ETYMOLOGY. 261 EU. assimilatio, similarity) is the change undergone by sounds to make them harmonize with othei sounds in the same word, and it may be either regressive, assimilating the second sound to the first, as Greek kvtvto.tos, 'sweetest.' beside yv- KvraTos, Latin quvnque, 'five,' but Greek Wire ; or progressive, assimilating the first sound to the Second, as Greek 8<f0cj, name of a sea-fjoddess, beside Sfris; Old Church Slavic mruriya. 'ant, but Greek jwpjcnif. Contamination (Lat. contami- iniii'i, defilement) is a composite but not com- pound word, influenced by different words, a^ German heischen, 'to demand,' which is a con- tamination of Old High German eisc6n, 'to de- mand.' and heizzan (German heissen) , 'to call.' It is sometimes difficult to draw the line between contamination and the far more frequent phe- nomenon of analogy (q.v. ). Contraction (Lat. eontractio, a drawing together) is the coalescence of two or more vowels into one, as Greek nixw- p,iv, 'we honor,' for * Tiii6.op.tv ; Tt/j.<}fu, 'I should honor,' for *Tip.doi/u ; Latin eopiu, 'abundance,' for *co-opia. Crasis (Gk. Kpairis, mixture) is the combination of two vowels into one, this change being in most cases only an artificial subdivision of vowel-contraction, as Greek 0poC5os, 'vanished,' for rpb) 65o0 ; Latin cunctus, 'all,' for *coiunetus. Dissimilation (from Lat. dissimilis, unlike) is the reverse of assimilation, treated above, and is therefore the change undergone by sounds to make them different from other sounds in the same word, either regressively, as Greek BrfKriTiip, 'hunter,' beside 6ipw1)f> Italian veleno, 'poison,' beside veneno; or progressively, as Latin fraglo, 'I burn,' beside fragro ; Old High German turtul- tuba, English turtle-dove, but Latin turtur; dialectic Italian lumero, 'I count,' beside numero. Dissimilation often involves loss of sounds, as Latin mamor, 'marble.' beside marmor ; Span- ish cribo, 'sieve,' but Latin cribrum ; Sanskrit tisthati, 'he stands.' but Avesta hiStaiti, Latin sistit ; Latin spondee,, 'I pledge,' but perfect spopondi. This tendency forms the basis of Grassmann's law (q.v.). Epenthesis (Gk. iwiv- i&svs, insertion), or more scientifically, anaptyxis (Gk. avdiTTviiS, unfolding), is the insertion of a letter or syllable, as Latin drachuma, from Greek Sp&xP-y, 'drachma,' p.e<npj.ppia, midday, for
- p.e<T7)p.t)pla; English umberella for umbrella. Gemi-
nation (Lat. gemmatio, a doubling) is a doub- ling of consonants, as Greek l<rxvpp6s, 'strong,' beside la%vp6s ; Latin cuppa, 'tub,' beside cupa : German Himmel, 'heaven,' beside Middle High German himel. It is normally accompanied by the shortening of a preceding long vowel. Hap- lology (from Gk. airXAos, simple, and A070S, word) or haplolaly (from Gk. &ttos simple, and ala, speech ) is the suppression of one of two homo- phonous syllables in a word, as Greek &p.<popevs, 'pitcher.' for * d/i<£i0opei5s ; Latin semodius, 'half- peck.' for *semvmodius; English dynometer, beside dynamometer. Hiatus (Lat., gap) is the juxta- position of two or more vowels without contrac- tion, as Greek irpoiyoi. 