1805.] 



Contributions to Englijh Synonymy. 



Ill 



7. To quit, or to acquit (for the word 

 occurs in both forms at early pericds of 

 the language), meant originnlly to dif- 

 charge from a debt ; and in its fhspe io 

 acqull, it has had the fame metaphoj ical 

 fortunes as tlie verb to abfol-ve, which 

 alfo at firlt meant to pay off, and from 

 one his been extended to many forms of 

 moral and judicial releafe. He wlio 

 takes a difcharge for a debt repaid, dees 

 it to quiet his mind, to fecure himi'elfin an 

 eafy manner againlt the trouble and rifk 

 of repealed application. It is natural, 

 therefore, tiiat quiet are, quiet a/iza 

 (whence the Italian quitare, quitanza, 

 feem 10 be conirafted), Ihould have even- 

 tually fignlfied to give a formal le'eafe. — 

 From Italy the words came to Fiance and 

 to England : but tlie French haveadopted 

 in their language a cant ufe of t'le word, 

 and employ it when no releafe is in quef- 

 tion. // a quittefon pais, does not mean, 

 * he has relealed his country from its debt 

 to him,' but merely. ' he has left h's 

 country.' The metaplior probably began 

 in the courts of juftice. ' Qu^it the pre. 

 mifes' might at firft fignify • releafe the 

 premifes from thofe Ifgal privileges and 

 obligatons which attach to refidence,' and 

 afterwards merely fignify, ' ri-move from 

 the premifes.' I'his techaical iife of the 

 word is not unknown to our language : 

 thus Shakefpeare : 



Their father. 

 Then old anj fond of iilue, took fuch for- 



row, 

 That he quit being. 



Indeed it is a very familiar form of fpeech 

 in this country to fay, ' he quitted his 

 port j' ' he quitted the turnpike road on 

 Hounflow Heath.' Whether thofe can 

 be acqtiiited of impropriety, who do not 

 quit this imaccountahle idiom, muft be 

 left to a jurv of grammarians : it is a 

 Gallicifm of long (landing. 



8. To cede, altliough omitted in John- 

 fon's Diflionary, is in common ufe. ' By 

 the treaty of peace in 1763, the French 

 ceded Canada to Great Britain.' 'Of a 

 lawfuit the colt i» certain, the event 

 doubtful ; you will do better to cede than 

 to proceed.' This word originally meant 

 merely to go, to give place. ' Ex tranf- 

 verfo cedit, quafi cancer foletS It is there- 

 fore not accompanied, like to gi-ve up, 

 with any acceffi ry ideas ol humiliation.— 

 ' Cedamus rhctbo.^ ' Un vrandcceur cede 

 un trottf, & le cede avec gloire.' 



9. T hr Latin fiinare means to affix a 

 in Ilk, a fea], a fignature : ri-fignure is to 

 annex atiothcr Ic^l, iheiefore to open j to 



anr.cx another fignature, therefore tosflign 

 over, to transfer, and to cancel. In this 

 laft fenfe it approaches the fignification of 

 the Englifh verb to refi^n. Horace has 

 already, «' Si celeres quatit Fortuna pen- 

 nas, refigno qua dedit.'" In the courts of 

 ecclefialtical law it has always been cuf- 

 tomary to call the abdication of a benefice 

 a refignation. The conftitulion of Pius 

 V. of the year 1568, forbids all bilhops to 

 accept any refignation accompanied with 

 an indication of the fucceflo:-. Whatever 

 was the fecret motive which induced an 

 ecdeliaftic to refign his benefice, he was 

 likely to make the fui render in all cafes 

 ■with apparent complacence, equanimity, 

 and voluntarily. It was very natural, 

 efpecially for the pulpit, to compare the 

 privations of adverfity wi^h the religna- 

 tion of a temporal benefice, and thus to 

 prepare that cant ufe of the word, of which 

 there are already traces in French books 

 of devotion. ' J'attends, avec une ex- 

 treme refignation afes volant es, la grace 

 de ma liberie. 



' 'W'e'Il be refign'd when ills betide, 

 ' Patient when favours are denied.' 



' There is a kind of fluggilh refigna- 

 tion, as well as pocrnefs and degeneracy 

 of fpirit, in a (late of Ihvery, that very- 

 few will recover themfelves out of it.' 



The firl and propereft ufe of to rrjign 1% 

 for to fign agam : 



' A ^l^nalch fijns and refigns his 

 nime fo ofien, that it is an object to re- 

 duce it to Chinere roncifenefs : why not 

 fay emperor A, emperor Na, and kingGe ?' 



The fecond fenfe is analogous to that 

 of our EngliHi word to indorle, and is ' to 

 transfer by a fecond fignature ;' * to fign 

 again in favour of another;' « to make 

 over.' 



I'll to the king and fignify to him 

 That thus I have refign'd to you my charge. 

 Defirous to refign and render back 

 All 1 receiv'd. 



Both thefe forms of employing the term 

 to refign are juftified by the Latin ufe of 

 the word : but the third fenfe in which it 

 has been made to fignify ' to fuhmit with 

 equanimity,' is a poetical and technical 

 fenle of the word, which fmells of tlie 

 conventicle, or rather of the mafs-houle, 

 and is not likely to endure. 



10. The Latin negligere is a priva'ive 

 of legere, to pick, cull, choufe, or feek ; 

 lb that it dolely refemble.s in ttyir.ol gi- 

 cal growth the Englidi vcib ' to loriakc." 

 But as the one means pi iniarily « not to 

 klcfl,' and the other ' not to vifii,' tlie 



one 



