80 Rev. Mr Williams on the Force of the prefix Ve or Vce 



etymologist is enabled to discover the first meaning of a word, 

 and they are to him what an escperimentum crucis is to the natu- 

 ral philosopher. This Varronian interpretation will justify us in 

 translating Juvenal's " vetulas vesica beatae" a rich old lady's 

 purse. 



Vespa, a wasp, literally a small <r<pril or <r<paf *. Aristotle, 

 in his description of l<py>csg, says : " There are two kinds of 2<p??*es : 

 of these the wild ones are scarce, larger, longer, and more darkly 

 coloured than the others, also variegated, all having stings, and 

 being very fierce. A wound inflicted by them is more painful 

 than that inflicted by the others, as their sting is proportionally 

 larger." This kind is evidently our hornet, which the Latins 

 called crahrones. Aristotle then proceeds to describe the 

 smaller species, which he calls Tipegalsgoi, more familiar with man, 

 which is undoubtedly our wasp, vesphax, softened into vespa. 



Vesperus, and vesperugo, both the evening star and evening- 

 tide, literally the time when objects become indistinct, as the 

 night is coming on f . No etymologist whose works have been 

 read by me, has attempted an explanation of this important 

 word. They have been satisfied with referring us to the Greek 

 g<r<rg£os, as if the Greek were not the same word, deprived of 

 the digamma. What could have induced the Greeks to carry 

 their hostility to this and other letters, is a difficult question. 

 But it is certain that they did so, even in cases where it was ne- 



et potius marsupium domini exinaniunt quam implent." — De Re Rust. lib. iii. 

 cap. 17. 



* s^>i)|, from 5-<p<*i or 3<i*<rp*g, cut in two, corresponding with the Latin Insecta. — 

 De AnimaUbus, lib. ix. cap. 28. 



•f- Specio, specere, spes, spero, old German, spehan, English, spy, Ital. spiare, 

 Span, espiar, French, espier, and many other forms, all signify to sec. Even the 

 Scottish spnewj/e corresponds with the old English word seer. 