'I lead forth' : Latin ea, 'she.' Gothic aiduk, 'I increased,' from aukan. Metathesis ,(Gk. perddtins. transposition) is the 1 ruii-position of letters in a word, one of the most frequent of all the figures of etymology, as Greek Kipros, 'strength.' beside itp<£-os ; x lT & v - 'tunic,' beside KiBiiv; Latin sterno, 'I strew,' beside the perfect straw; lerigio 'religion.' beside religio; coacla, 'sewer.' beside cloura : Italian crapa, 'goat,' beside eapra; grolia 'glory,' beside gloria. As will be seen from the examples quoted, meta- thesis affects especially the liquid-. /• and /, but we also have such changes as Sanskril sakafa, 'stupid,' J';ili kasafa; Sanskrit iayana, 'bed,' Singhalese yahana. Paragoge (Gk. Ttapayuyh], ad- dition) i, the addition of one or more inorganic letters to the end of a wind. In Greek tin- so-called 'ny movable' (Greek vv <j,tKvnTi.Kbv), which is added especially to words ending in -<n, and to verbs with the third person in -« before Vowels las Trdiri USuim toCtw, 'he gives these to all.' but ivaaw towKev iKtlm, 'he gave those to all'), perhaps may be placed here superficially. An English example is the paragogic /• in such words as hnr-r. This phenomenon is usually caused b the desire t,, moid a hiatus, but is often etymologieally justified, as in the ease of the French a-t-il, 'has he?' beside £2 a, 'he has 1 (folk Latin habet-ille, beside ille habet). Pro thesis (Gk. 717)60151715, a placing before) is the prefixing of an inorganic sound to a word, as Greek 4pv9/>6s, 'red,' but Latin ruber; Armenian erek, 'evening,' but Sanskrit, rajas; Sanskrit utO- ku, 'world,' beside l6ka; Avesta ufsnin, 'wrath.' but Persian xiim ; Latin status, state, but Span- ish estado, Old French est at, French e"tat; Cock- ney English Hi for /. Simplification I from Lat. simplex, simple, and facere, to make) is the re- verse of gemination, treated above, and consists in the substitution of a single consonant for a repeated or double one, as Greek p.4<ros, 'middle,' beside /^cTctos ; Latin vacilo, '1 waver,' beside oa- cillo; Old High German doufene, 'to dip,' beside doufenne. Syncope (Gk. air/noir-/), abbreviation) is the omission of a letter or syllable from the interior of a word, as Greek irarpbt, 'of a father,' beside Traripos, Latin prcebeo, T offer,' for *prw- hibeo, *prwhabeo; Provencal anma, 'soul,' from Latin anima; Sanskrit lasuna, 'onion,' but Sin- ghalese lunu ; Anglo-Saxon nolde, 'would not,' for *ne wolde (cf. English nilly-willy) : English wondrous beside wonderous. Tmesis (Gk. rp.ij- crts, division) is the separation of the parts of a word, especially a compound, by another word. This is properly only an apparent figure. It had its origin in verbs compounded with piepositions, and as prepositions are originally stereotyped case-forms of nouns used adverbially (see Prepo- sitions), the union was at first only a very loose one. as in English overbear beside bear over. As examples may be cited Greek M Kv4<pas ijeev, 'darkness came on,' for Kv4tpas 4-n-fi H tv ; Latin sub uos placo, T implore you,' for supplico vos; ami such a monstrosity as cere-comminuit- brum, 'he dashed out his brains,' for cerebrum comminnit. In German this tmesis is subject to regular laws, as er fiihrte seinen Entschluss aus, 'he carried out his resolution,' but ieh sagte, dass er seinen Entschluss ausfiihrte, 'I said that ha carried out. bis resolution.' As the antiquity of the terms implies, the majority of the figures of etymology were known to the classical gram- marians, although the full explanation of them has been rendered possible only by t lie develop- ment of comparative linguistics (see Philology, Comparative), especially of that branch of it which deals with etymology (q.v.). ETZEL, et'sel. See Attii.a. ETJ, e ( ML. Anga. A ugium ) . A town in the De- partment of Seine-Inferieure, France, near the mouth of the Bresle. 03 miles north-northwest of Paris (Map: France. HI). It is remarkable for
