part i. § 5.

=JACOBIN.= The great French Revolution has stamped itself too deeply and terribly upon the mind of Europe for ‘Jacobin’ ever again to have any other meaning than that which the famous Club, assembling in the hall of the Jacobin convent, has given it; but it needs hardly to say that a ‘Jacobin’ was once a Dominican friar, though this name did not extend beyond France.

Now am I yonge, stoute and bolde, Now am I Robert, now Robyn, Now frere menour, now _jacobyn_.

_Romaunt of the Rose_, 6339 (Morris, vi. p. 193).

Agent for England, send thy mistress word, What this detested _Jacobin_ hath done.

MARLOWE, _The Massacre at Paris_, act iii. sc. 4.

A certain _Jacobin_ offered himself to the fire to prove that Savonarola had true revelations, and was no heretic.--Bishop TAYLOR, _The Liberty of Prophesying_, The Epistle Dedicatory.

=JOLLY.= For a long time after its adoption into the English language, ‘jolly’ kept the meaning of beautiful, which it brought with it from the French, and which ‘joli’ in French still retains.

Then sete thei thre to solas hem at the windowe, Even over the _joly_ place that to that paleis longed.

_William of Palerne_, 5478.

I know myself to be A _jolly_ fellow: for even now I did behold and see Mine image in the water sheer, and sure methought I took Delight to see my goodly shape and favour in the brook.

GOLDING, _Ovid’s Metamorphosis_, b. 13.

When all the glorious realm of pure delight, Illustrious Paradise, waited on the feet Of _jolly_ Eve.

BEAUMONT, _Psyche_, iv. 4.

=KINDLY.= Nothing ethical was connoted in ‘kindly’ once; it was simply the adjective of ‘kind.’ But it is God’s ordinance that ‘kind’ should be ‘kindly,’ in our modern sense of the word as well; and thus the word has attained this meaning. See ‘Unkind.’

This Joon in the Gospel witnesseth that the _kyndeli_ sone of God is maad man.--WICLIF, _Prologe of John_.

Forasmuch as his mind gave him, that, his nephews living, men would not reckon that he could have right to the realm, he thought therefore without delay to rid them, as though the killing of his kinsmen could amend his cause, and make him a _kindly_ king.--Sir T. MORE, _History of King Richard III._

The royal eagle is called in Greek Gnesios, as one would say, true and _kindly_, as descended from the gentle and right aëry of eagles.--HOLLAND, _Pliny_, vol. i. p. 272.

Whatsoever as the Son of God He may do, it is _kindly_ for Him as the Son of Man to save the sons of men.--ANDREWES, _Sermons_, vol. iv. p. 253.

Where are they? Gone to their own place, to Judas their brother; and, as is most _kindly_, the sons, to the father, of wickedness, there to be plagued with him for ever.--Id., _Of the Conspiracy of the Gowries_, serm. 4.

What greater tyranny and usurpation over poor souls would he have than is now exercised, since the perjured prelates, the _kindly_ brood of the Man of sin, have defiled and burdened our poor Church?--_Jus Populi Vindicatum_, 1665.

=KNAVE.= How many serving-lads must have been unfaithful and dishonest before ‘knave,’ which meant at first no more than boy, acquired the meaning which it has now! Note the same history in the German ‘Bube,’ ‘Dirne,’ ‘Schalk,’ and see ‘Varlet.’

If it is a _knave_ child, sle ye him; if it is a womman, kepe ye.--_Exodus_ i. 16. WICLIF.

The tyme is come, a _knave_ childe sche bere.

CHAUCER, _The Man of Lawes Tale_ (Morris, ii. p. 192).

O murderous slumber, Lay’st thou thy leaden mace upon my boy, That plays thee music? gentle _knave_, good night.

SHAKESPEARE, _Julius Cæsar_, act iv. sc. 3.

=KNUCKLE.= The German ‘Knöchel’ is any joint whatsoever; nor was our ‘knuckle’ limited formerly, as now it well nigh exclusively is, at least in regard of the human body, to certain smaller joints of the hand.

