow yielded yelferday to 

 your light, and another idea of white from 

 r.nothsr parcel of fnow you fee to- day, 

 and put them together in your mind, 

 they run into one." 



Belide the veib already noticed, mean- 

 ing to afford, there is another yield de- 

 lived-froiii the Anglo-Sa.xon j/cte, to let 



with the Angio-Saxon kleapan. In 

 earlier forms this j verb is applied not 

 only to animal movements but to the flow 

 offtreams, and was of old neuter, the ac- 

 cufaiive being ufually governed by the 

 prepornion behind : — 



The unthaiiklul man will leave his 

 deliverer behind in danger. — The Thames 

 leaves BuckingUamfliiie behind, above 

 Siaincs. He left his (liield behind, before 

 Troy. — He leaves a deal of property be- 

 hind. 



But this prepofition being of awkward 

 ufe, we are got to lay : — 



• This privative infeparable prepofition 

 slfooccuis in ffiibtar^ ' f',igct, forgo^ forl</rn, 

 forjwrar, forimrn, ice. Some writers ij-'no- 

 riiiily confound this prepnfition with fve, 

 and {fiWJorcTO. To forego is to go before ; 

 and to forgo is to go without. 



■f Fxamples occur of a verb <3 /m'z^i; derived 

 fiom ieaf, the green petal of a plant ; but, 

 tor diftinOicn'j fjltc, this fliouM be fptlled 

 ti leaf. — If not kept I'ack by cold, they leaf 

 aiout the (oillice— Open before him the 

 two-leatt (t .vo-leavcd) gates. 



tvicld— yield apfwering neatly to take hold, 

 let go. 



He yields not i;i his fall. 

 But fighting dies. 



Immortal hate 



And courage never to fubmit or yield. 



Often did I fttive 



To yield the ghoft. 



A difliniSl fpelline; ought to have been 

 pieferved : the fornv-r verb fliould have 

 been wiitten without the i, to yeeld ; in 

 wliich form Chaucer employs it : God 



yelde you for God reivardyou. It would 

 not appear affecled even now to write 



yeeld. 



5. ylhandon is derived from the French 

 ahandonner , a concretion of the words 

 dinner a ban, to £<ive up to public blame. 

 Tils phraie was ufed in early times both 

 in a civil and a religious fenfe ; tor we 

 read of the ban of th.e empire lor civil in- 

 tcrdiff, and of the ban of the kirk for ec- 

 cletialtic excommunication. To abandoo 

 tliem is to expofe to that deleriion whieh 

 rcfulted from formal and public denun. 

 liation 5 to forfake with lolemnity. , It 

 C » ought 



