120 XEESDALE PLACE-XAMES. 



in the open country, there the ground is lacking, i.e. m uniformity 

 of level, or is below the level of the surrounding land. 



It will be observed that Littre and Ihre do not agree as to the 

 etymology of Lac and Lahe ; Ihre deriving lake from Gr. Xxna, lavo, 

 and Littre lac, from XdKKo<s or Xolkos a XaKeiv, dechirer, to tear, 

 to rend. Of these the former will be preferred ; for a lake is 

 more of the nature of a washing place than of a rent, say of the 

 ground, but in both cases there must be a depression. 



In Liddell and Scott we find the following: " Acikkos, (not 

 XciKos), a hole, pit, a pond in which water fowl are kept — Lat. 

 vivarium — a cistern, a tank, also a cellar. Xolkkos is given as 

 the Gr. equivalent also of Corn, lo, in Williams' Lexicon Cornu- 

 Britan. 



This etymology agrees with the It. sense of lacuna, and with 

 Dr. Skeat's definition that the literal sense of lake is, a hollow 

 or depression. 



"With the exceptions of Dan., Sw., Dut., and FL, the word in 

 question, in one form or another, occurs in all the languages 

 quoted, and it may be in use in the excepted ones, but is not 

 found in their dictionaries. 



It is common to nearly twenty of our European tongues, and 

 Ihre says it is a most ancient word. 



Examples : — 



Cocklake — "lake of the grouse or cock, as it is locally called." 

 Bell. Great Cocklake. Cowlake. 



Laistds. 



A.-S. land-es. Land, in all the Gothic dialects. 



Les landes, waste lands — moor, in France, e.g., La Vendee. 



" Lande, terrains incultes, converts de bruyeres, de genets, 

 de fougeres, et autres plantes spontanees de pen de valeur." 

 " Songez a vos quarante lieues de landes vers Bordeaux." Littre. 

 Terres, Bruyeres, Bret, hrugek, lann, lannek. 



Wei. daiar, tir ; Gael, tir, duthaich. 



Lat. terra, regio, tr actus ; It. landa, terra, pianura, terreno 

 incolto. 



