Rare seems to come directly from rarus, and would be pronounced with more propriety with the a long, than as if it were spelt rear; though rare may come from the Swedish ra, or Danish raa, which are the archaics of raw.

RECKON, to suppose; to conjecture, to conclude. (Brock

ett.) To reckon, belongs more to the South; as, a Virginian, asked if he purposed leaving town to-morrow, would reply, "I reckon so." In New England, it would mean one who was quick at figures: he reckons well; he is a good reckoner. I calculate, and I guess, belong to New England. I remember once, at Newport, Rhode Island, saying to a farmer that I liked the people of this town, they were so civil. His reply was: "We always calculate to be, to them that are civil to us." This way of using calculate would puzzle an Englishman. It comes with the Yankees as a kind of second nature, everything there being a matter of calculation; and I have no doubt that he expressed the sense of his neighborhood in the matter of civility; who, after due consideration, had calculated that, as a system of conduct, civility was the best they could think of.

RECKNING. The score at public houses. (Brockett.) A Yankee will say to his landlord, "I'll settle the reckning," just as he is going away. It is also used as expressing anger toward some one, and conveying a menace, as, "I'll settle the reckning with him.” RENCH, to rinse. (Brockett.) The New England pronunciation is hardly so strong, but is rens: Sam,

rens that tumbler;" this may be rench, somewhat softened. Brockett gives an Icelandic word for its origin; Holloway, a Danish word, renser.

RIG, to dress. (Jennings.) Is not in general use with any class, but as a colloquial vulgarism, may be heard sometimes, though only in fun.

RIGHT. The using this word as an adjunct to adjectives, to give them force and expression, so common among the earliest English writers, is confined, in this country, to the South. "I know him right well;" he is a right honest fellow, or a right good fellow, are heard there, but not at the North at all. Right down is employed in a similar way to right, as, "he's a right down good-for-nothing chap;" also, right on, to express resolution, and as a direction: "keep right on." Milton has right onwards, right up; "get right up," we use. Forby gives each of them.

RILE, to render turbid; to vex, to disturb. (Brockett.) In each of these senses it is in common use in New England, though more frequently heard with the first meaning. A Yankee once said to me, speaking of the troubles in Canada, "the people there seemed a good deal riled up." He got his temper riled, for one offended and indignant, is not unfrequent. It is not in Tod's Johnson, but is in that fine production, "John Noakes and Mary Styles:"

"John was a-dry an' soon cried out,
'Gom git some beer, we 'ool!'
He'd so to wait, it mad him riled,

The booths were all chuck full."

Mr. Forby, in his notice of this word, and alluding to its being in use in this country, says: "It may have been transported to the Western World many years ago, with some East Anglian thief!" Alas, "invidia gloriæ comes est!" as we grow in strength, we shall be doubly the offspring of scoundrels. Though these expressions of contempt are not new; but however bad the early colonists or criminals might have been, it was thought a region of more morality than the Court of England, at that time. In one of Beaumont and Fletcher's plays, we have this very bluntly and sturdily expressed by a character who was urged to bring his wife to court:

Oh, dear cousin,

You have a wife, and fair; bring her hither;

Let her not live to be the mistress of

A farmer's heir, and be confined ever

To a serge far coarser than my house-cloth!
Let her have velvets, tiffanies, jewels, pearls,
A coach, an usher, and her two lacquies;
And I will send my wife to give her rules,

And read the rudiments of a court to her.
Cler. Sir, I had rather send her to Virginia,
To help propagate the English nation.

ROOM, for place; in the place of. This is pure old English, (Hallamshire Glossary,) and universally so employed in New England.

ROUGH. To roughen the shoes of horses in frosty weather. (Britton.) To have one's horses cawked, is the common expression in New England. In Philadelphia, rough is more common.

RUGGED. This is used in a peculiar manner in New England, in the sense of hardy. Among the several meanings in Tod's Johnson, none come near this. The word was formerly ruggy, as in Chaucer:—

"With flotery berd, and ruggy ashy heres."

RUMPLE. A large debt, contracted by little and little. (Grose gives it as a Somersetshire word; but Jennings, whose work is devoted to that part of England, does not mention it.) In the sense of to press, to ruffle, as in Britton, it is common here. A rumpled shirt; anything rumpled, means pressed into wrinkles. Its Saxon origin means wrinkles. The Latin word, rumpo, might also be taken as its origin, it meaning a broken or interrupted surface; and the phrase in Somersetshire, "it will come to a rumple at last,” meaning to a failure or bankruptcy, or that a person will break, agrees rather with the Latin origin than with the Saxon or Belgic.

RUMPUS, a great noise. (Jennings.) Very common among us. Rumplen, in German, is "faire du bruit, du fracas;" it is also a substantive. Ker derives it from a Dutch word, erompas, an unseasonable interruption, something that breaks up a state of quiet. I can find no such word in the only Dutch dictionary to which I have access. There is a quizzing air about this author that leads one to doubt his etymological correctness, and whether he is in earnest at all. RUNT, a Scotch ox; also for a person of strong but low stature. (Brockett.) We use this word in neither of the above senses. A runt of a fellow, meaning some

one inferior in size, without regard to strength; generally, however, implying inferiority in this particular too. "Every family has its runt," taking this complimentary application from a litter of pigs, in which there is almost invariably one very diminutive in comparison with the rest. But we believe it is meant to apply only to unusually large families.

S.

SAFE, for sure, certain. He's safe to be hung. (Brockett.) I have heard this word used in this way, though it is not common. Safe, for a place of security, as an iron-safe, is universal; and we also apply it to the box in which family provisions are kept. This is generally suspended from the ceiling of the cellar, and is a kind of larder on a small scale. It is applied in the same way in Suffolk.

SAPSCULL, a foolish fellow; a blockhead. (Brockett.) Not uncommon in this sense here.

SAPPY, for foolish. (Wilbraham.) He's such a sap, he's a sappy fellow, are common here.

"Sar

SARTIN, and SARTINLY, for sure, positive. (Brockett.) "You are not so sartin of that." "Yes I be; there aint the least onsartinty about it." "I'm sartin sure on it." "Are you going to sue the deacon?" tinly I be; as sartin as he's alive, I'll have the law on him," are common phrases in New England. SATTLE, for settle. This vulgar pronunciation is con

formable to the Saxon origin of the word. (Brockett.)