Thou, Nilus, wert assigned to stay her pains and travels past, To which as soon as Io came with much ado, at last, With weary _knuckles_ on thy brim she kneeled sadly down.

GOLDING, _Ovid’s Metamorphosis_, b. 1.

But when

‘his scornful muse could ne’er abide With tragic shoes her _ancles_ for to hide,’

the pace of the verse told me that her maukin _knuckles_ were never shapen to that royal buskin.--MILTON, _Apology for Smectymnuus_, p. 186.

=LACE.= That which now commonly bears this name has it on the score of its curiously woven threads; but ‘lace,’ Old French ‘las,’ ‘laqs,’ identical with the Latin ‘laqueus,’ is commonly used by our earlier writers in the more original sense of a noose.

And in my Mynde I measure pace by pace, To seeke the place where I myself had lost, That day that I was tangled in the _lace_ In seemyng slacke that knitted ever most.

EARL OF SURREY, _The Restless State of a Lover_, p. 2 (ed. 1717).

Yet if the polype can get and entangle him [the lobster] once within his long _laces_, he dies for it.--HOLLAND, _Plutarch’s Morals_, p. 973.

=LANDSCAPE.= The second syllable in ‘land_scape_’ or ‘land_skip_’ is only a Dutch example of an earlier form of the same termination which we meet in ‘friend_ship_,’ ‘lord_ship_,’ ‘fellow_ship_,’ and the like. As these mean the manner or fashion of a friend, of a lord, and so on, so ‘landscape’ the manner or fashion of the land; and in our earlier English this rather as the pictured or otherwise counterfeited model, than in its very self. As this imitation would be necessarily in small, the word acquired the secondary meaning of a compendium or multum in parvo; cf. Skinner, _Etymologicon_, s. v. _Landskip_: Tabula chorographica, primario autem terra, provincia, seu topographica, σκιαγραφία; Phillips, _New World of Words_, s. v.; and Earle, _Philology of the English Tongue_, § 327, who suggests that the word has been borrowed by us from the Dutch painters, which would account for the termination ‘-scape,’ ‘-skip’ instead of the native suffix ‘-ship.’ See Skeat’s Dictionary.

The sins of other women show in _landskip_, far off and full of shadow; her [a harlot’s] _in statue_, near hand and bigger in the life.--Sir THOMAS OVERBURY, _Characters_.

London, as you know, is our Ἑλλάδος Ἑλλάς, our England of England, and our _landskip_ and representation of the whole island.--HACKET, _Life of Archbishop Williams_, part ii. p. 59.

The detestable traitor, that prodigy of nature, that opprobrium of mankind, that _landscape_ of iniquity, that sink of sin, and that compendium of baseness, who now calls himself our Protector.--_Address sent by the Anabaptists to the King_, 1658, in CLARENDON’S _History of the Rebellion_, b. xv.

=LATCH.= Few things now are ‘latched’ or caught except a door or casement; but the word was formerly of much wider use. It is the O.E. _lœccan_.

Those that remained threw darts at our men, and _latching_ our darts, sent them again at us.--GOLDING, _Cæsar_, p. 60.

Peahens are wont to lay by night, and that from an high place where they perch; and then, unless there be good heed taken that the eggs be _latched_ in some soft bed underneath, they are soon broken.--HOLLAND, _Pliny_, vol. i. p. 301.

=LECTURE.= Where words like ‘lecture’ and ‘reading’ exist side by side, it is very usual for one after a while to be appropriated to the doing of the thing, the other to the thing which is done. So it has been here; but they were once synonymous.

After the _lecture_ of the law and of the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Good brethren, if ye have any sermon to exhort the people, say on.--_Acts_ xiii. 15. COVERDALE.

That may be gathered out of Plutarch’s writings, out of those especially where he speaketh of the _lecture_ of the poets.--NORTH, _Plutarch’s Lives_, p. 982.

In my _lecture_ I often perceive how my authors commend examples for magnanimity and force, that rather proceed from a thick skin and hardness of the bones.--FLORIO, _Montaigne’s Essays_, p. 72.

