ON ERRATA RECEPTA. 323 



Deen made out of it, suggestive of nothing etymologically, but asso- 

 ciated with the santo catino at Genoa — a bowl supposed to consist of 

 a gigantic gem of inestimable worth, until the audacious French savans 

 showed it to be nothing but common glass. The true form of the 

 word is of course sang-reel. 



We might pass over sugar without remark, as every one knows that 

 it is the French sucre, which is the Arabic sihhar or assikJcar — an old 

 word, appearing also in the Greek aaKxapov. But our candy (the 

 French candi) is not generally debited so correctly. This is some- 

 times supposed — like candidus — to be derived from candere, to be 

 white ; it is in reality, however, oriental likewise — first, Arabic gand, 

 the sap of the sugar-cane brought to a viscous state ; and this, 

 secondly, is the Hindoo khanda, a morsel — i.e., sugar in small crys- 

 tals or morsels. 



Coterie, which is properly a club in which each one pays his quota 

 (to be pronounced cota) or scot, is now a " set " — a restricted circle 

 of co-notionists. Under some circumstances it becomes a clique — a 

 union for sensation-purposes — a combination to raise a clack either 

 for or against a given measure or man. 



In theory pic-nic has taken the place of coterie in its etymological 

 sense, suggesting an al-fresco regale on cold fowl or similar contributed 

 viands. A Pic-nic, however, in its primary association, was some- 

 thing much more spirituel. It appears to have been a sort of tourna- 

 ment of wit — a gentle passage of repartees — of retorts courteous and 

 polite ; — an encounter in which " tu me piques, je te nique " — tit-Jbr- 

 tat — was the motto. 



We use the word billet to express a little note. Why do we apply 

 the same term to a thing so dissimilar as a piece of cleft wood ? By 

 a now forgotten inaccuracy. The billet of wood in French is not 5«7- 

 let, but billot — an allusion perhaps to the instrument by which it was 

 cut or cleft ; while billet, the letter, speaks of the bulla or seal, which 

 was appended to it to attest its genuineness. Bulletin is a farther 

 diminutive of the same word. Our English term bill has no con- 

 nexion with this. Bills, as we have already seen, (p. 151), parliamen- 

 tary and domestic, are properly li-belli ; whence also our libel, the 

 schedule in a Court of Justice detailing the charges against a man 

 being put, by a metonymy, for the charges themselves. These must 

 happily or unhappily have been so often proved groundless, that the 



