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 the word came from the Latin, by way of the French journée, meaning day, day’s work, day’s travel? There are many such words that should be sensibly considered by writers on words before they launch their books. It is interesting to treat words etymologically, but it is both interesting and practical to treat them with reference to the laws of a growing language and the spirit of a changing tongue.

Again, take the word quarantine, which came from the Latin by way of the Italian and Old French, and which signifies forty. In Old English Law it meant a period of forty days. The word in recent times has acquired a broader meaning; and now it may imply, legitimately enough, a special period of more than forty days, or any part thereof. The same is true of such words as decimate > (orig.: to reduce a number by taking every tenth); sarcophagus (orig.: a stone coffin with flesh-consuming properties); candle (orig.: a white