12 Comments on Mofon’s Supplement to Fobnfon’s Digtionary. [Feb. 1; 
land a juflice of the peace. This vul- 
garifm deferges reprobation. Tranflate 
it into any other language, jufiicta pacis, 
or uze juftice de la paix, and every one will 
be fhocked at the aukwardnefs, the ab- 
furdity, of the denomination. ‘There are 
two ways of curing the blemith; the one 
is to liberalize the word jufficer, which, . 
in many places, is ufed by the common 
people; the other, to modernize the word 
jujixciary. Of each magiltrate, who 1s called 
jufiictarius. de banquo regis, jufliciarius 
communium placitorum, jufiiciarius forefia, 
&c. it might be convenient to fay jufii- 
ciary ; and of the provincial or diftrict ma- 
giftrate, ju/ficer. 
Kuife.—-Junius had a diflike to the let- 
ter 2, and declined making an initial of it 
in his Pi&tionary: it would have been 
more rational to indulge an antipathy 
againft c, which isa very pluperfect letter, 
and reprelents fometimes &, fometimes s, 
and foimetimes ts. He tellsus, however, in 
his article cxifz, that Cafaubon fuppefed it 
to derive from the Greek £:¢07, which the 
fEolians altered into cuipes. In order to 
repeat this ftrange derivation, Mr. Mafon, 
who feldom fatigues us with etymology, 
has made anich for the word. 
feolians to fend hither their terms? Was 
the vernacular dialeé&t of Conftantinople 
f®olic? Did the corps of Varangi abound 
with Anplo-Saxop recruits? -and a re- 
tiring band of veterans firft bring home 
the infirument and the name? Uniluckily 
the words haye norefemblance. Is there 
not a Greek infinitive xuwew (although I 
do not find it in my lexicon) to /crape, or 
fice? 
“Knives may have been brought ata 
very early period to Great Britain by the 
Phoenicians, and fold at their emporial 
Jea-towns in the Ifle of Wight and in 
Cornwai!. It is not abfurd, therefore, to 
ivek, with Gregory Sharpe, .in Hebrew 
. for the root of the word kgife; although 
it may feem ftrange to fixon a root, which 
his fytem of tranflettering would exprefs 
by fiv. But on this {cheme of origin the 
word would exift in the Cormifh and Welth 
dialects, which, in the days of the Phae- 
Nicians, were not yet fuperfeded by the 
Saxon or Danifl; fo that the hypo- 
thefis of an Aramic origin muft be aban- 
doned. 
Did the Romans bring us kaives and 
the name of kuives ? Cannivus for a pen- 
kaye occurs in icholattic Latinity ; is it 
an antient word, which perchance efcaped 
for ages the notice of the ungrateful pen? 
Salmafius authorizes the fufpicion, that 
st merely belongs to the flang of French 
How are 
{cheol-boys, and is a very modern deri- 
vative of canif, which, with other Gothic 
words, the Franks naturalized in France. ~ 
In faét, all the Gothic diale&ts have 
knife. Icelandith, kuiifir; Swedith, kuzif; 
Anglo-Saxon, cuif; Danith, kaziv; Ger- 
man, kneif; .Hollandith, kyipmes,, &c. 
From the Hollandith term, which fignifies 
a nip-blade, it may be inferred, that the 
word kwife was originally applied only to 
that fort of kaives called clafp-knives and 
hinge-knives, which nip together, which 
fhut into the handle. The word xp, in 
the Mcefogothic ganipan, was formerly 
preceded by & or g; and is itfelf a deri- 
vative of kzec, from the movement of 
which joint xzp and mippers, and /butting- 
knives, have their name very naturally. 
In order to preferve the mark of relation- 
fhip throughout. this whole family of 
words, one is tempted to wifh back the & 
before wip and its defcendants: Junius 
would have recommended to withdraw it 
in nce, knife, knabble, &c. 
Latter.—This irregular comparative of 
laie is one of the many impurities which 
the tranflators of the Bible have irrevo- 
cably foifted into our language. Latter 
begins to fignify “‘ efter in place,” as 
later, ‘* after in time: but the inftance 
adduced by Mr. Mafon fhows this dif- 
tinction to be a modernrefinement. —_- 
Leaguer.—Leaguer an{wers to the Ger- 
man lager, a camp, and is fo ufed with 
propriety by Fairfax : 
Till far behind the Chriftian /eaguer was— 
Yo beleaguer is to furround vith en- 
campments, to befiege: but as the idea of 
encamping is eflential to the word; it 
ought not to be applied to any attack by 
affault, or fiorm, as in Dryden:— 
Againft dcleaguer’d heaven the giants move. 
Ligan.— This law-term is derived by 
Mr. Mafon from the Latin Zgare: in this 
cafe the Englifh word would have been 
ligate. _A more probable pedigree has 
been indicated at the word flot(am, from 
the Saxon ligan, ta le; participle igand. 
Lively head.—the prefent way of fpelling 
requires Livelihead, and the word means 
wivacity: livelihood means thrift, main- 
tenance: yet the formative fyllables ead 
and ood are conSdered by grammavians as 
twin-born (both fprung from the Anglo- 
Saxon adh) and equipollent. One finds 
authorities for drerihead, drowjsihead, God- 
head, hardibead, jollibead, luftibead, maid- 
enhead, penfrvehead, youthhead, and others. 
One alfo finds szanhood, womanhood, child- 
hood, brotherhood, fiflerhood, widowhood, 
neighbourhood, knighthood, prichhved, and 
others. 
