16i Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 



jected Shaksperian vocables, which he seems to have viewed 

 either as milk that would bear no more than one skimming " or 

 rather as " beauty too rich for use for earth too dear? " The per- 

 centage of classical words among them is great, greater indeed 

 than in the body of Shakspere's writings. According to the 

 analysis of Weisse, in an average hundred of Shaksperian words 

 ■one third are classical and two thirds Saxon. But then, he adds, 

 :all the classical elements have inherent meaning, while half of 

 the Saxon have none. The result is that of the significant words 

 in Shakspere one half are of classical derivation. 



Now of the "Atco.^ Izybiieva with initial A, I call 262 words out 

 ^of 364 classical, and 152 out of 310 with initial M, that is 414 

 out of 674^ or about four-sevenths of the whole host commencing 

 with those two letters. 



In doubtful cases I have classed those words only as classical, 

 the first etymology of which in Webster is from a classical or 

 Eomance root. In the Biblicar'J/Tal^ Itjbiieva the classical factor 

 is enormous, namely not less than 'o^ per cent., while even in 

 Shaksperian words of the same class it is no more than sixty-one. 



Again, among the 674 A. and M. " Ako.^ hyofisva the proportion 

 of words now obsolete is unexpectedly small. Of 310 with initial 

 M, only one sixth or fifty-one at the utmost are now disused 

 either in sense, or even in form. Of this half hundred a few were 

 used in Shakspere, but are not at present as verbs, as to maculate, 

 to miracle, to mud, to mist, to mischief, to moral. Also, merchan- 

 dized and musicked. 



Another class, now rarely written, are misproud, misdread, map- 

 pery, mansionry, maryhuds, masterdom, mistership, mistressship. 



Then there are slight variants from our orthography or mean- 

 ings, as mained for maimed, marhnan for marksman, make for 

 mate, makeless for mateless, mircdtle, mervaihits, mess for mass, — 

 manakin, minikin, meyny for many, momentany for momentary, 

 misgraffing, mountainer, Tnorcder, misanthrojjos, mott for motto, to 

 mutine, minutely every minute. 



None seem wholly dead words except the following eighteen. 

 To mammock tear, mell meddle, mose mourn, micher truant, mome 

 fool, mallecho mischief, rtiaund basket, marcantant merchant, mun 



