THE ETYiMOLOGIES IN THE SERVIAN COMMENTARY 

 TO VERGIL. 



By VyiLFEED F». MUSTARD. 



I. — Servius the Etymologist. • 



The Koman philologists, from Aelius Stilo do\vn,were much 

 given to etymologizing. Some interesting specimens of early 

 effort in this line are cited by Quintilian, Inst. or. I 6, 32-38, 

 where some of the results of the principles recognized and 

 employed by his predecessors are characterized in the words 

 Hnde pravis ingeniis adfoedissima usque ludihria lahuntur.' 

 The vast number of etymological notes in the commentary to 

 Vergil shows what a charm this fascinating study had for the 

 grammarians of a later day.* In one or two points S*rvius 

 shows a distinct improvement upon the methods of his prede- 

 cessors, but he has not escaped all the faults of his age. 

 His character as an etymologist may be inferred from the 

 following summary. 



I. He makes free use of the principle that objects may be 

 named from their contraries, zar' w^-iwpaav^^ apxjlying it to 

 the explanation of the following words: ardea, A. 7, 412 

 bellum, A. 1, 22; Charon, A. 6, 299; Eumenides, A. 3,63; 6, 250 

 6, 375; G. 1, 278; lucus, A. 1, 22; 1, 441; lustrum, A. 1, 607 

 mactare, A. 4, 57; manes, A. 1, 139; 3, 63; Parcae, A. 1, 22; Q. 

 1 278. This convenient principle, which Voss in his Ety- 

 mologicon, v. Incus, called 'inane Gvammaiicoriini commen- 

 tum,' had long been employed by the Greeks. That it was 

 recognized from an early period at Rome is evident from 

 Paulus, p. SSy: Militem Aelius a molliiia /.o-a avziipjiatri-^ 



* Servius offers or quotes etymologies for almost a thousand words. 



t References to Fostus and Paulus in this paper are to the pages of Ponor's edition, 1889. 



