wrong, but until so proven, mere indi- 

 vidual opinion will not change custom. 

 Though the word may not be of "legiti- 

 mate parentage," who can gainsay 

 the respectability of its sponsors? — Ed.] 



For the American Bee Journal 



Apiarian, or Apiarist? 



W. O. CARPENTER. 



I am inclined to think friend Cam- 

 eron is correct in his mode of pronun- 

 ciation apiarian. The word is derived 

 from the Latin apiarius (the a being 

 long) " one who attends to the culture 

 of bees." Apiarium being a bee hive. 

 I think apiarist destroys the euphony of 

 the word, which after all is our best 

 guide for all such words where there is 

 no settled rule or authority ; it seems to 

 chime in with such words as gramma- 

 rian, sectarian, vegetarian, valetudina- 

 rian apiarian, &c. You carry your 

 word as far as grammari — sectari — 

 valetudinari — apiari — before you affix 

 your final monosyllable, which plainly 

 by the rules of euphony indicates an; 

 apiari-an not apiari-ist, much less tak- 

 ing a still greater liberty by curtailing 

 the final i and calling it apiar-ist. 

 words which terminate in y like geolo- 

 gy, mineralogy, botany, toxicology, &c, 

 evidently indicates changing the y into 

 ist as geology, geologist, &c, but it 

 appears to me to be contrary to the 

 laws of euphony to say grammarist, 

 apiarist, as it would be to distort 

 geologist into geologian or mineralo- 

 gian, &c. There are some few other 

 words such as microscopist, scientist, 

 dentist, herbalist, &c, where we can 

 only be guided by the natural laws of 

 euphony in their pronunction. 



Such a word as apiculturist would 

 satisfy all parties. I have searched 

 three or four English dictionaries (it 

 may be in Webster) but I cannot find 

 either apiarian, apiarist or apiculturist 

 in any of them, it is a new word manu- 

 factured to suit the times. 



[Euphony, we fear, would be subject 

 to many constructions, if adopted as a 

 rule to arbitrarily settle disputed points 

 in language. There are exceptions to 

 many general rules, and some to the ex- 

 amples given above — i. e., "sectarist," 

 from sectary ; " geologian," from geol- 

 ogy, though Webster pronounces both 

 rare. But who has cast a doubt upon 

 the correctness of both theologist and 

 theologian? Again, we have floricul- 



tural, floriculturist, floral and florist ; 

 and the law of euphony that allows the 

 use of apiculturist will justify that of 

 apiarist. All the authorities that give 

 the words at all, give the preference to 

 " apiarist " as the noun. See Webster, 

 Worcester, Zell, etc. — Ed.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



"Linn." 



JOHN ALLEN. 



In the Bee Journal for August, p. 

 373, Mr. G. M. Porter asks what author- 

 ity there is for the use of the word 

 " linn" instead of "linden," and says, 

 further, that he cannot find " linn" in 

 any dictionary, botany or bee manual 

 that he has seen. 



I have seen the word "linn" in the 

 different bee-periodicals, and have 

 heard it used by people in the West as 

 the common name for the linden or 

 basswood. Indeed, we have here in 

 Iowa a " Linn" county. In looking 

 over Gray's "Manual of Botany," at 

 the close of what he had to say about 

 the genus Tilia, which includes the 

 American and European linden, I found 

 this note : " This tree (the Lin) gave 

 the family name to Linnaeus." On 

 looking at the article Linnaeus, in the 

 eighth edition of the " Encyclopaedia 

 Britannica," I found the same state- 

 ment in somewhat fuller form. 



In Arthur Bryant's " Forest Trees for 

 Shelter, Ornament, and Profit," page 

 151, he says : " Tilia Americana — Lynn, 

 Linden, Basswood." This book is pub- 

 lished by Henry T. Williams, of New 

 York. Halliwell's "Dictionary of Arch- 

 aic and Provincial Words." gives "linn- 

 tree, a lime-tree." Indeed, I find that 

 in America the linn is not unfrequently 

 called the lime. 



In the fifth volume of " English and 

 Scottish Ballads," edited by Prof. 

 Childs,and published by Little & Brown, 

 Boston, the glossary gives " lynde, 

 lyne," and for the meaning, linden, 

 lime, tree in general. 



Since finding this word in the glossa- 

 ry to the ballads, there have come into 

 my mind faint memories of not unfre- 

 quently meeting the word "linne, lynn, 

 lynne," in my reading among those old 

 ballads, unique and beautiful, that have 

 drifted down to us from the days of 

 "auld lang syne," but I cannot to-day 

 refer definitely to any verse in which 

 the word is used. 



Mr. Porter appreciates " The Blessed 

 Bees" so kindly, that I regret to have 

 him think the use of the word " linn" a 