=LEGACY.= This now owns no relation except with ‘lēgatum,’ which meant in juristic Latin a portion of the inheritance by testamentary disposition withdrawn from the heir, and bestowed upon some other. It was formerly used as a derivative of ‘legatus,’ ambassador, in the sense of embassage.

They were then preaching bishops, and more often seen in pulpits than in princes’ palaces: more often occupied in his _legacy_, who said, Go ye into the whole world and preach the gospel to all men, than in embassages and affairs of princes.--_Homilies, Against Peril of Idolatry._

Otherwise, while he is yet far off, sending a _legacy_, he asketh those things that belong to peace.--_Luke_ xiv. 32. Rheims.

And his citizens hated him, and they sent a _legacie_ after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.--_Luke_ xix. 14. Ibid.

=LEVY.= Troops are now raised, or ‘levied,’ indifferently: but a siege is only raised, and not ‘levied,’ as it too once might have been.

Euphranor having _levied_ the siege from this one city, forthwith led his army to Demetrias.--HOLLAND, _Livy_, p. 1178.

=LEWD=, } LEWDLY, } LEWDNESS. }

There are three distinct stages in the meaning of the word ‘lewd;’ of these it has entirely overlived two, and survives only in the third, namely in that of wanton or lascivious. Without discussing here its etymology or its exact relation to ‘lay,’ it is sufficient to observe, that, as ‘lay,’ it was often used in the sense of ignorant, or rather unlearned. Next, according to the proud saying of the Pharisees, ‘This people who knoweth not the law are cursed’ (_John_ vii. 49), and on the assumption, which would have its truth, that those untaught in the doctrines, would be unexercised in the practices, of Christianity, it came to signify vicious, though without designating one vice more than others. While in its present and third stage, it has, like so many other words, retired from this general designation of all vices, to express one of the more frequent, alone.

Archa-Dei in the olde law Levites it kepten; Hadde nevere _lewed_ man leve to leggen honde on that chest.

_Piers Plowman_, B-text, Passus xii. 115 (Skeat).

For as moche as the curatis ben often so _lewed_, that thei understonden not bookis of Latyn for to teche the peple, it is spedful not only to the _lewed_ peple, but also to the _lewed_ curatis, to have bookis in Englisch of needful loore to the _lewed_ people.--_Wycliffe Mss._, p. 5.

Of sondry thoughtes thus they jangle and trete As _lewed_ peple demeth comunly Of thinges that ben maad more subtily Than they can in her _lewdenes_ comprehende.

CHAUCER, _The Squieres Tale_ (Morris, ii. p. 361).

Joon was a _lewde_ fischere and untaught in scolys.--PURVEY, _Preface to Epistles of St. Jerome_, p. 65.

Neither was it Christ’s intention that there should be any thing in it [the Lord’s Prayer] dark or far from our capacity, specially since it belongeth equally to all, and is as necessary for the _lewd_ as the learned.--_A Short Catechism_, 1553.

This is servitude, To serve the unwise, or him who hath rebelled Against his worthier, as thine now serve thee, Thyself not free, but to thyself enthralled, Yet _lewdly_ darest our ministering upbraid.

MILTON, _Paradise Lost_, vi. 178.

If it were a matter of wrong or wicked _lewdness_ [ῥᾳδιούργημα], O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you.--_Acts_ xviii. 14. (A.V.)

=LIBERAL.= Often used by Shakespeare and his contemporaries as free of tongue, licentious or wanton in speech.

There with fantastic garlands did she come, Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples, That _liberal_ shepherds give a grosser name, But our cold maids do dead-men’s-fingers call them.

SHAKESPEARE, _Hamlet_, act iv. sc. 7.

_Desdemona_ [of _Iago_]: Is he not a most profane and _liberal_ counsellor?--Id., _Othello_, act ii. sc. 1.

But that we know thee, Wyatt, to be true, Thy overboldness should be paid with death; But cease, for fear your _liberal_ tongue offend.

WEBSTER, _The Famous History of Sir Thomas Wyatt_.

=LIBEL.= This, properly a little book, is with us any defamatory speech or writing; but was not formerly so restricted; indeed, in the legal language of Scotland, where an indictment is in technical language a ‘libel,’ it still retains a wider meaning.

