7. TO NICHER or NICKER, does not differ in meaning from to neigh, Anglosaxon hnag-an, from which it is formed, but by means of the frequentative termination, it is perhaps more expressive of the broken tremulous noise it denotes.

8. From the Anglosaxon slaw-ian, piger esse, slawode, piger erat, Lye, to slow, slow'd,-we "have "TO SLOTTER, to pass time idly or sluggishly."-. Jamieson. Hence the English word SLATTERN.

Thou auld hasard leichoure, fy for schame,
That SLOTTERIS forth evermair in sluggardy.

Douglas's Virgil, Prologue, p. 96. I. 27.

SLOTTERY sleep the cousin of death.

Ibid. p. 172. 1.52.

9. "To HATTER, V. a. To batter, to shatter;

66 as allied in sense to hew.

66

Helmys of hard steill thai HATTERIT and heuch.

Gawan and Gol. III. 5.

"I know not if this be related to hader, Teutonic, contention, hader-an, to quarrel, &c."Jamieson.

I think it is formed from to hit, the common preterite of which is still hat in the north of Scotland.

In the English schip he lap,
And hat the captaine sic ane flap
Upon his heid till he fell down,
Welterand intill ane deidlie swoun.

Sir David Lindsay, vol. ii. p. 274. Chalmers's

p.2

Edition.

I know not if the English verb TO HATTER is

the same.

Religion shows a rosy colour'd face,

Not HATTER'D out with drudging works of grace.

Dryden,- Hind and Panther.

10. TO BLETHER, BLATHER, or BLADDER, to talk nonsensically.-Jamieson.

Perhaps from the Anglosaxon hlid-an, tumultuari, strepere, clamare, hlydend, vociferans, garrulus, Lye: with the prefix BE, behlid-an, preterite behlade, behlader, blader.

Then in they go to see the show,

On every side they 're gatherin,
Some carrying dales, some chairs and stools,

And some are busy BLETH'RIN

Right loud that day.

On a noisy Polemic.

Below thir stanes lie Jamie's banes,

O death, it's my opinion,

Thou ne'er took such a BLETH'RIN b-tch,

Into thy dark dominion.

11. TO CLAVER.

Burns.

Burns.

God sake, woman, let me away, there's saxpence t'ye to buy half a mutchkin, instead of CLAVERING about thae auld warld stories.-Guy Mannering, vol. ii. p. 18.

This seems to be the German klaff-en, inconsiderate loqui (Jamieson), with the frequentative termination, which expressing repetition or continuance, makes the word more expressive to us

F

than to claive would have been; as for the same reason to pester, is a stronger term than to pest (French pest-er) would have been.

Belinda. Prithee hold thy tongue-lard, he has so PESTERED me with flames and stuff. I think I shan't endure the sight of a fire this twelvemonth.- The Old Batchelor.

12. TO SWATTER, from to swap, swapt, swapter, swatter.

"To swapp, means to fall down suddenly.". G. Chalmer's Notes to Sir D. Lindsay.

Syne flatlingis fell, and swappit into swoun.

Sir D. Lindsay, vol. i. p. 295.

Holidays and Sundays we play at nine pins, tumble upon the grass, laugh till we split, dance till we are weary, eat till we burst, drink till we are sleepy, then swap into bed, and snore till we rise to breakfast.- Vanburgh,- Esop.

Birdis with mony ane piteous pew,
Affeiritlye in the air they flew
Sa lang, as they had strength to flee,
Syne SWATTERIT down into the see.

Sir David Lindsay, vol. ii. p. 385.

XL. To conclude: if a few of these verbs in ER which have been enumerated as frequentatives should seem to have little of the common character, they may still be allowed to have been formed in the way here suggested, and to be properly etymologized. Neither have all verbs in LE a diminutive sense. That "there are few "rules without exceptions," is an observation, perhaps more applicable to language than to any other subject: "Non enim cum primum fingeren

86

66

"tur homines, ANALOGIA demissa cœlo formam loquendi dedit: sed inventa est postquam 'loquebantur, et notatum in sermone quid quo " modo caderet, itaque non ratione nititur, sed "exemplo: nec lex est loquendi, sed observatio, "ut ipsam analogiam nulla res alia fecerit, quam "consuetudo. Quintilian, Lib. I. cap. vi.

CHAP. III.

Of Verbs with the prefix BE.

PERHAPS We must refer for the etymology of this prefix to the Moso-Gothic BI (our by), in the sense adversum, contra:-at least we can often discover this sense in our prefix; but not always, and in the Moso-Gothic, as we are told, by Mr. Lye, BI in composition has generally the import of Tepi, circum. Without, therefore, being positive as to the origin of a word, or prefix of so great antiquity, I shall endeavour to point out and illustrate its power in English verbs, which is of more consequence.

περι,

The power of the prefix BE is for the most part to carry the action of the verb to some object acted on or affected, -to impart to the verb a transitive character. 1. Thus, this effect is sufficiently obvious in

TO BEMOAN, from to moan.
TO BEDROP, from to drop.

TO BESPIT, from to spit.
TO BECHANCE, from to chance.
TO BEWAIL, from to wail.
TO BESMOKE, from to smoke.

TO BEHOWL, from to howl.