iSS4.] Mi'RRIAM OH the '■Coucs Chech Li'si (uid Lexicon.'' A^ 



compounded a hyl)rid word, the Greek part of whicli is not even 

 a current Greek verb. However, there is a Latin verb cillo^ "to 

 move," by the use of which we miglit escape the hybridism. 

 But it is more natural to suppose that -cilia is simply the dimin- 

 utive termination added to the stem of mota-re^ as novacitla from 

 novare^ with a termination like that of oricilla for auricula. 

 Varro's employment of the word in the midst of several l)ir(l- 

 names with diminutive terminations points also to this conclusion, 

 and a gloss of Cyrillus's explains o-ao-oirv-yis by nioticella^i mota- 

 cella., where the diminutive cannot be mistaken. Still, there 

 seems little doubt that some of the ornithologists have formed 

 their words upon the supposition that cilia meant tail, and some 

 philologists array a Sanscrit cognate in its favor. 



However this may be, motacilla is a genuine Latin word, and 

 we pass on to something of a curiosity in logic, by which it is 

 sought to go back of the derivation given by the inventor of a word 

 and find something better for it. Audubon is said (594) to have 

 invented Ap/iriza and to have derived it from d<})pos and ^oiw. Our 

 author inclines to follow Wharton (who, we will hope, did not 

 know Audubon's paternity) and derive from atjjpi^a). 



Dissatisfaction is expressed with the reference of Niimenius 

 (643) to the Greek vovjiii'vios, "•the narrow arcuate bill being likened 

 to the new crescent moon," and it is suggested that the word ma}' 

 come from the Latin n/t/neu^ although the "ornithologists of the 

 heroic age" knew very well that vov;jlt]vios was a common Hellenic 

 bird-name in the time of the old Greek Diogenes Laertius. But 

 suppose we grant that the derivation from numen is possible ( ?), 

 and assume that Numenius., which is not a classic Latin word, 

 means the "nodder," the following does not seem very clear: — ■ 

 " Whichever of these derivations we approve, they amount practi- 

 cally to the same thing ; for mimenius certainly refers to the shape 

 of the bill." 



In the next case it will be necessary' to transcribe a rather long 

 note in full. 



"313. Mo-lo'-thrQs a'ter. Unde derivatitr? The orthography 

 and etymology of molothrus are alike in dispute. Swainson himself 

 sa^'s 'no\o8pos, qui nou vocatus alieiias aedes intraf ; that is, an 

 uninvited guest. There being no such Greek woixl as (ioXo6po's, 

 but there being a good Greek word p.oXoPpo's, meaning one who 

 roams in quest of food, a vagabond, a beggar, a parasite, a 



