PREFACE. vii 
None of these considerations is of the nature of a definite rule that can be used with precision 
in all cases. On the contrary, the question whether a word shall be included, even in a dictionary 
so comprehensive as this, must often be decided by the special circumstances of the case. 
The sources of the English vocabulary thus presented are extremely various. No other tongue, 
ancient or modern, has appeared in so many and so different phases; and no other people of high 
civilization has so completely disregarded the barriers of race and circumstance and adopted into its 
speech so great a number of unnative words and notions. The making of the 
English language began, it may be said, with the introduction of Eoman rule and 
Roman speech among the barbarous Celts of Britain. The Latin language, as the vehicle of civil- 
ization, affected strongly the Celtic, and also the speech of the Teutonic peoples, Saxons, Angles, 
and Jutes, who in the fifth century obtained a footing on the island. This Teutonic tongue, while 
assimilating something both of the native Celtic idiom, and of Latin in a Celtic guise, in time 
became the dominant language. The speech thus formed (called Anglo-Saxon or, as some now 
prefer, Old English) was raised almost to classic rank by the labors of Alfred and of the numerous 
priests and scholars who sought to convey to their countrymen in their native language the treasures 
of Latin learning and the precepts of the Latin Church. Though uniting in the ninth century with an 
influx of Scandinavian speech, and in the eleventh century, through the Norman conquest, with the 
stream which flowed through France from Rome, it remained the chief fountain of English. From these 
two elements, the Teutonic and the Latin (the latter both in its original form and as modified in the 
Romance tongues), our language has been constructed; though materials more or less important have 
been borrowed from almost every known speech. 
The details of this history are exhibited in the etymologies. They have been written anew, on a 
uniform plan, and in accordance with the established principles of comparative philology. The best 
works in English etymology, as well as in etymology and philology in general, have been regularly 
consulted, the most helpful being those of Prof. Skeat and Eduard Miiller, and the "New English 
Dictionary on Historical Principles," edited by Dr. J. A. H. Murray (which, however, could be con- 
sulted in revising the proofs of A and of part of B only) ; but the conclusions reached are independent. 
It has been possible, by means of the fresh material at the disposal of the etymologist, to clear up 
in many cases doubts or difficulties hitherto resting upon the history of particular words, to decide 
definitely in favor of one of several suggested etymologies, to discard numerous current errors, and 
to give for the first time the history of many words of which the etymologies were previously 
unknown or erroneously stated. Noteworthy features of the etymologies will be found 
to be the method followed in stating the ascertained facts of the history of each 
word, and the extensive collation of cognate or allied words. Beginning with the 
current accepted form or spelling, each important word has been traced back through earlier forms 
to its remotest known origin. Middle English forms are given, in important cases in numerous 
variants for the four centuries included in that period, and are traced to the Anglo-Saxon (in which 
are given the typical forms, with the important variants and the oldest glosses) or, as the case may 
be, to the Old French, including in special instances the Old French as developed in England, or 
Anglo-French. The derivation of the Anglo-Saxon or French form is then given. When an Anglo- 
Saxon or other Teutonic form is mentioned, the cognate forms are given from the Old Saxon, the 
Old Friesic, the Dutch, Low German, High German, and Icelandic in their several periods, the Swedish 
(and often the Norwegian), the Danish, and the Gothic. The same form of statement is used with 
the Romance and other groups of forms the Old French and modern French, the Provencal, the 
Spanish, the Portuguese, the Italian, and sometimes in special instances the Wallachian and other 
Romance forms, being given in a regular order, and derived together from their Latin or other source. 
With the Latin are mentioned the Greek cognates, if any such existed, the Slavic forms, if concerned, 
and the Sanskrit, Persian, etc. If the Arabic or Hebrew is reached, other Semitic forms are sometimes 