Forsoothe, it is said, Who evere shal leeve his wyf, geve he to hir a _libel_.--_Matt._ v. 31. WICLIF.

Let the Allmightie geve me answere, and let him that is my contrary party sue me with a _lybell_.--_Job_ xxxi. 35. COVERDALE.

Here is a _libel_ too accusing Cæsar, From Lucius Vectius, and confirmed by Curius.

BEN JONSON, _Catiline_, act v. sc. 4.

=LIBERTINE.= A striking evidence of the extreme likelihood that he who has no restraints on his belief will ere long have none upon his life, is given by this word ‘libertine.’ Applied at first to certain heretical sects, and intended to mark the licentious _liberty_ of their creed, ‘libertine’ soon let go altogether its relation to what a man believed, and acquired the sense which it now has, a ‘libertine’ being one who has released himself from all moral restraints, and especially in his relations with the other sex.

That the Scriptures do not contain in them all things necessary to salvation, is the fountain of many great and capital errors; I instance in the whole doctrine of the _libertines_, familists, quakers, and other enthusiasts, which issue from this corrupted fountain.--Bishop TAYLOR, _A Dissuasive from Popery_, part ii. b. 1, § 2.

It is not to be denied that the said _libertine_ doctrines do more contradict the doctrine of the Gospel, even Christianity itself, than the doctrines of the Papists about the same subjects do.--BAXTER, _Catholic Theology_, part iii. p. 289.

It is too probable that our modern _libertines_, deists, and atheists, took occasion from the scandalous contentions of Christians about many things, to disbelieve all.--_A Discourse of Logomachies_, 1711.

=LITIGIOUS.= This word has changed from an objective to a subjective sense. Things were ‘litigious’ once, which offered matter for going to law; persons are ‘litigious’ now, who are prone to going to law. Both meanings are to be found in the Latin ‘litigiosus,’ though predominantly that which we have now made the sole meaning.

Dolopia he hath subdued by force of arms, and could not abide to hear that the determination of certain provinces, which were debatable and _litigious_, should be referred to the award of the people of Rome.--HOLLAND, _Livy_, p. 1111.

Of the articles gainsaid by a great outcry, three and no more did seem to be _litigious_.--HACKET, _Life of Archbishop Williams_, part i. p. 140.

No fences parted fields, nor marks nor bounds Distinguished acres of _litigious_ grounds.

DRYDEN, _Virgil’s Georgics_, b. i. 193, 4.

=LIVELY.= This had once nearly, if not altogether, the same meaning as ‘living.’ We have here the explanation of a circumstance which many probably have noted and regretted in the Authorized Version of the New Testament, namely that while λίθον ζῶντα at _1 Pet._ ii. 4 is ‘a _living_ stone,’ λίθοι ζῶντες, which follows immediately, ver. 5, is only ‘_lively_ stones,’ ‘living’ being thus brought down to ‘lively’ with no correspondent reduction in the original to warrant it. But when our Version was made, there was scarcely any distinction between the forces of the words. Still it would certainly have been better to adhere to one word or the other.

Mine enemies are _lively_ (Heb. living), and they are strong.--_Ps._ xxxviii. 19. (A.V.)

Was it well done to suffer him, imprisoned in chains, lying in a dark dungeon, to draw his _lively_ breath at the pleasure of the hangman?--HOLLAND, _Livy_, p. 228.

Had I but seen thy picture in this plight, It would have madded me; what shall I do Now I behold thy _lively_ body so?

SHAKESPEARE, _Titus Andronicus_, act iii. sc. 1.

That his dear father might interment have, See, the young man entered a _lively_ grave.

MASSINGER, _The Fatal Dowry_, act ii. sc. 1.

=LIVERY.= It need hardly be observed that the explanation of ‘livery’ which Spenser offers (see below) is perfectly correct; but we do not any longer recognize the second of those uses of the word there mentioned by him. It is no longer applied to the ration, or stated portion of food, delivered at stated periods (the σιτομέτριον of _Luke_